Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area

     I promised my Gma I would take her out for a birthday lunch yesterday (a very happy 89th to her, she endured many summers of me reading field guides to her when I was little and not understanding anything or being able to help me pronounce any animal names) so I headed out east to home on Long Island. I also promised myself I would squeeze a walk in somewhere out on Long Island, on my drive in. I have been seeing so much about this Marine Nature Study Area, and I always see the signs when I go out to kayak, but have never had the chance to visit. So I took today as my opportunity. It happened to be perfect for a short walk, as the area is not huge. It is situated on a salt marsh and it very accessible as paths and boardwalks bring you around. I also love that there is an active osprey nest on site and it happens to be on a path, but there are signs instructing you to either turn around or to quickly walk by until you reach the other side, giving warning not to linger or cause any undue stress to the birds. There was lots of activity when I arrived around 9:30am and I was delighted by various waders, shore birds, and raptors. Also there were dragonflies all over, fiddler crabs in the muddy banks, and you could see the fish that attracted all the birds to the area.
     Bird sightings for the day included mockingbirds, redwing blackbirds, song sparrows, house sparrows, salt marsh sparrows (lifer), barn swallows, tree swallows, black capped night heron, yellow crowned night heron, snowy egret, great egret, least sandpiper, laughing gull, herring gull, greater black-backed gull, common terns, osprey, and peregrine falcons.
     I highly suggest a visit, especially if you are looking for a quick walk- but be warned it is open, very little shade is available, so bring sunscreen and wear a hat. The walk is also very easy, so if you're worried about hills or length of walking, this place is nice and easy. People are also very friendly, I had great conversations about what people saw around here today or in the past. People were very helpful in pointing things out or discussing the day's happenings. For more information, check them out at their website: http://mnsa.info.

I love the red eyes of the black capped night heron, who is stalking about for some delicious salt marsh creature.

If there are dragonflies about, other insects are also around, as a dragonfly needs to eat. The biting flies were out and I was glad dragonflies were everywhere to get them and keep them off of me! I think this guy is a four spot skimmer, and a lovely one at that!

Common terns circled about on the lookout for an unlucky fish.

Not a perfect picture, but their forked tails give them such a delicate appearance.

Terns are fun to watch when they are out hunting, if they spot potential prey they will hover, and stare down as if they are calculating the perfect moment, before they dive and splash into the water, and fly back out, hopefully with something delicious.

When I arrived, all I saw were large birds diving through the air down to the water, and other birds trying to evade. It turns out a family of peregrine falcons live nearby and they were taking the kids out to practice their hunting skills. They all then rested on some lights on a sports field across the water from the salt marsh, an adult sits left and a juvenile sits right. 

The osprey had some young (I think 2) in their platform nest. The adult say diligently over them, and you can see on curious face below.

I walked below the nest quickly, causing the adult to call out, but he stopped when I reached the other side. The center has a camera on the nest so you can view from above. The young birds also got banded yesterday, but I was not able to stic around. See the webcam here.

The song sparrows were doing as their name implied, they were very vocal. 

I love the water reflections on this snowy egret (much smaller than the great egret, with a black bill and black legs). This egret was up to no good though...

...He flew in to give chase to another snowy feeding on this small area of water within the marsh. You can clearly see their inner dinosaur when they become territorial.

I came hoping to add a sparrow to my field guide that I have seen. I was hoping to find a salt marsh sparrow (clearly my field guide is a bit out of date, as it is referred to in it as a sharp-tailed sparrow) and I did! If you keep your eye on the grasses you may see some sparrows flying among them, but never high above. The tend to always be in the grass and well hidden. You have to be diligent about keeping an eye on where they land if you wish to see them again.

Zooming in on a not so great photo, reveals the yellow around its face that makes this my first salt marsh sparrow :)

A sleepy yellow-crowned night heron. 

The study area has great service, this great egret was clearly hired as a parking attendant....

