Registrar: Dom Ricci
Participants: 10
Weather: Around 60 °F, overcast with rain of increasing intensity
Bird Species: 28
With an approaching rainstorm threatening to cut the outing short, Linnaean Society birders, led by Alan Drogin, set out to explore Randall’s Island before conditions became intolerable. At the abandoned driving range, they encountered several mixed flocks that included Dark-eyed Juncos and Song, Swamp, Chipping, White-throated, and Savannah Sparrows, along with Eastern Phoebes and Northern Mockingbirds.
The group then followed the island’s northeastern shoreline to survey the Bronx Kill salt marsh, recently restored after completion of the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission-line project earlier in the year. There, much to everyone’s delight, they found a Nelson’s Sparrow—the first recorded on the walk since construction began four years earlier.
As the rain intensified, the birders reluctantly abandoned their search for a recently reported Vesper Sparrow. They dried off over lunch, celebrating both a memorable sighting and an encouraging example of environmental stewardship and human development coexisting successfully.
Species List
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Mourning Dove
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
