Jamaica Bay & Bryant Park
New York, NY
Thursday 3 March 2022
51 °F
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2:
As I am on spring break now, of course I have to carve out some time for birding! So with the warmer temps today, I thought it would be the perfect day to head out to Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Queens, one of the most scenic places in NYC. It is quite a commute to get there — three subways and a bus — but the birds and scenery are always worth it. I was hoping to see the large flocks of wintering Snow Geese, a continuing, semi-rare Eurasian Wigeon, and if I was very lucky, maybe one of the resident Barn Owls!
Upon arriving, I did my usual route: a clockwise circuit of the West Pond followed by checking the lookouts at Big John Pond and East Pond. West Pond had a lot of waterfowl, including GADWALL:
MUTE SWANS:
HOODED MERGANSER:
BRANT:
And the winter-resident SNOW GEESE did not disappoint! There was a massive flock that kept noisily shifting between Jamaica Bay and West Pond. Awesome!
Passerines were also present, the best of which was a heard-only ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, though this GRAY CATBIRD was more cooperative:
As was this SONG SPARROW:
Try as I could, the Eurasian Wigeon was nowhere to be found so I just had to settle for its AMERICAN cousins (drake American Wigeon center):
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS with CANADA GEESE:
On a clear day like today, there is a beautiful, albeit distant, view of the downtown Manhattan skyline from Jamaica Bay:
Looking out into the actual bay, I picked up a few new species for the day like this distant RED-THROATED LOON:
And a COMMON:
As well as a HORNED GREBE (center), the first one I’ve seen in New York in a long time!
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD:
RUDDY DUCKS:
Next, I headed across Cross Bay Boulevard to bird the other side of the Wildlife Refuge. Looking into the owl box, I was most shocked and thrilled to see the beautiful, heart-faced silhouette of a BARN OWL peering back at me! Wow!!!! This is an endangered species in the state and it is harder to find these guys here out east, by an order of magnitude, than out in Idaho where I’m used to seeing them. Absolutely amazing!
Can you make out its silhouette in this picture? This is how it looks for real — I may have missed the owls had I not yanked the exposure way up like in the previous shot.
A beautiful female HOODED MERGANSER was swimming on the pond below the owl box:
Then, I discovered why the owl was being so cooperative: it was protecting its territory from a pesky Eastern Gray Squirrel! I tweaked the exposure here again so you can see the owl better. It was not happy with the squirrel’s presence, and in the first photo you can even make out a second owl squeezed inside too!
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK:
Male BUFFLEHEAD:
Female:
Flyover FISH CROW — this midwesterner always gets a kick out of this primarily east coast species (though its range has been greatly expanding, including into parts of Illinois and even Michigan):
With the exception of the no-show Eurasian Wigeon, I had seen about all there was to see in Jamaica Bay, so I decided to make the commute back into the city to try to photograph an American Woodcock at Bryant Park before sunset. These poor birds always get stuck in this particular park this time of year, as indeed it was also the last bird I chased in Manhattan prior to the pandemic in 2020, almost exactly 2 years to this day!
I arrived at Bryant Park around 5:15 and immediately set out to search for the Timberdoodle. Upon arrival, it took me about thirty seconds to find a woman pointing her camera into the bushes, and sure enough, right where folks said it was, there was a derpy little AMERICAN WOODCOCK hanging out at the corner of 40th & 6th Ave in Bryant Park. Awesome — I will never tire of these guys!
Bird-of-the-day to my New York lifer Barn Owls with runner-up to those impressive flocks of Snow Geese. Next week I will be heading home for five days and I will surely find a bit of time for birding, so stay tuned!
Good birding!
Henry
World Life List: 1128 Species
Thanks for letting us share your birding experiences in NY! Some birds are coming back to SW Wisconsin now: red-winged blackbirds, kildeer, and tundra swans passing over the property. Cool barn owl!
by liz cifani