In our never ending search for typos

We find one on an awning on Forest Avenue, Staten Island.
The name of this restaurant is Crown Palace. Note the crown on the left side of the awning.

But look a little closer:

Closer:

Looks like the awning maker has a little trouble with "u" and "double-u."

Now, this restaurant is part of chain on SI. I know of at least one other on the island and the awning is spelled exactly the same. I guess they got a volume discount.

I cringe every time we pass the p(a)lace.

Typo in Neon

President & Court Streets, Brooklyn.
If I had any UTILITES, this is where I'd go to pay them.

JBWR 6/19--Wilson's Phalarope

A few notable birds on our walk around the West Pond:

Between bench 5 & 6 a couple of birders were scoping out pretty intensely the  western shore. We had just seen our FOY Tricolored Heron dancing around on the bay side on the spit off the (closed) Terrapin Trail. Upon inquiring, they told us there were 3 Wilson's Phalaropes among the many geese and ducks waddling and snoozing on the beach.

It is an event to see one WIPH, especially in the summer--3 is a bonanza, especially when the female is in breeding plumage. Phalaropes are an oddity in terms of sexual dimorphism in birds--unlike the vast majority of birds, it is the female that is the more colorful of the sexes while the males are the drabber sex. There was one female and two males scurrying about on the beach picking at who knows what while the geese snoozed and the ducks wandered aimlessly.

Phalaropes are also fun to watch when they're in the water--they spin wildly stirring up any little animal life to the surface where they can eat it. But these birds stayed on the beach.

Also on the same beach was what had been reported as Greater White-fronted Goose, which would be a true oddity at Jamaica Bay any time of the year and especially in the summer. It was hard to get a good look at for a while since it too was taking a siesta. Eventually though it raised its head and indeed did look like the a Greater White-fronted. However, after comparing it the field guide it just didn't look  "right." It wasn't dark enough for one thing, and it had a white belly instead of being barred brown. It also seem to show something of a "grin patch" on its orange beak. So we figured it must be a hybrid, probably with a Snow Goose, though a domestic goose can't be ruled out. Too bad. It would have been nice to add Greater White-fronted to my NY and Queens lists.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Big John's Pond had 3 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons--2 adults and a juvenile. The East Pond was Swan City, with at least 95 swans on the water, but the only bird there we hadn't already seen was a Least Tern.

46 species + the weird hybrid:

Greater White-fronted x Snow Goose (hybrid)  1    

Canada Goose  325

Mute Swan  98
Gadwall  2
American Black Duck  11
Mallard  150
Double-crested Cormorant  10

Great Egret  6
Snowy Egret  15
Tricolored Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
Glossy Ibis  2
Osprey  6
Clapper Rail  1
Semipalmated Plover  1
Killdeer  1
American Oystercatcher  28
Willet  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  10
Wilson's Phalarope  3   

Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  7
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Least Tern 1

Forster's Tern  9
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
American Crow  2
Tree Swallow  100
Barn Swallow  1
Marsh Wren  1
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  36
Northern Mockingbird  1
Brown Thrasher  2
European Starling  4
Cedar Waxwing  5
Yellow Warbler  15
Common Yellowthroat  4
Eastern Towhee  2
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  3   

Red-winged Blackbird  15
Common Grackle  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
House Sparrow  2

Negri-Nepote Grasslands 6/18--DICKCISSEL

We were in NJ today down in Toms River house hunting so after looking at a few places we thought our eyeballs could be put to better use and decided to drive up to Somerset to the Negri-Nepote Grasslands and try for the reported DICKCISSELS there.

We had never been to the grasslands so I was hoping that another birder or two might be there to point us the way, but when we arrived at 5 o'clock, we were the only ones there. I'd printed out a map of the reserve and remembered reading on line that the birds had been seen between the pond and "the house" so I shouldered our scope and off we marched. Pretty humid and pretty buggy. We saw some interesting birds on the way like Cedar Waxwings and a House Wren and when we were past the pond I set up the scope and sighted on a line of distant trees where I, for whatever reason, assumed the birds would be perched. No soap. I scanned all the power lines and came up with doves and blackbirds. Just as I was about to chalk it up as a valiant effort I saw a bird flash by in the high grass and come to perch on a stalk. It sang; the song matched the song I'd researched last night. We quickly scoped it and got our lifer Dickcissel with "field guide looks." It swayed on that long stalk of grass for three or four minutes, so we were really able to study this handsome bird, one I never really thought about getting as they are common in the Midwest, but not around here. So that was a very satisfying way to end the day.

18 species
 Mallard  1
Great Blue Heron  1    Flyover
Turkey Vulture  1
Mourning Dove  4
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Tree Swallow  10
House Wren  1
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
Cedar Waxwing  10
Common Yellowthroat  2
Chipping Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
DICKCISSEL  1    Singing
Red-winged Blackbird  1
American Goldfinch  2

Some other birds seen today were 2 Eastern Kingbirds mobbing a crow at the Monmouth Rest Stop on the Parkway and the first White-breasted Nuthatch I've seen in quite a while in the woods behind a housing development in Whiting, NJ.

