With fall migration having started early this year, we were hoping for greater numbers of birds, but it was a fairly quiet morning. The groups did see a total of 47 species, including 10 wood warblers, but the numbers of each were mostly one or two. Many thanks to our volunteer leaders Kevin, Carine and Jud.
Species List Birds Canada Goose Mallard Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Double-crested Cormorant Black-crowned Night-Heron Osprey Cooper’s Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Great Crested Flycatcher Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tree Swallow Carolina Wren European Starling Gray Catbird Veery Swainson’s Thrush American Robin Cedar Waxwing House Sparrow House Finch Baltimore Oriole Common Grackle Northern Waterthrush Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Prairie Warbler Canada Warbler Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Registrar: Junko Suzuki Participants: 12 Weather: Sunny, 65–80 degrees at Robert Moses State Park; sunny, 80–84 degrees at Captree State Park; partly cloudy, 86 degrees at Willow Pond; strong SW winds throughout the day. Bird Species: 48
We started the sea watch with our leaders, Mary Normandia and Seth Ausubel, at Field 5 of Robert Moses State Park around 7:30 am. The group was soon joined by Shai Mitra and Pat Lindsay. We had an amazing expert team to lead us, but unfortunately the strong southwest wind was not favorable for seabird watching. We still saw Northern Gannet, several species of terns, including Roseate; Lesser Black-backed Gulls; a couple of shorebird species; Black Scoters; and Blue-winged Teals.
Then the participants were treated to a delicious bagel breakfast with lox, cream cheese and fruit, thanks to the generous Pat and Shai. After this enjoyable break, we attempted some more seawatching before separating into two groups. One group, led by Mary and Seth, headed toward the lighthouse. The other stayed with Shai and Pat at the beach, eventually seeing several shearwaters, while the lighthouse group had a Cape May Warbler and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Although the official part of the trip ended around 11:15, 10 of the 12 participants decided to drive to nearby Captree State Park, where they sighted two of the best birds of the day: a Tricolored Heron and a Royal Tern.
After Captree State Park, eight participants decided to check out the Roseate Spoonbill, a mega rarity reported earlier in the day at Willow Pond in Hewlett Bay Park. After struggling to find the closest parking lot, we anxiously walked down the road to the pond, where we were treated to the sight of the beautiful pink spoonbill among numerous Great Egrets. This bird ended up being the outstanding highlight of the day.
Species Lists
Birds Blue-winged Teal Black Scoter Mourning Dove Ruby-throated Hummingbird Semipalmated Plover Greater Yellowlegs Sanderling Least Sandpiper Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Least Tern Forster’s Tern Common Tern Roseate Tern Royal Tern Northern Gannet Double-crested Cormorant Tricolored Heron Snowy Egret Great Egret Great Blue Heron Roseate Spoonbill Osprey Downy Woodpecker American Crow Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Wren European Starling Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird American Robin Cedar Waxwing House Sparrow House Finch American Goldfinch Song Sparrow Eastern Towhee Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Common Yellowthroat Cape May Warbler Northern Cardinal
Leader: Tom Stephenson Registrar: Anne Lazarus Participants: 18 participants Weather: Rain delaying trip on arrival, then sunny, calm, 70s-80s F.
Every spring and summer the water levels in the East Pond are mechanically lowered to create mudflats where shorebirds can forage. When the tides are high shorebirds gravitate to the exposed mudflats of the East Pond. This year the high tide on Aug. 26th was at 4:30 pm. We made the decision to shorebird in early morning at Plumb Beach where the low tides exposed the mudflats. Sure enough the shorebirds arrived in numbers where they foraged for invertebrates. In addition we saw many species of terns, including Caspian, Gull-billed Tern, Forster`s, Common and Least Terns. Two Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings were among the special shorebirds of Plumb Beach. We walked to the marshes where we were greeted by three Clapper Rails. A Seaside Sparrow was observed by many, and a Saltmarsh Sparrow was also present.
