Jamaica Bay After School!
Queens, NY
Thursday 11 October 2018
72 °F
Today after school I took the train and the bus to Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Queens in search of shorebirds, and particularly one would-be life bird: the Stilt Sandpiper.
I arrived around 5:30pm and birded for a bit over an hour in off-and-on rain showers, which was annoying — there were birds around though, such as these expansive flocks of BRANT geese as well as DOUBLE-CRESTED & GREAT CORMORANT & GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL:
BRANT again, this time with GREAT EGRET and AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER:
GREATER YELLOWLEGS flyover:
At one point, I played the Clapper Rail call in a good-looking section of the salt marsh, and lo and behold, my life bird CLAPPER RAIL called back to me! Score! Its elusive reputation preceded itself as I was never able to see it, though.
SNOWY EGRET, nice:
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK:
Some sort of Turtle poking its head out of the water. Any ideas as to the species?
Edit: I figured out this is a Diamondback Terrapin, a “life turtle” for me — how cool!
MUTE SWAN:
GREEN-WINGED TEAL:
COOPER’S HAWK:
A better look at the BRANT geese:
PEREGRINE FALCON, cool!
And one last bird, an immature BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON:
Alas, I never found the Stilt Sandpiper, so maybe next time! Bird-of-the-day to the Peregrine Falcon and Clapper Rail gets bumped to runner-up because it didn’t allow for views.
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 954 Species (1 life bird today: Clapper Rail)