Marine Park--Southwest 6/17: YCNH, GLIB

High tide at the salt marsh this morning was 9:34; I got there on the B3 bus at 9:35. Arriving exactly at high tide, coupled with the aftermath of  last night's thunderstorms, didn't leave very much solid ground to walk on. By keeping to the approximately 2" wide strip of beach left exposed and taking a very circuitous route, I was able to make my way to the path in the woods without getting my boots wet too much above the toes. Happily, I wear waterproof boots when I go there.

I added 2 birds to my Brooklyn life list. The first one was a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron I flushed from some high grass while stepping carefully in the muck. I always feel bad when I flush a bird; they have enough stress in their lives without me adding to it. (Of course, the logical solution to this would be not to go birding, but I don't feel that bad.) The 2nd bird added was a Glossy Ibis flying over. Neither of these birds is likely to be found at Prospect Park where I do most of my Brooklyn birding.

Since the tide was so high, I didn't expect to see many waders today so I was happy with those 2 birds plus the Great Egret I also saw (& heard grunting) flying low on the water. As I was walking on the main trail I came to a wooded spot where I often see woodpeckers, warblers, thrushes. There was a Baltimore Oriole there, but I was surprised to see right in front of me this Black-crowned Night-Heron perched on a branch and even more surprised I could get a decent photo of it.

My favorite non-avian animals at the salt marsh are the thousands of Fiddler Crabs scurrying around in the sand, diving into their little holes as your shadow approaches. When I was first at the marsh I couldn't see any of course, but on the way back the water had receded enough for them to be out in force. Hard to get pictures of them as they blend so well with the sand and they move so quickly. I swear that once one of them actually waved to me with its big claw as it was descending into its burrow.

Nature has played a cruel joke on these crustaceans.

38 species from Avenue U to the beach and back:
Canada Goose  4
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Egret  4
Snowy Egret  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1
Glossy Ibis  1
American Oystercatcher  7
Willet  1
Laughing Gull  32
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  20
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Least Tern  2
Common Tern  2
Forster's Tern  1
Rock Pigeon  5
Mourning Dove  4
Monk Parakeet  2
Willow Flycatcher  3
Warbling Vireo  1
American Crow  1
Barn Swallow  4
Marsh Wren  2
American Robin  13
Gray Catbird  22
Northern Mockingbird  1
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  25
Cedar Waxwing  2
Yellow Warbler  6
Common Yellowthroat  4
Eastern Towhee  2
Song Sparrow  4
Northern Cardinal  3
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Baltimore Oriole  2
House Sparrow  10
And now...

 The Continuing Saga of the Smart Car Wreck

I intended to take another photo of the Smart Car that was dumped on the side of the trail about 3 weeks ago to document 

1) Its slow deterioration and

2) The fact that it was still there on the side of the trail despite being the most accessible wreck I'd found, one the city or Parks Dept could easily remove

but when I got to the spot                                                        

it wasn't there!  Only the burned patch was left. I was under no illusions that my rants have had any effect, but was happy that finally it had been removed. Great. Only about 10 more to go. However, on my way back from the shore, going up a different path, not 100 yards from where the wreck was I found

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Dump it a little deeper in the grass so it's harder to see? Now, who did this? Did the original dumpers come back with a truck and a winch and move the car? Did a prankster do it? Or did the city slash parks slash sanitation department come along and move it "out of the way?" You be the judge.
Looking at the road, I could clearly see where the wreck had been dragged along, leaving charred bits of wood and metal along the way. And guess what? If the intention was to hide the car, they didn't do a very good job because it can easily be seen from the trail. I just happened to be looking to my right at some bird activity when I passed it the first time.

There's a theme in 19th century American Literature I remember studying in college relating to the "Machine in the Garden." Here, in the 21st, is ours. 

Pier One 6/15--Cedar Waxwings

I saw four Cedar Waxwings on Pier One this afternoon. Oddly, for these berry loving birds, they weren't in trees that had any fruit on them. The bushes in the marsh with what I presume were raspberries* were full of House Sparrows eating the berries. As waxwings are just about my favorite passerines, I was quite pleased to find them in the park. There were probably more than four, as I could hear their "zzzt zzzt" call but couldn't find them in the thick foliage. This the 59th species recorded on the Pier in its brief history as a park.

The hybrid family of American Black Duck (drake) and Mallard with 3 ducklings were in the water picking whatnot from a gray skein of scum and garbage.

In other family news Pier Two had 2 Canada Geese with 2 goslings and perched on a wire on Pier Three was a young Barn Swallow begging for food. After a while an adult landed on the wire but ignored the beggar.  I think the message there was like the Met Life commercial I constantly hear on the Mets broadcasts: "Times are hard. If you want it you have to work for it." Then they both flew off, lesson, presumably learned.

List:
11 species (+1 other taxa)
American Black Duck  1
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  3
Mallard  1
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Ring-billed Gull  5
Rock Pigeon  2
Barn Swallow  5
American Robin  3
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  15
Cedar Waxwing  4
House Sparrow  20


*It turns out they are serviceberries. (6/16)

Good Advice At Any Time

Slippery When Wet
Twist Off Or Use Opener
La Via Del Tren Subterraneo Es Peligrosa
Keep Away From Children
Be Prepared To Stop