The Action at John's Pond, Jamaica Bay

There wasn't a lot going on in the heat at the West Pond at Jamaica Bay but John's Pond had a lot of action. A fishing Great Egret and 3 juvenile Black-Crowned Herons and an adult Black-Crowned Heron. There were a few foraging assorted shore birds.

Got it

A tasty morsel

Down the hatch

Now for a little preening

When we first arrived there was an adult Black-Crowned Night Heron and three juveniles.  The adult took off quickly but the three juveniles stayed around the pond. The juveniles are also Black-Crowned Night herons. The immature Black-Crowned Heron is browner and their spots are larger  then the immature Yellow-Crowned Night Heron which is grayer and more finely speckled as well as having longer legs.  Two of the juveniles had quite a game over a stick. You can see other smaller shore birds in a few of the pictures.

The other juvenile stayed on this branch and preened the whole time.

Baby, Babies Everywhere

In Maine, where I try to escape to as soon as school is over, we found a nesting Eastern Phoebe over the kitchen door. It is the perfect place; a small ledge under/protected by a porch. The first day there I could see two little beaks coming up when mom arrived, but mom was also still sitting. A couple days later I could make out three babies. On the last day as I took pictures there were four babies with open beaks!

Mom or dad on the look out for bugs, juicy bugs.

When I returned from Maine I went to Breezy Point to see Common Tern babies. I found babies of all sizes and ages. Those still under mom are 1-3 days old usually. They were so much fun to watch.

Fish please! Down here, don't you see us.

I don't want the grass, I want a fish, please!

Hope you are all enjoying the summer. Shore birds are coming back, Yeah!

Courtship Dance of Least Terns and Marsh Makers at Rocky Point

All right, it took me more than overnight to put these up. After my morning at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, I went to Breezy Point with my friend Andrea. First we walked along the ocean side of Breezy. There were several black bellied plovers, seagulls and willets. But the best were seeing the 3 American Oystercatcher chicks. Too cute!


After lunch we walked along the Bay from the  Bay House toward the bridge. It was a beautiful day. As we were walking along we came to the Marsh at Rocky Point. This was a favorite of ours last year. We would check on the willets that were nesting there. We didn't see any willets but through our binoculars we saw a young man who looked to be cleaning up the marsh: Our hint he was wearing waders, long rubber gloves and hauling wood junk. Now I had heard of a couple of days this spring when some groups helped out to clean up the marsh but I didn't have any idea that someone was volunteering to do this on an ongoing basis. Anyway the young man started toward us so we waited and greeted him. Shervin started the project of cleaning up the marsh in November of 2010. He has a blog that follows the progress of the marsh cleanup. This is very exciting and Andrea and I will be helping out at the next volunteer day you can bet. You can view Shervin's blog at marshmakers.blogspot.com

After meeting Shervan we continued our walk. We saw several Black-bellied Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Great Egret, Green Heron, Least Terns, Brant Geese, Merganzer, Oystercatcher and Spotted Sandpipers.


Spotted Sandpiper (Actitus macularia)

    

Semipalmated plover



Herring Gulls (acting like the Doublemint Twins)

America Oystercatcher (Haematopus pallistus)

 

The best part of the walk was the courtship of least terns that we observed. I wish I had video for the first time, but I think you'll get the idea.

A Day of Birding, Finally... Part 1

Wow it was so good to be out and about on Saturday. Preparing to job hunt for a teaching position as opposed to a job (I'm in one of those closing schools) and writing and delivering the school history has kept me away from the blog. I have missed it.

West Pond - Jamaica Bay

I started the day at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge about 6:45 AM. The fog was still settled over the refuge. I started with a walk through the woods. I didn’t see as many warblers as I would have liked but got good views of the male and female American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla), White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) a life bird for me and several Yellow Warblers. I continued on to the back side of the West Pond. I had beautiful views of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia), Common Yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) and a Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) I think. Some fellow birders mentioned that there was a Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) still on the other side of the pond. I had forgotten how small they are but we finally located it. It sat for quite a while and didn’t move, once it started to move it was easier to see this beautiful bird. The bird did some limited spinning but was mostly walking around the edge on the pond. Also saw a White-rumped sandpiper.


Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis




Common Yellowthroat - Geothlypis



White-eyed Vireo - Vireo griseus (lifebird)




White-eyed Vireo





Yellow Warbler - Dendroica petechia



Least Flycatcher - Empidonax minimus (I think) Let me know if you don't agree and what it is. I looked at all the flycatchers and this seemed the best fit because of the all white breast and belly



Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus

  
 

Female American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla



Red-necked Phalarope and White-rumped Sandpiper

After a couple of hours I headed for Breezy Point with my friend Andrea for a little lunch and some more great birding. A couple of nice surprises awaited us there but I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Breezy...at Breezy Point

I went with my friend out to Breezy Point last Saturday. It had been ages since I had been out birding or even out much. But boy was it breezy. We walked along the bay side for a bit but there weren't many birds about (they were smarter than us:). Then we walked for a sahorter time on the ocean side. Saw a few sanderlings. The wind was blowing sand which made for some pretty beach sand patterns. I waited for some crashing waves and shot a couple of pictures. Later we walked along the bay beach closest to the gate. I didn't take my camera that time. We saw some common mergansers, american black ducks and buffleheads. It was great to see birds!



Sanderling (Calidris alba)



A Very Happy New Year To All and Thank You

I want to thank all my blog friends for visiting throughout the year. I wish you a very Happy New Year full of new dreams and old dreams realized.

Happy New Year



Happy New year to you too.

Making Tracks

It's the first blizzard of the season. There were three white throated sparrows making tracks and picking up seeds in the snow.