I don’t have a big story to go with this one. Although I whiffed on Harlequin Duck repeatedly at Point Lookout, and even broke my scope trying to find it there over the Thanksgiving break, once I got to Barnegat it was easy. Me and four other folks from the New York City Audubon Camera Club left Manhattan about 6:30 AM and arrived at Barnegat at 9:00 AM. We walked out to the end of the jetty, and there they were:
Oh and some Purple Sandpipers too:
And some Ruddy Turnstones:
And some Long-tailed Ducks:
And Dunlin:
And Black-bellied Plovers:
In fact, there were more of some of these species than I’ve seen in my life, and within easy shooting range. Many of these birds are often seen far away as dots in the scope, if at all. At Barnegat they were naked eye birds. I should have gone there sooner. I did sign up for one previous trip with the Brooklyn Bird Club last year, but it was canceled due to rain. Better late than never.
Total species count for the day was about 30:
Brant
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Mallard
American Black Duck
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Great Cormorant
Black-bellied Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Northern Mockingbird
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)
House Sparrow
European Starling
Belted Kingfisher (at the truck stop on I-95)
Although any number of vagrants and accidentals could still show up, there are only a few regular species in New York City still left for my life list. Common Nighthawk is a summer resident. To find it, I need to spend more time in the parks around dusk in the summer. Mourning Warbler comes through every year on migration. It just hides really well. Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow is possible at Marine Park and other locations along the coast. There are also a few species in the city that I only have from elsewhere. American Bittern, for instance, was relatively easy to find at Upper Newport Bay near where I lived in Irvine; but although it breeds in Jamaica Bay I’ve never seen it in New York.