Aves de la playa

     Go back two weekends ago and I got in some beach birding at Breezy Point and joined the Feminist bird club for a bilingual bird walk with translation available in Spanish. First I'll begin with the sights in Breezy:

A freshly fledged catbird. I walked the 4-wheel drive path to the beach this day and glad I moved this little one off the path. It sat right in the tire tracks and that walk, 2 trucks came through. This little nugget didn't even budge when I got close. On my walk back it was gone, hidden, and I saw an adult catbird in the same area so I hope this little one ended up safe.

A flagged sanderling-- and didn't get a read.

Sanderlings were the dominant bird (in numbers) on the beach. Lots gathered up past the shore line in large numbers.

A piping plover on the hunt. I love being able to see these birds within the limits of NYC.

Lots of immature birds on the beach, this one a least tern.

And this one a common tern. All of the immature birds sat on the beach begging as their parents flew in with fish, still milking that while they can.

A brown thrasher going through a comical molt. First I thought this a young bird-- and it could be, molting into its adult plumage. Or it could have lice or just a weird molt- as it has been observed that some species go through such funky molts, resulting in "bald" birds. See more in this article by Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://feederwatch.org/learn/unusual-birds/bald-headed-birds/

A least sandpiper feeding on the bay side of Breezy Point. I just learned today how to access the bay side, and I might be doing so more often, especially looks promising for low tide and exposed flats.

I love these birds, ruddy turnstones, those orange legs are so striking.

Here the ruddy turnstone is turning sand.

 On July 28th, the Feminist Bird Club partnered with NYC Audubon to do its first ever bilingual bird walk. We had a spanish field guide available to identify and learn names of the birds in Spanish. While almost all of our walk was still in English, it was still super great to have this option available for any one who wanted to join us an utilize spanish to identify birds and learn some birding basics.  Also, bonus, it hosted quite a few great bird people, and some new-to-birding folks who got access to some great bird mentors. Here is some of what we saw:

Lots of semipalmated sandpipers running around on the mud flats and in between.

Had a nice flyover of dinosaur--- I mean, glossy ibis.

A short-billed dowitcher, a giant among the semipalmated and least sandpipers.

Fully preening/grooming session among stilt sandpipers.

A more typical look for stilt sandpipers.

A least sandpiper catching little insects on the mud. 

A semipalmated sandpiper-- and on the feet, you can see the semipalmated toes that gives this bird its name.

Not pictured, we were treated to a Wilson's Phalarope on the West Pond, we spent a good chunk of time on the East side, but the West side provided a little blue heron and the phalarope.