Skipping Spring for a Day

     This past Tuesday was amazingly warm. We reached a high of 84 for the day. I had rode my bike to work and on my way home, especially when riding through Prospect Park I got that awesome summer vibe. People who have been hiding all winter had emerged from hiding. You don't realize how many people populate Brooklyn and Manhattan until the weather gets nice, people just spill from every crack and crevice out into the world. Maybe that is why I enjoy winter hiking so much, so many less people around and much quieter.
     Riding my bike home through the park on a Tuesday didn't feel like a Tuesday afternoon at all, it looked and felt more like a Sunday. People were picnicking, barbecuing, playing sports, fishing, flying kites, on bikes, on roller blades, running, walking, horseback riding, everything! (It felt like the end of the song "Hello Mutha, Hello Fatha") And yes, you can actually ride horses in the heart of Brooklyn. So I decided to go home, shower up because I actually was sweating for once, and head back out in a tank top, talk about crazy, a month ago it snowed 3 inches and we were wearing parkas!
     Anyway, it was so wonderful to be out, I love summer, I love warmth, I love tank tops, I love sandals (I got to wear my keens!), I couldn't not just go home and stay inside. My walk through the park took me off the regular crowded paths through some of the trails where it gets instantly quiet and away from people. The pond was abuzz with insects and palm warblers to catch and eat them. I also spotted both ruby and golden crowned kinglets, chipping sparrows, song sparrows, handsome male ruddy ducks and the more modest females, a great egret, robins, and red-wing blackbirds singing their little hearts out. The warm weather also brought the turtles out to bask on logs, mostly (maybe even all), red eared sliders, an invasive turtle species, most likely brought here by people no longer wanting them as pets. In the pond does lurk some rather large common snapping turtles, I know because on my old commute to Prospect Park Zoo, I'd move them off the main road, either towards their nest site or back to the water (whichever way they were going) and teach some very astonished and sometimes scared park goers about how awesome snapping turtles are and how they, unlike the sliders, belong here. Maybe I'll make some early morning treks later in spring/early summer to see some of those nesting mamas.
      But for now, enjoy some early summer:

A palm warbler caught a fly on the fly. This guy was very acrobatic and was able to catch his food in the air.

A robin forages along the edge of the pond. 

A male ruddy duck is in his breeding plumage. You just have to love that perfect blue bill. Blue is one of my favorite colors in nature, probably because you really don't come across it too often, at least on terrestrial animals.

Another palm warbler looking for some insects to catch. These guys were all along the pond edge.

Talk about good camouflage... 

This golden crowned kinglet was so tiny and just darting around after gnats. 

Two red eared sliders hang out in the lullwater, where there are far less people around.

This female ruby crowned kinglet gives the look of some serious attitude. The males of this species have a red splash of feathers on top of their head. This kinglet felt so much bigger than the golden crowned, she did sit much closer and didn't flit around too much. 

A chipping sparrow out in the meadow. I love these guys, mostly for their call, it reminds me of the "laser" sound that a kids laser toy would make.

Brooklyn Salt Marsh: Part 2 - Osprey in Love

A female osprey pulls in her talons as she takes off from her nest.

     I love birds of prey, they all have some amazing adaptations. There is something about that keen vision, those huge sharp talons, and the power in their wings that makes them absolutely mesmerizing. Even a red tail hawk will capture my attention, every.single.time. The Marine Park Nature Center had a trail open that loops on the preserve's Eastern side. The trail is just a loop and the last time I visited it was closed, so it was exciting to take a walk down this way. The area the trail covers, borders the Marine Park golf course to its East. There are two platforms set up for osprey to nest on. The one closest to the nature center looked very unoccupied, but further down the trail, the other platform was built up with sticks, debris, and other things collected to build a nest. 

     At first I didn't see any osprey, but then I noticed two dark lumps sitting amongst the tall grasses, on some posts, and it was a pair of Osprey. While I was there I saw them fly to the nest and the male even mounted the female (I guess eggs will be on the way?) and attempted to mate with her. Bird mating is kind of comical because the male, essentially stands on the female's back - he actually flew and landed on her - and does his thing (by the way, most male birds do not have, err, "equipment," so it is a matter of matching up their rear ends - for the sake of not getting too nitty gritty here....) and it's just the most ridiculous looking thing. They attempted to mate twice while I was there, not too sure how successful they were, I'm sure the wind made things challenging. 

