Spring Sights and Plovers!

     Yesterday, I birded a good chunk of the morning at Marine Park and logged 65 species of bird along the east and west side of the Salt Marsh Nature Center. It was a perfectly warm morning that cooled off as they day wore on. The catbirds all arrived and made up just about every other bird that I saw.

    Later in the day, I took my first volunteer shift with the NYC Plover Project, and walked the beach at Fort Tilden, spying 5 piping plovers among the oystercatchers and gulls. I helped one dog off the beach toward the boardwalk and talked to a two-some about the plovers and the work I was doing, and of course gave them stickers! It was a very fun first shift, I didn't quite know what to expect!

The brant are still hanging tight. They stay well into May. First to arrive and last to leave.

A lovely surprise, a Baltimore oriole drops in, low in perfect view. I love these orange birds very much.

Did I mention that the Gray Catbirds are back?

It's questionable if the closest osprey platform  to the Nature Center is actually active. The birds are not always sitting on the nest, unlike the south platform, there is always a bird on the nest.

They're back and everywhere. Giving lots of side-eye.

Got a very far off look at the killdeer family. More important than ever to stick to the gravel paths and keep the doggos on leash.

Always obsessed with singing song sparrows.

Never pass up a chance on a posing mockingbird.

Onto the west side, where it is a little bit of the wild west, once you get onto the trails there are some nice surprises like this veery.

Saw a decent showing of warblers including this black-and-white but I also saw Northern parulas, (lots) yellow warblers, and even a Nashville!

This blue-headed vireo was a stunner, hanging out low in the shrubs.

I love how the yellow-rumped warblers transform into quite the stunners for spring.

Onto the beach at Fort Tilden, I met my first Piping Plover of my shift. I learned that he is Clark Kent. Banded in New Jersey in 2018 in New Jersey. He is quite the Celebirdy among the Plover Project Team and Volunteers.

He and most of the plovers I saw were near or close to the shoreline, foraging. Only one bird was on a nest and within a structure called an exclosure, which keeps predators out.

I liked that this American Oystercatcher was a loaf.

Piping Plovers are an endangered species and they do nest on beaches in NYC. The problem is, that where plovers nest, people love to also visit and recreate because we all love the beach. So, that's where the NYC Plover Project in partnership with NPS work to educate beachgoers and curtail behaviors that could negatively affect these birds and their habitat.

The thing about piping plovers is, that they are hard to see. If you aren't looking for them, they and potentially their chicks could be underfoot or mistaken by a dog for a plaything. Dogs are not permitted on these beaches from Mid-March through Mid-September but not everyone knows that.

Being that these birds are endangered, it is important to note that all these photos are taken at my max zoom of 500mm and are then heavily cropped. Please don't walk up to birds for a photo.

Another tagged plover, 62T. I submitted band reports for both this bird and Clark. I'm looking forward to spending some time trying to get views of bands to send in reports for while on these shifts.

The bands definitely also help me not double count birds, Both Clark and 62T I saw on my walk out and my walk back to where I had left my bike!

Also as I was leaving, spotted a beach merlin! Told them to please skip the plover, settle for a sanderling instead.
Also banded, but impossible to get a read!

If you are interested in joining the NYC Plover Project Beach patrol teams, please visit their web, there is another training coming up! Plus, if you love the beach, you'll enjoy this!