Registrar: Miriam Rakowski
Participants: 9
Weather: Partly Cloudy to clearing; 43 to 63 degrees, Winds WNW 1-8 mph
Bird Species: 66
On this early spring day, we went to 5 different sites looking for early spring migrants: Conference House, Mt. Loretto, Wolfe’s Pond Park, Arden Ave. Beach and Great Kills Park. The highlight for many was the Wilson’s Snipe seen very well at Conference House. Other noted birds were Bald Eagle and two Cooper’s Hawks celebrating spring by mating. As we were about to leave the Conference House area, we saw a lovely flash of blue which turned out to be a sole Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a first-of-year bird for most of us. At our last site we were rewarded with two Palm Warblers frolicking on the ground.
Species Lists
Birds
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
American Black Duck
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Oystercatcher
Killdeer (h)
Wilson’s Snipe
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Tree Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Winter Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Palm Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Fish
Banded Killifish (Fundulus diaphanus)
Amphibian and Reptile
Spring Peeper (h)
Red-eared Slider
Eastern Garter Snake
Mammals
Eastern Grey Squirrel
Woodchuck
White-tailed Deer
