Registrar: Karen Asakawa
Participants: 17
Weather: Partly sunny, 83 degrees F
Bird Species: 62
A special thank you to our fine leaders, José R. Ramírez-Garofalo and Shannon Curley. They generously shared habitat and nesting information about Staten Island birds from their field research. It was a pleasure to be with a new generation of young scientists.
We began at Great Kills Park, where we saw the expected Bank Swallows and the unexpected Greater Scaup. A male and female pair of Boat-tailed Grackles were also in clear sight, as well as many of our herons, gulls, and terns of the day. At Lemon Creek we had great views of Purple Martins and their young. We were also able to compare Forster’s and Common Terns as they posed on pilings. At our next stop we were surprised to be greeted on a suburban street near Conference Hall Park by a Wild Turkey.
The trip concluded at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk and Beach, also known as Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier, where we looked for Brown Pelicans. Instead, we found a lively fishing culture and great water views, where some of the group saw a Black Tern.
Species Lists
Birds
Canada Goose
Mallard
Greater Scaup
Wild Turkey
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
American Oystercatcher
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Black Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren (h)
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Field Sparrow (h)
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee (h)
Orchard Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Butterflies
Black Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Orange Sulphur
Clouded Sulphur (probable)
Pearl Crescent
Monarch
Dragonflies
Common Green Darner
Black Saddlebags
Eastern Amberwing
Spot-winged Glider
Blue Dasher
Eastern Pond-hawk
Other Invertebrates
Carolina Grasshopper
Cicada Killer
Herpes
Green Frog
Bullfrog
Eastern Painted Turtle
Mammals
Woodchuck
Eastern Cottontail
