This Was July (the non-plover part)

     July has been a lot. I have devoted much of my week to chick-sitting for NYC Plover Project but I have been able to do a tiny bit of birding when it was not triple digit temperatures out there. 

    The heat put a damper on any urge I had to go birding, especially in sitting on the beach most of the week. And of course some wonderful birds have been starting to migrate through, including some that would be lifers. I just hoped that they would stick out the week so I could see them without having to torture myself in the heat. And with luck on my side, they did!

Summer can be slow, so I sat around watching this great egret capture fish at high tide between the marsh grasses at Marine Park earlier this month.

It ate a lot of these, I wonder how many it needs in order to be satisfied.

I also tried capturing the Forster's terns as they hunted and dove into the waters.
Post dive you have to shake off all that excess water.

One of the resident osprey. Both nests have chicks this year, it's very exciting.

No luck on this dunk, fishless.

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on what I am fairly sure is beebalm. 
When it's summer the butterfly and moth show is always there to impress.

I also got the chance to visit Jamaica Bay's East Pond. Happily thanks to the work of a committed volunteer, I was able with friends to traverse all the way to its northern most points and got to see a life bird, two Hudsonian Godwits, Of which I got no pictures of, they were at a distance, but I was very happy to see them.
What did put on a spectacular and very entertaining show were the Forster Terns (pictured) with their fledglings who were whining to their parents, begging for food, and all too familiar to myself.

This female boat-tailed grackle was destroying this very big grapevine beetle. I thought at first it was a crab, as it was decently large enough.

The fledgling terns practicing their diving. Over, and over, and over, and over again. Comically dipping themselves just as soon as they came back up, father than hovering to determine their next target. It was pretty fun to watch.

And then, after watching their parents, they'd fly after them to beg for the fish they came up with.
I really loved the adult tern that came up with a fish with their whining fledgling in tow.... and just guiltlessly gulped down the fish for themselves. I was happy for them, because I know that feeling and that desire to eat that last delicious bite from your plate rather than selflessly sharing it to your offspring who has already eaten the majority of your dinner over their own.
Been there.

One of the major contributors to the soundtrack of yesterday's adventure were the short-billed dowitchers. There were lots of them and I was very excited to be able to pick out a long billed among them. It helped that it was so super red and chonky, it really stood out as different from the short-billeds.

At first was very confused by what seemed to be fully yellow legs, but the black on it's front of legs and the yellow face makes this a juvenile snowy egret.

In addition to the dowitcher section of the symphony, the other major contributor to the soundtrack of yesterday were the lesser-yellowlegs. Don't let that name fool you, they are very great, indeed.
Felt pretty fortunate to bird from 8am till nearly 12:30pm with some friends on a delightfully breezy day where the bugs were kept at bay, it wasn't 100 degrees, the pond was VERY walkable, and we got a bunch of the things we all secretly hoped for: Hudsonian Godwit, Bonaparte's Gull, Black-headed Gull, and Long-billed Dowitcher.

If you do plan to traverse the East Pond at Jamaica Bay WR, I highly suggest understanding how/where/names of the place. This map from Birding Dude, Andrew Baksh will be of great help to you.

Happy Birthday, Shirley Chisholm State Park!

     Last Saturday morning, my friend Christine and I explored Shirley Chisholm State Park. For her, it was their first visit to this place, and with forecasts for clouds, in the heat of summer, these are ideal conditions on the grasslands.
    Unbeknownst to us, it was the third year of this park being open to the public, and habitat-wise, it's a great park giving Brooklyn Neighborhoods of Canarsie and East New York access to an amazing Green Space with waterfront access for exploration and fishing. The park also boasts ecology programs, a free bike library program, and amazing views of our urban landscape against the reclamation of human activity by nature (with of course, help from people).
    This park and it's two sections are both old landfills, so with a little engineering and work, it is a safe space for people and wildlife, alike boasting many native grasses, wetland plants, and a few trees.
    While summertime is a quiet time, as birds are more secretive as they raise their families and attempt to keep them safe. But over the water, terns are diving into the water, shore birds can be seen at low tide, and if you're lucky you might see a terrapin pop its head up from the water.
    The weather stayed mostly cloudy, but the sun did come out toward the end of our walk and, oh boy, it's blazing hot there, especially on the asphalt. I recommend sticking to the gravel trails and bringing water if you plan to go-- and earlier in the day (mind you the park has hours where the gates are open, so do check before you go) and when there is a nice breeze. And protect your skin with sunscreen or protective clothing! You may also consider bug spray too!
    Any who, we did get some sights that blew us away, including, but not pictured here, and young Eastern cottontail that made my brain explode with cuteness.

