Like a few other birders, I decided it was the kind of weather for Gulling
which started at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Sean Sime's earlier report
pretty much covered the highlights there, save for 11 Bonaparte's Gulls which I
happened upon at the boat launch. Unfortunately, just as quickly as I spotted
them, they took off after a Coast Guard (?) cutter flushed them from the
exposed flats.
Leaving Floyd, I headed over to Riis Park. A scan of the parking lot did not
turn up much of a loafing gull flock. Scoping from the beach did not have much
returns either. If you have not visited the area recently, please note that the
area which some of us used for seawatching while staying out of the rain and
wind is now fenced off with no access at the moment.
Skipping Fort Tilden, I hurried over to Breezy Point where I decided to try and
get in a Piping Plover survey since there was a break in the rain. In total, I
documented 11 Piping Plovers with 10 birds apparently paired up. I spent some
time observing their behavior and noted some nest scraping as well as
territorial display.
Other highlights from Breezy included: Common Raven, heard and observed in the
median. It was heading towards the ocean but then doubled back and headed
towards Coney Island.
The Sanderling numbers seem to be holding steady and I had my first flagged
Sanderling of the year which I managed to document. A few banded American
Oystercatchers were also documented. One with the code U2.
The Northern Gannet show continued with several hundred but nowhere near the
numbers from a few weeks ago. Otherwise the ocean was quiet and there was none
of the Scoter spectacle from a few weeks ago. Despite the good numbers of
Bonaparte's Gulls being reported from Staten Island, I only had 2 in the 3
hours I spent at Breezy Tip.
Leaving Breezy, I checked in at the Fort Tilden fisherman's lot and did a
seawatch which was uneventful. Good numbers of Gannets but nothing else
noteworthy.
Leaving Fort Tilden, I again covered the Riis Parking lot and this time had a
good number of gulls in the parking lot. However, they were all the usuals.
Another seawatch from Riis beach did not turn up anything of note.
I decided to wrap up the day at Gravesend in Brooklyn, thinking that maybe some
of the Bonaparte's action might have drifted into that area. Unfortunately,
that was not the case; nevertheless, I did enjoy nice looks at Gannets.
Not a bad day of birding despite the weather. Now, if I could only master a
transportation Jitsu it would be much easier getting around :-)
Cheers,
--------
"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of
others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick
Douglass
風 Swift as the wind
林 Quiet as the forest
火 Conquer like the fire
山 Steady as the mountain
Sun Tzu The Art of War
> (__/)
> (= '.'=)
> (") _ (")
> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device!
Andrew Baksh
www.birdingdude.blogspot.com
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