     Seeing Osprey around and breeding is such a great thing. Osprey, in their ecosystem, are top predators, nothing really eats them. Being a top predator comes with some baggage though. These birds were one of many animals effected by the use of DDT, a chemical used to eliminate pest insects. Well birds and fish ate the insects, bigger fish and bigger birds ate those, and top predators, like osprey ate them. This results in a phenomenon called, bioaccumulation. Where the concentration of chemicals becomes more and more as you move up the food chain, leaving top predators full of the chemical and leading to various types of problems. For osprey, and many other birds of prey, like bald eagles and peregrine falcons, DDT made their eggs brittle, which resulted in parents literally cracking their own eggs under their weight. When DDT usage ceased, these birds all bounced back without issue, it's amazing how even the littlest thing - some pesticide - effected the greater ecosystem in a huge way.

     The osprey gave me some amazing photos as they were quite active while I watched them. I honestly don't know how long I sat and watched, they were just too cool, and really hard to walk away from. 

The male carries in some nesting material. He had a VERY hard time going the 150 yards or so, the wind was so strong, it even pushed him backwards further than where he started. JFK is not too far from here, so I love that there just happens to be a man made bird in the background of the real thing.

They totally see me spying on them. The female is on the left, the male on the right. I also love raptors because the female birds are not screwing around. They are big, powerful, and she literally watched the male carry that material and arrange it just so in the nest. Good for you, girl! Female raptors tend to be larger than males.

The male, on the right, really shows his exhaustion from carrying that clump of material. His wings were drooped to his side, the wind was really not in his favor.

The male took off and now the female goes out for a flight around the water. Landing gear is being pulled in. Osprey talons are very large for grabbing slippery fish, their feet are also very rough, so they can get a strong grip and not lose their catch. 

This herring gull has some serious nerve to tussle with the female osprey...

Like, honestly dude, were you really going to mess with that??

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Easiest way to identify the osprey in the air, they tend to hold their wings in an open "M" shape, as opposed to bald eagles , which hold their wings straight.

Another cool shot - this time the female has the air plane jet stream in the sky above her

  

Male and female in flight together

The female lands first...

...Then the male. Gosh, I hope he minds his talons.

Cue the Barry White...

This was the second of the two attempted copulations... Is it weird that I find myself cheering them on when I watch? 

And the Male is back in the air.

Female osprey

I didn't see where the male went, this is where I left the female. 

     So, it was pretty exciting watching this osprey pair and now I look forward to coming back and hopeful to see a new generation!

Brooklyn Salt Marsh: Part 1 - Waterfowl

Low tide exposes tons of mussel beds. This bay is full of mollusks, crustaceans, and other organisms that support the ecosystem. Without them, you can't have all these gorgeous birds, fish, and even reptiles, like diamondback terrapins that inhabit the Jamaica Bay area.

     This place deserves two posts because, well, you'll see. I decided to take a little walk down at the Mill Basin Salt Marsh - it's off of Avenue U in Brooklyn. It is across the street from a cricket field, so its fun to see these guys walking around in matching slacks and sweater vests over their collared shirts, as they go and play, what I have heard is, the worlds longest game. The marsh is a preserve and has a little nature center, I hear they run programming, and it looks like they do some cool stuff!
     The nature center is up where the water ends as the marsh itself, stretches out towards the Belt Parkway, Jamaica Bay, and the Rockaways. It has some great viewing areas for waterfowl and I was very excited because I saw one that was new for me! I love when that happens...
     It was an incredibly windy day and most of the waterfowl were up toward the nature center, the water was calmer and the tides were low and just starting to come in. This made it really easy to sit on the ledge behind the center and just see quite a few species just acting naturally. There were still some winter visitors hanging around, did they get the memo that spring is finally here?!
     Waterfowl spotted for the day included ruddy ducks, mallards, American black ducks, brant, gadwall, buffleheads, Northern shovelers, and American wigeons.

Absolutely gorgeous, even with all the wind. That is the bridge that will take you from Flatbush Ave Brooklyn to the Rockaways in Queens.

Male and female Northern shovelers just hanging around. I love those oversized bills, they are serious dabbling bills.

A first for me! American Wigeons! I thought at first they were green-wing teals. The female is in the foreground and the male is behind, dabbling in the mud, foraging.

Male and female wigeons again. I'd love to know who came up with wigeon... and why.

A pied billed grebe comes up from a dive. I love how you can see the rest of the bird just under the water.

Male and female buffleheads. Both looking quite buffle in the head. These guys are going to probably skidaddle soon, back to their summer grounds, mostly in Central Canada.

