Pelham Bay Park
Bronx, NYC
Monday 15 November 2021
64 °F
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8:
Today, I headed over to Pelham Bay Park for birding and herping since today and tomorrow will be the last couple warm days of the year here in NYC.
I was hoping to see marine birds off the shore of Pelham, and maybe possibly luck out with some herps since it warmed into the 60’s today. I started out with a SONG SPARROW on the path ahead of me:
As well as a soaring RED-TAILED HAWK:
Of which I later got a very close perched view:
A NORTHERN HARRIER also soared over the landfill I was standing nearby.
A few GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS twittered in the nearby trees, not affording great looks, but it is always nice to see these nevertheless:
Then, I headed to the shoreline and started scanning the water. 
Almost immediately, I found my yearbird RED-THROATED LOON! Awesome!
A pair of MALLARDS flew over:
And on the walk back through the more forested section of the park, I did manage to find a single herp: this teeny-tiny Eastern Red-backed Salamander, my first Bronx County herp!
The sun was setting quickly so I headed back to the 6 train and back to school. It was great to finally get out once again. Bird-of-the-day to the Red-throated Loons with runner-up to the Northern Harrier.
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1125 Species
What a sweet little herp!
by Poo