Our second stop was the West Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Our outstanding leader, Tom Stephenson, found a Baird`s Sandpipers. He made sure we all had the opportunity to see this special shorebird. We did not neglect the Semi-palmated Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, ducks, including one female Ring-necked Duck in eclipse plumage and carefully analyzed. Other interesting ducks included Green-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers. We were amazed to see about twenty Black-crowned Night Herons gathered in one small location on the West Pond.
Our final stop was the south end of the East Pond. Because of frequent storms this spring and summer the water level was high. We could not walk beyond the south border of the pond. Despite the restricted exposure of mudflats, we counted several shorebird species, including Short-billed Dowitcher, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, several species of sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers and more. We had excellent looks at a Little Blue Heron.
Torrential rain did not stop the dedicated Linnaean members from driving in the early morning. What a rewarding trip we had!
Species Lists
Birds Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Yellow-crowned Night Heron Glossy Ibis Canada Goose Mute Swan Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal Ring-necked Duck Ruddy Duck Osprey Peregrine Falcon Clapper Rail Black-bellied Plover Semi-palmated Plover American Oystercatcher Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semi-palmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Baird`s Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Caspian Tern Common Tern Forster`s Tern Least Tern Black Skimmer Rock Dove Mourning Dove American Crow Barn Swallow Carolina Wren American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Cedar Waxwing Saltmarsh Sparrow Seaside Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow
It was a surprisingly cool but windy day when we traveled to Staten Island in search of birds and insects. Many thanks to Seth Wollney, excellent all-around naturalist, for sharing his knowledge about the many species that inhabit Brookfield Park, a remediated landfill that borders Richmond Creek on the north. It has hills covered with low-growing vegetation, as well as marshes along the creek. Many native plants grow here, but unfortunately, phragmites are also starting to invade the habitat.
Despite the wind, we saw a good variety of beautiful insects and birds, including a pair of Bald Eagles and many Great and Snowy Egrets. A flock of nearly 100 confiding Semipalmated Sandpipers seemed to be following us as we walked through the fields.
Species Lists
Insects American Sand Wasp Ant sp. Black Swallowtail Blue Dasher Broad-winged Skipper Cabbage White Carolina Grasshopper Carolina Saddlebags Black Saddlebags Common Green Darner Dog-day Cicada (aka Swamp Cicada) Horace’s Duskywing Eastern Tailed-blue Monarch Orange Sulphur Pearl Crescent Red Milkweed Beetle Seven-spotted Ladybug Spot-winged Glider Spotted Lanternfly Twelve-spotted Skimmer Viceroy Wasp sp.
Birds Canada Goose Gadwall Mallard Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Clapper Rail Virginia Rail Semipalmated Plover Lesser Yellowlegs Least Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Double-crested Cormorant Black-crowned Night Heron Snowy Egret Great Egret Great Blue Heron Osprey Bald Eagle Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Northern Mockingbird American Goldfinch Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird
Registrar: Mary Beth Kooper Report Narrative by: Anne Lazarus Participants: 16 Weather: 71 – 79°F, Gentle N – SW winds Bird Species: 50 + 4 other taxa
Neither rain nor any weather possibility or high East Pond levels could stop us. We thank our amazing leader, Keith, for finding so many exciting birds for us. We appreciate it all. The skippers skipped away very quickly, and only one Pearl Crescent was cooperative. We also saw Green Darners and one Black Saddlebags.
Species Lists
Birds Canada Goose Mute Swan Blue-winged Teal Gadwall Mallard American Black Duck Green-winged Teal Ruddy Duck duck sp. Mourning Dove Killdeer Semipalmated Plover Short-billed Dowitcher Spotted Sandpiper Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Stilt Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper peep sp. Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Black Skimmer Least Tern Forster’s Tern Double-crested Cormorant Yellow-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Little Blue Heron Snowy Egret Great Egret Great Blue Heron Glossy Ibis Osprey Peregrine Falcon Empidonax sp. Tree Swallow Barn Swallow swallow sp. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Carolina Wren European Starling Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird American Robin House Sparrow Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle Yellow Warbler Northern Cardinal
Insects Black Saddlebags Cabbage White Green Darner Monarch Butterfly Pearl Crescent Spotted Lanternfly
Registrar: Debbie Mullins Participants: 12 Weather: Partly cloudy, southerly winds at 5-10 mph, mid 70`s F Bird Species: 34
Twelve birders spent a delightful morning at Cupsogue Beach County Park with Eileen Schwinn, an expert Suffolk County birder who has logged many hours at this location. We started the day with a scan of the saltmarsh from the parking lot. Both Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows were seen, as well as a Willow Flycatcher taking advantage of a large hatch-out. We then did a brief sea watch from the platform leading out to the beach; it yielded a few shearwaters, likely Greater or Corey’s, but they were too distant to identify with certainty. On the roadway out to the bay, a Merlin was observed, along with several passerines.