     For more information about the Nature Center and Preserve in Mill Basin/Marine Park Brooklyn, check them out and have yourself a visit!

One Man's Trash...

Chickens at the Normal J. Levy Preserve

     My husband and I headed out east to my parents for Easter Sunday. The weather has finally been spring-like, so we went for a walk at Norman J. Levy Preserve. This preserve was once a landfill and I distinctly remember high school cross country practices here and in the summer heat how it kind of smelt like trash. It isn't perfect, but I guess it's better than what it was.
     I've been to the preserve a couple of times since high school, I once launched my kayak from here and paddled along the preserve and Meadowbrook Parkway until I hit the salt marsh beyond. I learned that day how important it was to check the tides because I had to walk my kayak back through some deep and sticky muck at low tide. I also have taken my husband here once before, so this was his second visit. And since that time the preserve has acquired a herd of goats that they use to maintain weeds and invasive species, which I thought was interesting. I love goats and I was super excited by the fact that they had a bunch there. Usually you think of goats as pests, but I guess when they are controlled and penned up after they do their "work," it's not a bad deal.
     The preserve doesn't have tons of trees, so we mostly saw song sparrows, some red-wing blackbirds, and robins, as far as song birds went. There is a pond at the top of the preserve and around the pond it's mostly grassy. From the top, when visibility is good, you can see Manhattan and a bunch of places around Long Island, including my home town. We had a nice little visit, even with the sun not out, it was much better than the snow we only had three weeks before.

A tree with uniform holes all around? That is the sure sign of a yellow-bellied sapsucker! It's like the most insulting name ever, but it's actually just a cute little woodpecker that will drill out holes all the way around the trunk, then move up a level, and continue that pattern.

Guinea Fowl are kept at the preserve by the rangers to roam around the area and eat ticks. They are very vocal and you can tell when they are near. These birds originally hail from Africa, but are kept by people to control ticks, as pets, and sometimes to eat. I've cared for Guinea Fowl before, there is nothing appetizing about them (they poop a lot). I just like that they look like mini cassowaries. 

I also really love the natural color and pattern of Guinea Fowl feathers. Like many domestic fowl, you can get all kinds of looks as far as color variations go, but I like the natural black and white polka-dots.

A pygmy Nubian goat. There was a whole herd of these guys. Goats can be an invasive nuisance species, but the preserve pens them up so they don't eat the whole place bare. This guy just finished having himself a drink. Goats are really cool animals, super smart. I have a huge soft spot for them.

Sing your heart out, lil' song sparrow! These guys were singing up a storm all around. 

The view from the top - you can see the empire state building and midtown Manhattan. This wasn't even a clear day.

My hometown, East Meadow - that giant building is Nassau County Medical Center. I know it has a different name - but it will always be the Medical Center. 

The pond at the top of the ex-landfill had some red-eared sliders in it. RES turtles are not native to New York. They are native to S. Texas and Mexico but are popular as pets. They are released into local waterways by people who no longer wish to care for them. These turtles out compete local species for food and territory. As pets these turtles can live up to 50 years, so know what you are getting into. It wasn't super warm out at all, but these guys were out and about, and when you think of how well they survive, its no wonder they take over and conquer.

The water in the pond almost seemed rusty. It was a man made pond - obviously - and the water flowed from a pipe. The sliders seemed a little extra red/orange. Then I noticed that even the geese have a rusty water line along their bellies.

These little flowers were about 2inches tall, but the little flowers were so pretty. I have no idea what they are. Any guesses?

They reminded me of teenie tiny orchids. They were growing all over the trail sides. People must have thought I was a little nutty kneeling down and taking pictures of these tiny little flowers.

A great egret flew over us. They are always so beautiful to see in flight.

Not going to lie, I have a really hard time telling lesser and greater scaups apart. So for now, I will just call them scaups.

Male scaup on the right, followed by a female.

I had just explained to my husband how I wished that an Osprey would be on the platform nest, and then we looked and there was an osprey on the platform nest. He/she was very vocal and just hung out on the nest vocalizing and preening in between.

The osprey isn't only being watched by my husband and I...

A little osprey fly-by action, when they fly low, you can get a sense of how big they are. This one was quite large.

    The preserve is a pretty nice place for a walk and to do some wildlife viewing, and if you do go, don't let the drive in intimidate you, you do have to drive through the sanitation work area, but just past that is the preserve. For more information, check it out here.