Noticed a Killdeer making a lot of racket and feigning injury. That only meant one thing.

There is something worth protecting and distracting from.

Killdeer are LOUD parents and fake injury to lure potential predators away from their chicks.
This family had four chicks with them, and were walking right on the path in front of where we were heading, so we stood back and watched, but eventually and carefully just walked past and kept moving, honoring their space and giving them a chance to calm down.
except one diligent part walked ahead of us, laying flat and calling it's "deer-deeer-deeeer- DEEEER" call loudly until it was satisfied with how far away it "led" us.

Like the piping plover I voluntarily do outreach around, killdeer too are plovers!
Like piping plovers, they nest on the ground, babies are mobile soon after birth and can self feed, but not fly. Parents actively work together to protect the chicks until they can fly.
But unlike piping plovers, they tend to nest in open, grassy, even rocky areas. Sometimes their nests are found in odd places like islands in parking lots or sports fields.
But, both sure are cute!

If you see any baby birds, especially ones feathered, many are fledging, meaning they are learning to get on in life. Often parents are nearby. Unless a bird is visibly injured, bleeding, or parents do not come to care for it for some time, then it is important to find them help with a licensed rehabilitator. Never attempt to care for a bird yourself!

After seeing the killdeer, we saw a large bird, soaring and circling.
It was a juvenile bald eagle. A very young one at that. This bird is a year or less in age with the extreme darkness to its plumage and beak.
It upset a red-tail hawk family who dove at it and chased it off from where they were occupying. So very cool to see, playing out over the park.

Plover Families

     I am so invested at this point in the Piping Plovers down at the beach and my volunteering with NYC Plover Project. Babies keep arriving and by then the real challenges come into play as the chicks are mobile hours after hatching and predators loom in the night, while by day, most beach goers have no idea what a plover even is. I have had my heart filled and emptied in a matter of 24 hours, chicks emerge and they can disappear the next day. There is something special you feel in watching these babies and their parents work so hard to ensure survival.

    Piping Plovers are gentle looking birds, and honestly compared to some other birds nesting nearby, like the common terns, their attempts to protect themselves and their chicks seem a heck of a lot gentler too. Unlike the repeated dive bombing of your face and head by the terns, most piping plover prefer to take the distraction approach, where they feign injury and attempt to lure you off in another direction, away from their family. They are a joy to watch (from a  respectful distance ensuring that chicks can feed and not feel threatened) and I am hoping for as many chicks as possible to fledge.

The adults will defend their chicks against other Piping Plovers who are not part of the family. The bird on the left is an interloper.

And the parent gives chase with open wings.

After a crouch that looks menacing, the interloper took flight and the parent chased them until they were a satisfying distance away from their chicks.

This is about as fierce as piping plovers typically get.

After the interloper was given chase, the family proceeded to lead their chicks to get to the water.

As a mother myself, I find nothing more satisfying than providing a good meal to my toddler and watching her happily gobble it up.
So watching these plover chicks touch their toes to the water and have the chance to eat, it made me SO happy. I had that same feeling, the joy of nourishment to help them grow.

Plover chicks have to get to the waters edge in order to feed. The parents have to lead their whole family down the beach from the dunes to the water. In this endeavor they must avoid gulls, crabs, and people the entire way there and back again.

Any time a person walking the beach approached, the adults would shuffle their chicks back up the beach away from the path of people. And maybe bring them back down again if no other people followed.
You so often think, "but what harm am I doing, just walking?"
It's like feeding a baby but having to take the spoon away again and again, every time a disruption, a person, comes by. How many people walk the beach? How many people disrupt their feeding, taking the spoon from the mouths of babies.

But most folks aren't even aware of these little ones, they are smaller than a golf ball when only a few days old and can be very hard to spot if you are unfamiliar with them.

Best things to do, to help these little fellas and others along?
Leave your dog home (the A/C is better for them anyway).
Don't bring your kite.
Leave no trace, bring all your trash home with you to dispose of properly.
Respect the string lines, keep out of the dunes and read signs posted to follow the rules.

This little one was 14 days old when I snapped this picture. These bird cannot fly until they are approximately 28 days old.
So until they they are on the run and reliant on their parents protection.

While 28 days is fast, its excruciatingly slow as you are monitoring these birds on a day-to-day basis.

Nearly the same size as its parents, these chicks grow quickly! Which is also why it's so important for them to get to the water to eat.

Every little meal is a big accomplishment for these plover chicks.