The Last Week and a Half...

     I've been keeping busy the last week and a half, it was the kiddo's SECOND birthday, I had some chances to volunteer, and more. And in between it all, I got out to enjoy some birds. I'll admit, it's felt like a really slow and not super fruitful migration, but still, there have been some stunners and some wonderful moments. I've also taken my daughter out of a walk at the nature trail at Marine Park and we had the chance to not only look at birds, but collect rocks and sticks (which all now live in my living room). She is super curious about the outdoors and blows to kisses to every animal and says "hi," with a wave to everything. It's wonderful to share nature with her and to drop the camera for an outing together.

Speaking of my daughter, her due date was May 5, 2020. So on that day, despite the nerves of my husband, I went birding, in Green-Wood and had the most amazing show of birds while being just about ready to pop (water broke that evening and she was born the next day). So, last year and this year, I went birding on May 5th, always hoping to re-live that memory. Hopefully one day, she will do it with me.
Anyway, it was extra special that on this outing to have a gorgeous prothonotary warbler visit!

Also, an extra helping of rose-breasted grosbeak! Felt like I have seen many males and females this migration. This fella was feeding in this oak - the same one I stood at on May 5, 2020 and had an array of warblers fly right before my eyes.
I'm not religious, at all. But I find it insane how when it comes to nature, I very much treat certain places as sacred, and come back to them because of a moment I had there.

Oh, and he sand a little tune between mouth-fulls!

Had many a wood thrush this day and ovenbirds, often in the same places. They kind of occupy a similar role of feeding upon insects o the forest floor so it's no coincidence they look and act quite similar.

Not as big a day as I had in 2020, but still perfect. I'll take it!

The weekend that followed, May 6th and 7th, we had some rainy, windy weather. On Monday, I did Plover Patrol with NYC Plover Project and saw so much erosion and a sad scene. I had noted many oystercatchers sitting on the sand and paired up. Many on what I assumed were nests. Well, for some who nested closer to the ocean, the waves literally came up and washed away a few nests, as evidenced by this egg, not a single adult nearby or frantically calling. This egg (and a second nearby, likely from the same clutch) was abandoned and probably gone.
Nature is tough on these animals, and with rising sea levels that puts a whole 'nother kind of pressure on these birds, plus human activity, because, we love the beach - so I am happy to be part of helping to teach people about how to best share the shore.

Many of the sanderlings on the beach are getting into their snazzy breeding plumage. They go from the white and gray look to this rust-red color. They look like a completely different bird!

On Monday, the winds were still quite, well, windy. The surf was impressive and all the piping plover I saw were in the dunes or behind the symbolic fencing (these are the string barrier put up around the dunes that people are asked to stay out of, to protect these endangered birds and others).
This plover in particular was quite sleepy, and used this beach wrack pile as a windbreak. 

In the exclosure, the birds were still on their nest, even getting up to chase off oystercatchers who got too near.... which is funny because the oystercatchers cannot get inside -- but good behavior on the parents. Once the eggs hatch they will have to really work hard to keep their mobile chicks safe!

The only birds I saw in or near the water on Monday were American Oystercatchers or Sanderlings - who even they were not getting as close as they normally do as the waves were big and fast!

On Wednesday last week, I did some more plover patrol, but tried out Breezy Point. There were a nice showing of them there! Many down at the water, foraging among the waves as they lapped up onto the beach.

And of course, darting their way from place to place or out of that one wave that they thought was going to not come up quite that far! I love how each bird is distinct, their black markings are various thicknesses and lengths. Some with marking that seem barely there...

...To others who nearly have a full collar around their neck!

I also saw, in addition to piping plover, two other types of plover, black-bellied plover and this, a killdeer! Both of which are much larger than the piping plovers!

My heart skipped a beat as this one plover hopped inside this horseshoe crab shell! Oh the significance these chelicerates have to the lives of shorebirds who visit our bayside beaches.

Folks wonder why these birds are at such risk -- well, take a look.
I generally spot them when I notice sand that moves. They blend in amazingly well, and when Fifi runs off leash on the beach, you likely don't even see the plover she disrupts or worse, hunts. 
Or when you're flying your kite, you scare the parent bird off the nest because they perceive your recreational activity as a hawk overhead.
So many folks don't see these birds and especially their chicks, whose instinct to stay safe is to crouch and blend, which can easily be trampled and injured or worse. So please take a look around you at the beach and notice all the critters who share that space too.

Plus, when you do start noticing, a whole world of discovery opens up!

Then, on Friday the 13th, I did go to the Marine Park Salt Marsh. The day was gray, even rainy at times.
I'll tell you, these marsh birds do not care, including these yellow-crowned night herons.

Look at those impressive plumes from their head!

I kind of really hate taking pictures in overcast conditions. But, I might make an exception for this one moment that turned out so (I hate this word, but is is...) whimsical! The delicate dew surrounding this killdeer who is definitely hiding a chick or two under that floof. I took this from the trail, with heavy cropping and zooming and retreating thereafter. 

Ran into another birder who clued me in to the location of a clay colored sparrow. I ventured toward it to discover it stuck it out and was quite happy to land right on the trail that I too was standing on.

I like this moustache look it has going on, when viewed from the front.

Clay colored sparrows can be easily distinguished from immature or non-breeding chipping sparrows by looking at their eye. That brown streak behind their eye ends there. On a chippy, it would continue through and to the beak.

On this day, Friday the 13th, I also had ana amazing show of Clapper Rails. They were so good, I'll leave you with this, a teaser, I'm going to give them a whole post because I love them so very very much!
Also, want to note, this is an exceptionally great view of a clapper rail as most encounters are by sound. But sometimes, you do get quite lucky, perhaps its a quick walk through a clearing in the marsh grass, or a head that sticks out above a raft or dead reeds, or a white twitch of they tail as one crept away, right under your nose....