Central Park, Sept 30th

Slow migration day off a west wind and lower temperatures. Although there were quite a few Brown Thrashers in Strawberry Fields there were very few other migrants. The most numerous warbler was Common Yellowthroat. A remarkable 25 Gadwalls in a variety of plumage (some coming out of eclipse, some in full breeding) were around the island at Turtle Pond, which offered a few photo ops.

Gadwall
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
White-throated Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

DeKorte Park, Sept 26th

After Central Park, DeKorte park was rather more active at least in the waterfowl and shorebird sense. Several Lesser Yellowlegs were still around, there was a large concentration of herons in the drying pools, but the best birds were 2-3 Soras, one of which was rather tame.



Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Sora
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher

Central Park, Sept 26th

Low volume migration was somewhat surprising off north winds, including relatively little raptor movement. Best birds were the Green-winged Teal on the Lake and the two Hummingbirds in the Oven. A switch over to later fall species was indicated by Blue-headed Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Phoebe.

Green-winged Teal
Red-tailed Hawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager
White-throated Sparrow

Central Park, Sept 19th

A Saturday morning in the park on a cooler fall day provided some fall migration but nothing spectacular in terms of numbers or more unusual species. Best birds were a skulky Mourning Warbler in Tupelo Meadow and a Peregrine doing acrobatics over the west side at Strawberry Fields.

Peregrine Falcon
Solitary Sandpiper
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting

Northern Wheatear, DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst NJ

Northern Wheatear is moderately common in Britain so I've seen a bunch of them, but only one previously in the US - a quick look at the often-elusive Smith Point Park bird on 9/22/01. So even though I had seen one in GB on 9/11 I went looking for the DeKorte Park bird, finding it relatively quickly and getting good looks at what appears on the face of it to be a first fall immature of the Greenland ssp. This is the first time I've birded the impoundments at DeKorte and there were a good number of shorebirds present. Predominantly Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs there were also Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpipers, Semipalmated and a single juvenile American Golden Plover. Not bad for a morning, and a Northern Harrier was over the phragmites on the way out.

Jamaica Bay, August 27th

After enduring a lot more traffic than was strictly necessary, I managed 2 hours at the East Pond of Jamaica Bay WR on Thursday. Modest number of shorebirds, OK diversity, and although the tide was not perfect it was the last sunnier day before two days of rain. Best bird was the adult Red-necked Phalarope (pic) which seems like it might have had some trauma (or at least a really hard life) judging from disturbed feather patches at the vent. Not a good thing in a frequently pelagic species. Another good bird was a rather skittish juvenile Baird's Sandpiper and a distant American Avocet (so distant that if Shai Mitra had not pointed it out, it was nigh-on invisible with binoculars).

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Gadwall
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Northern Waterthrush

Jamaica Bay, August 7th

A quiet day at the south end of the East Pond, where in retrospect the action was all happening at the north end. The shorebirds were very skittish, doubtless because of a Peregrine Falcon that was hunting the pond intermittently. The individuals were nearly all adults (I saw one juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs) although we are reaching the point there the juveniles should start arriving. The greening of the mud at the south end was just starting to happen with short grass present, destined to become thicker (and more heavily cropped by the Canada Geese) in the weeks to come.

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Mallard
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon
Semipalmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Gull-billed Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Barn Swallow
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Waterthrush
American Goldfinch

Jamaica Bay and Nickerson Beach, August 4th

Arrived at Jamaica Bay to find that in my comatose state that morning I'd left the mud gear at home, so I took a walk along the West Pond before heading further east. There were several Common Yellowthroats as well as single Yellow Warblers and American Redstart. The shorebirds on the West Pond were limited but the usual suspects, lacking some of those that might be considered regular on the East Pond (i.e. no Lesser Yellowlegs or Semipalmated Plover).

After Jamaica Bay I went to Nickerson Beach to check out the Black Skimmer and Common Tern beach colony for the first time. In retrospect I narrowly managed to avoid paying a fairly stiff beach toll by arriving before 8am. At the beach there were a few shorebirds including Semipalmated Plover and Sandpiper, several American Oystercatchers including full-grown juveniles. The colony had many Common Terns (some independent juveniles) and Black Skimmers in a modest-sized roped off area.


Jamaica Bay list:
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Mallard
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon
Greater Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Yellow Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Baltimore Oriole

SIx Mile Run and Griggstown, July 11th

For the first bit of birding I'd done since the MN-ND-WY and Britain trips, I went to Six Mile Run and Griggstown to get a feel of mid-summer birding there. I only got to Six Mile Run by 9am so had to compete with bicyclists for trail usage. Nevertheless I got a pretty reasonable sample of bird life there: Song, Field and Grasshopper Sparrows, Willow Flycatcher, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch - these are all pretty representative of the species there and some of them were still singing including one Grasshopper Sparrow. Perhaps they were starting to worry about second broods, which is probably what all those singing House Wrens are doing (like the one in my back yard).

Griggstown, by contrast, was quiet although it was even later in the morning. Griggstown is less of a native grassland preserve right now than a native shrub and weed preserve and the amount of actual grassland probably translates into reduced diversity. So I didn't linger there and concentrated on trying to fit a modest-sized Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) in my Honda Accord for the drive home from the Belle Mead co-op. This place are good about stocking native plants and many of the perennials in my attempt to make the new place more wildlife-friendly have come from there.