Families, Fledglings, and Flutterings

     After a 3 mile run yesterday (my first run in probably close to a year), my legs were pretty sore, so I opted for a walk today in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Just standing still would cause you to melt into a puddle of perspiration, the day is muggy and grey, just holding back on the rain. I figured it would be good to get out now or never, since I was seeing alerts for flash flood warnings later on. The day gave me a lot of freshly and not so freshly fledged birds, some lovely little families, and some nice insects; I was happy to see many butterflies and my first 3 honey bees- most bees I have seen are bumble bees, but I saw just a few honey bees among the bumbles today and that was a welcome sight.

a fledged green heron still boasts some downy fuzz...

Perfecting his fish snagging skills with the help of a stick on the lullwater.

A proud mallard mama and her clan. 

Group preening session. If mom moved, then the chicks moved, and usually did whatever mom was doing.

Ducklings never get old... 

The mute swan family swims down to the lullwater, through the forests of lilies.

A gorgeous black swallowtail basks in the few rays of sun that poked through the clouds.

 A freshly fledged robin is all leg... Love the little tail nub!

An adult green heron on the upper pool.

There were many pollinators around this plant, but this Eastern tiger swallowtail was a lovely sight.

Egret? Flying? I have to, every single time, I don't get tired ever of egrets in flight...

"Oh hey, Turtle! Is it cool if we share?" (the turtle quickly dove in, was clearly not willing to share)

Love this, the swans from earlier made it to the boathouse and were up on land. Then they were led into the water with such synchronicity.  

A honey bee lapping up the good stuff using that tongue-like proboscis. 

If you know me well, you know I RUN from bees, wasps, hornets- like its my job. I appreciate them, but I will have my space and they can have theirs..... I am using my 300mm lens, fully extended for these shots, because I am a big baby... and I don't want to tick off any bees.

Caterpillar Encounters

     I was inside working on a drawing for a friend when I heard some little girls outside yell out "AWW!" "Mom, can I have the camera?!" "COOL!!" Two little girls were in front of my apartment looking at the curbside patch of grass. I couldn't imagine what could be so cool because it is where trash goes on Monday and Wednesday and also seems to be the place where dogs do their business and owners refuse the clean up, so really, what could be so great? It had to be small, because I couldn't see from my second floor window. I watched as a little girl ran down the block to mom who was trying to rush these two curious ladies along. The other young lady sat there with her hands out, pleading with whatever it was to stay. It didn't seem like this critter was staying or listening, or understood english. These kids held their ground till they got that camera and snapped their photo of whatever was so cool in the grass, between a London planetree and the light post- I condone their curiosity for whatever it was that was photo-worthy.
     Naturally, I too had to take a look. And these kids were spot on, it was cute and cool, and worth taking out my iPhone for. I did run in for my camera, but this sucker was quick and on a mission... away from me and the ground. So, iPhone photos will have to do for this little dude...

I introduce you to the sycamore tussock moth caterpillar. Normally found on sycamore and related species, this silly guy opted for the light post next to the London lane tree, probably what it would prefer to be on, since that is what it feeds on.

"Oh hey there!"

Good luck lil' guy! Apparently there are two broods of these moths... caterpillars in late spring early summer that go on to become moths and breed, then their brood, comes around in mid to late summer and over winter in their cocoon. 

     I used a nice little website to help ID this guy, I found it helpful and I hope you do too! Caterpillar Identification Guide - Discover Life:  Just check off any attributes that you can and results will come up on the side after you search. Found this guy, one of four results on the first try.

Calvert Vaux Park

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn.

