Registrar: Ursula Mitra
Participants: 13
Weather: 21–26 deg F, briefly sunny, mostly overcast and windy
Bird Species: 43
Thirteen of us braved the cold–and it was cold–in order to visit several sites on Staten Island under the expert guidance of Richard ZainEldeen. We began our tour at Wolfe’s Pond Park, where we saw a beautiful Wood Duck drake, a Surf and a White-winged Scoter, Common Goldeneyes and Red-breasted Mergansers.
From there we proceeded to Blue Heron Park Preserve, where we were hoping to see Pileated Woodpeckers. Unfortunately, although we saw lots of evidence of their presence in the form of large, oval-shaped holes in dead trees, we did not see or hear the birds. However, we enjoyed seeing a Raven flyover and a Hairy Woodpecker at the feeders.
Our final stop was at Mount Loretto Unique Area, where we hoped to see the King Eider that had been reported there for some time. This time we were successful and had very close looks at the female bird. We thank Richard for yet another wonderful trip!
Here is the link to the ebird trip report:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/327206
Species Lists
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
King Eider
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Rock Pigeon
Sanderling
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Horned Grebe
Great Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow8
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