We arrived at the bay about two hours before dead low tide and found an abundance of terns, gulls, and shorebirds on the sandbars and mud flats. Hundreds of Common Terns and about a dozen Royal Terns were present, in addition to a good variety of shorebirds. We were delighted to see a Marbled Godwit foraging on the edge of Spoil Island, and a Pectoral Sandpiper was spotted near the area favored by the Royal Terns. Aware of an approaching storm, we wrapped up around noon and enjoyed lunch together at the snack bar before departing.
Species Lists
Birds Mute Swan American Oystercatcher Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Piping Plover Marbled Godwit Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Willet Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Least Tern Common Tern Royal Tern Common Loon shearwater sp. Double-crested Cormorant Great Egret Snowy Egret Yellow-crowned Night Heron Glossy Ibis Merlin Willow Flycatcher Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Northern Mockingbird Seaside Sparrow Saltmarsh Sparrow Song Sparrow
Registrar: Richard Davis Participants: 19 Weather: 78–82 F. Mostly sunny, N winds 5 mph. Bird Species: 16
Nineteen Linnaeans and botany enthusiasts gathered on a warm sunny morning to wander in available tree shade and light breezes around the Pool and briefly into the Ravine of northern Central Park. Many participants commented on the broad knowledge and enthusiasm of walk leader Regina Alvarez, whose experience in Central Park and in teaching is an excellent combination for transmitting information about the plant life of the Park and the way it has been managed over the years.
She started by lending magnifying loupes to participants, explaining that a jeweler’s loupe at 10x would be best for field study. She demonstrated how to use them by bringing the loupe quite close to the face and resting it against the cheek to hold it near the eye. The object to study must be very near the bottom of the glass.
Our first stop was at a hawthorne tree with quite a bit of cedar-apple rust, which exhibited as small, ball-shaped, reddish clumps with short hairs or tentacles, but is actually a fungus.
She pointed out which plants are native, which non-native, and which invasive. For example, we quickly encountered pokeweed, which is native and produces berries that birds love but are highly toxic to humans. (You can make ink with them.) In contrast, porcelain berry, a non-native invasive from temperate Asia in the grape family, should always be quickly removed from gardens and other habitats, as it will overwhelm and destroy native plant life.
The pokeweed and deadly nightshade sparked a discussion about foraging and the risks to an inexperienced forager. In general, foraging is not advisable in an ecosystem like that of Central Park, which would suffer greatly if thousands of visitors took up the practice.
Virginia knotweed (native) also known as touch-me-not, offered an amusing opportunity to demonstrate seed dispersal, with the seeds popping off and flying to quite a distance. Birds are also fans.
A young black cherry tree’s bark (native) exhibited prominent horizontal lenticels, or striations, that allow for gas exchange—that is, for the plant to breathe. As the plant grows older, as seen lower on the trunk, it develops what looks like burnt potato chip skin. The berry of this tree is beloved by birds and used for the black cherry flavor of soft drinks.
We observed a tulip tree (native) that demonstrated an ability to self prune, with lower shaded branches falling off as the tree grows, leaving a faint mark on the trunk that eventually fades. It is one of our tallest trees, and its long, straight trunk is made of a soft wood that is great for telephone poles, beams, and dugout canoes.
A large oak tree (native) near the birdbath area of the Pool was a fine example of a keystone species—that is, one that many other species depend on thanks to the enormous number of insects they host.
Burdock (non-native) was an example of a biennial, an individual plant with a lifespan of just two years.