     I was searching for a new place to explore and I came upon this park, Calvert Vaux, in Gravesend Brooklyn on Google maps and found it is a nice place for wildlife viewing. Overall I liked the park and what I saw, but it had its share of flaws for sure.
     The park is named for Calvert Vaux, who partnered with Fredrick Law Olmstead to design many parks in the United States, including Central Park and Prospect Park here in New York City. Vaux had a son who lived in Brooklyn, which also happens to be where he died when visiting him from drowning in Gravesend Bay. This park, overlooking the bay was named in 1998 for Vaux and is made of sand and rock excavated from when the Verrazano Bridge was constructed.
     As far as pro's go, the park is like a peninsula, surrounded by the waters of Gravesend Bay and Coney Island Creek, making it very nice for shore birds. Some of the shoreline is made accessible by walkways that take you down onto the sand and rocky shore. Much of the park has lots of "wild" plant growth, making it nice for birds, the wildflowers are absolutely beautiful, attracting pollinators, grasshoppers, and insects galore! It's a bit off the beaten path, you have to cross over the belt parkway to get to it, making it not super crowded. It does have a parking lot, which most NYC parks do not have, I did not drive- but I'm sure that is a plus for some. It of course did have lovely bird viewing for sure. I took the D train to Bay 50th street and walked from there.
     The con's are oddly almost the same as the pro's - The shoreline is accessible by many man-made trails. I went down one that took me to a popular bon fire spot that overlooks Gravesend Bay and gave stellar views of the Verrazano Bridge. Otherwise, the man-made trails look like they are mostly made by people going fishing on the shore, but I honestly did not feel the need to stumble upon any surprises on an unmarked trail so, overall, those were avoided. The park isn't crowded, sticking to the main areas is best, because literally I think in total, I ran into 3 people when walking around the parts of the park away from the ball fields, so just be aware when walking around. I also had an off leash dog run up to me barking, not in the playful way - this happened twice from the same dog and the owner didn't seem to think much of it or care, it was not a fun moment. Also, the park is full of trash, it isn't very well maintained, as one could easily see just by the plant growth, and strewn through out it is lots of trash.
     It is very obvious that Mr. Vaux, himself, did not have any part in designing this park upon my walk through it. But despite its flaws I saw some beautiful sights, birds, blooms, and butterflies! I *think* I may have even seen a monarch butterfly, but lots of cloudless sulphurs, tiger swallowtails, black swallowtail, and common blues. Bird sightings included double crested cormorant, black backed gulls, laughing gulls, yellow crowned night heron, black crowned night heron, great egret, snowy egret, catbird, common grackle, least sandpiper, killdeer, barn swallows, cardinal, robins, mocking bird, redwing blackbird, American crow, cedar waxwing and SO MANY STARLINGS. I have never seen so many starlings in one place all at the same time!
     Warning: I took a lot of photos....

Catbird.

A Spring Azure - thanks to my butterfly ID whiz, EF! Thanks!

Remember how I said lots of starlings? ...and see below. 

     One thing that drove me to come here, is that on Tuesday when I first visited, I saw that laughing gulls were just parked on the fields, sitting, hanging out. Those that were flying flew low. I love nothing more than photographing birds in flight. It is challenging and also I love their wings open and feathers spread. These gulls were flying with and acting like barn swallows! They were flying and maneuvering to catch flying beetles and even flying and plucking beetles off the grass while still in the air. It was such interesting behavior to observe and very cool to stand in the middle of a field with birds just doing their thing all around me. I like that these photos are fun and playful, I love the look summer laughing gulls have, their black heads and blood-red bills are beautiful!

got one!

Gulls are really intelligent and adaptive, clearly these birds have learned that there is a terrestrial buffet next to their beach!

oh yeah, this is part of the trail! I think these are yellow cone flowers. They were a pleasure to walk through, absolutely beautiful!

The Coney Island Creek side of the park includes old abandoned boats/piers and its kind cool to see how they were allowed to remain and become part of the landscape. This one became its own little marsh, with a water source in the middle of all the grasses. Note the yellow crowned night heron hanging out on the starboard side (right). A snowy egret was in among the grass. 

From the shoreline looking back up to the trail. I mean, c'mon this is just lovely!

     Oh yeah, I really love birds in flight. I think egrets may be my favorite bird in flight. They are just stunning!! A great egret flew right over me and did a wonderful job of looking amazing.

Least sandpipers darted around along the beach foraging in the sand.

Bird nerd and bird prints in the sand together.

Also along the beach were many prints like this. Horseshoe crab sand angels.

Another least sandpiper.

My first Brooklyn killdeer!

A fishing great egret. Caught two fish while I watched. 

The normal habitat of this species is normally power lines... this individual has taken up residence in a very different habitat than normal.

A lovely surprise before leaving, a cedar waxwing perched and preening!