Leader: Seth Wollney
Registrar: Mary Beth Kooper
Participants: 17
Weather: 55F, NW winds 10 MPH
Bird Species: 59
Our group had a lovely day birding the east side of Staten Island for fall migrants with our very knowledgeable and welcoming leader, Seth Wollney. We visited the best possible hotspots to see a variety of birds during this season. Our first stop was Mount Loretto where we saw 41 species of birds, including an unexpected highlight of the day, a Bobolink. From Mount Loretto we made our way down south to Conference House Park. It was relatively quiet there but we did manage to see seven species of warblers. A very disturbing sighting at this location was hundreds of Spotted Lantern Flies, both on the ground and on tree trunks. Many in our group tried to kill as many as possible, but there were just too many, and too many out of our reach for us to feel we had made a dent to the infestation there. Our last stop was at Miller Field, where the large puddles are a major attraction for shorebirds. On this day we had just four species with no rarities but we also got to see a Royal Tern when we spent some time scanning over the ocean; it was a nice way to end our day.
Species Lists
Birds
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Chimney Swift
Killdeer
Dunlin
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
House Finch
American Goldfinch
White-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Butterflies and Other Insects
Chinese Praying Mantis
Spotted Lanternfly