The spice bush is a native wetland shrub that offers a fruit high in lipids to birds; it is a form of metabolic energy for migrating birds that is preferable to fruits loaded with sugar. The leaves produce a compound, the spice scent or flavor, that is a predator defense mechanism.
We came upon mugwort, also not native, which was probably brought over by colonists as a medicinal plant. Mugwort, among other plants, produces compounds to deter insects; this can create a detectable odor, which wanes by late summer, after plant reproduction has occurred. Mugwort is an invasive species, taking over open sunny areas.
In the Ravine we spotted some native hydrangea being visited by a native bee. Regina explained that native wild bees are critical for “buzz pollination,” a form of pollination that domesticated bees (honeybees) cannot perform, in which the bee vibrates to dislodge pollen. Plants in the tomato (nightshade) family require this type of pollination to reproduce.
We encountered poison ivy (native), reaching onto the path on a wooden bridge in the Ravine. Regina explained that the Park has a policy of managing rather than eradicating this plant, which produces berries popular with 60 species of birds, as well as the urushiol oil that stimulates an allergic reaction in approximately half the people who come in contact with it.
Species Lists
Birds Mallard Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Northern Flicker Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay European Starling Gray Catbird American Robin House Sparrow American Goldfinch Common Grackle Northern Waterthrush Black-and-white Warbler Northern Cardinal
Plants
Trees—Native Black Locust Honey Locust Hackberry American Sycamore Black Cherry Tulip Tree Tupelo Tree (Black Gum) American Sweetgum Tree Bald Cypress Sassafras Oak Tree Red Oak Black Walnut Red Maple Red Buckeye Pin Oak Hornbeam Sweetbay Magnolia Hickory (species) Serviceberry or Shad Bush Eastern Redbud
Trees—Hybrid London Plane
Trees—Non-Native Weeping Willow White Mulberry Ginkgo
Shrubs, Vines and Flowers—Native Sweet Pepperbush Purple Flowering Raspberry Pokeweed Hackberry Blackberry Jewelweed Poison Ivy Woodland Sunflower Wolffia (Watermeal) Duckweed Virginia Knotweed American Plantain White Baneberry (Doll’s Eyes) Spicebush Wild Bergamot (Beebalm) Native rose Arrowwood viburnum White Wood Aster White Snakeroot Green-headed Coneflower Purple Coneflower Staghorn Sumac Cardinal Flower Blue Lobelia Joe-Pye Weed Black Raspberry Witch Hazel Elderberry Lizard’s Tail
Shrubs, Vines and Flowers—Non-native European Plantain Mugwort Wineberry Porcelain Berry Japanese Knotweed Bittersweet Nightshade Devil’s Walkingstick Burdock Weed
Registrar: Mary Beth Kooper Participants: 17 Weather: 78 – 82°F, gentle breeze, wind SE – NE Bird Species: 51
We had a wonderful day of birding on Staten Island. Our leader, life-long Staten Islander Howie Fisher, started our day off at Conference House Park, where the highlight was a White-eyed Vireo. From there we went to nearby Joline Avenue Beach, where we had the days most spectacular birds; Caspian and Royal Terns and seven Brown Pelicans! Our next stop was to see the annually nesting Purple Martins which are always a treat to see. Our last stop as a full group was to Wolfe’s Pond Park, where we were hoping to see the Neotropic Cormorant that had been around recently, but we had no luck with that bird. A few participants made one last stop, at Oakwood Beach, and we were treated to seeing a Little Blue Heron and a Marsh Wren.
Species List
Bird Species Canada Goose Mute Swan Mallard Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) Mourning Dove Chimney Swift American Oystercatcher Killdeer Laughing Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Black Skimmer Caspian Tern Common Tern Royal Tern Double-crested Cormorant Brown Pelican Black-crowned Night Heron Little Blue Heron Snowy Egret Great Egret Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Osprey Bald Eagle Red-bellied Woodpecker Downey Woodpecker Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Blue Jay Fish Crow Tree Swallow Purple Martin Barn Swallow White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Marsh Wren Carolina Wren European Starling Gray Catbird American Robin House Sparrow American Goldfinch Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Common Yellowthroat Yellow Warbler Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting
