Wigeon or What?
Brooklyn, NYC
Tuesday 20 November 2018
45 °F
Today before my last day of school leading up to Thanksgiving Break, I went birding at Marine Park in Brooklyn in hopes of finding my life bird Eurasian Wigeon, a casual vagrant which has recently been seen there. Tonight, I’m flying back home to Chicago for Thanksgiving!
SWAMP SPARROW:
This MARSH WREN was a fantastic surprise, a wonderful species that is quite unexpected this
late in the fall!
HOODED MERGANSERS:
COMMON GOLDENEYE:
Another surprise was this COMMON RAVEN, although this species is slowly gaining a foothold here in New York City:
MUTE SWANS with BRANT:
GREAT BLUE HERON:
RUDDY DUCK:
BUFFLEHEAD, my favorite species of duck!
AMERICAN WIGEON, the close cousin of my hoped-for Eurasian Wigeon:
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK:
Alas, I never found the Eurasian, but it was not for a lack of trying — I scanned every inch of water there was to be had at Marine Park and thoroughly picked through the thousands of Brant and other waterfowl that populated the preserve today. That’s just how it goes sometimes!
Bird-of-the-day to the Marsh Wren with runners-up to the Common Raven and the Bufflehead. A solid morning of birding here in NYC!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 956 Species
