Registrar: Suzanne Zywicki
Participants: 6
Weather: 71 – low 80s °F. Partly sunny, with light wind and sporadic light rain.
Bird Species: 44
While waiting for the group to convene at 7 am, we saw large groups of Chimney Swifts, more than 60, and Fish Crows, over 50, flying overhead. After the group assembled, we headed toward the banks of the East River, walking through Sunken Meadow Fields. While we didn’t see any of the interesting sparrows we had hoped for, there were Laughing and Great Black-backed Gulls and a Tree Swallow over the river.
We also saw the first of three Killdeer we encountered throughout the day and two Northern Yellow Warblers traveling between treetops. As we continued, we were treated to both a male and female Kingfisher flying low over the Bronx Kill and occasionally perching on trees along the banks. We also saw both an adult and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron perched together.
As the walk progressed, we headed toward the abandoned driving range, along the way observing several more warbler species, a small flock of American Goldfinch, and a handsome Red-tailed Hawk seemingly oblivious to the Blue Jays that were harassing it.
Once at the driving range we observed an Eastern Wood-Pewee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, American Kestrel and a Cape May Warbler. We then made our way over to the Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh area where we saw several House Finch and an additional Belted Kingfisher.
We ended our walk after three hours of exploration, having enjoyed working together to identify birds and increasing our familiarity with a lesser travelled place to bird.
Species List
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Gull sp.
Double-crested Cormorant
Black-crowned Night Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
American/Fish Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
New world sparrow sp.
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Northern Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Northern Cardinal
