Cold, Windy Birding
NYC & NJ
Sunday 11 November 2018
47 °F
Yesterday, I visited Jacob Riis Park in the Far Rockaways in search of marine birds and the Hudson River Walkway in the Bayonne Golf Club in New Jersey along the Hudson River in search of wetland birds including the Clapper Rail.
As stated in the title, it was very very cold and windy which made for tricky viewing and photography conditions but isn’t necessarily a bad combination for watching seabirds.
There was a fairly average amount of birds feeding and flying offshore at Jacob Riis, including many BLACK and a smattering of SURF SCOTERS. Here is a Black Scoter:
ROYAL TERN, nice for this late in the year:
Always a treat to see these NORTHERN GANNETS feeding offshore, as they are one of the most reliable “pelagic” species that can be seen from shore, albeit with a powerful zoom or scope.
Then, a large, dark gull-like bird flew overhead. Juvenile Great or Lesser Black-backed? Or Herring Gull? Or (very unlikely) possibly Great Skua??? Let me know if anyone has ideas!
Then, in the afternoon, I visited the Bayonne Golf Club’s Hudson River Board Walk. Upon arrival, I found these LESSER YELLOWLEGS — surprising they are still here in numbers because it is becoming quite late in the season.
GREAT BLUE HERON perched atop a shopping cart:
BRANT, there are so many of these cute geese!
RUDDY DUCKS:
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK:
GADWALL:
Bird-of-the-day to the Northern Gannets at Jacob Riis with runner-up to the unidentified bird — watch for an update to this post once the species is identified. Stay tuned — November is “vagrant month!”
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 956 Species
