Yesterday I birded along the coastline parks in northeastern Queens. In 4 parks I saw 70 species, highlights were twelve warblers, five vireos, five flycatchers, Red-Bellied Nuthatches, an Indigo Bunting, Bobolink, meadowlark, and Royal Tern. Two, Yellow-throated Vireo and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, are ebird rarities.
With the fall migration on, I thought the Fort Totten Park area would be a good place to bird. Throgs Neck would be a natural funnel for birds looking to cross the Long Island Sound or avoiding the urbanization of the Bronx. I started at Little Bay Park, and there weren't many water birds, but the northern end of the parks was active with small birds. The small patch of trees and shrubs had more birds than I've seen there before. I went to Fort Totten Park and one spot in particular, the brush and trees covering the remains of the fort that are adjacent to the western side of the restored section, were incredibly busy. I stood there for close to an hour with bird after bird passing through in the morning. It was difficult to concentrate on any one bird because others would pop up in the immediate vicinity and distract me. I suppose they were falling out after crossing the sound. As it grew later in the day, it slowed down. I walked down the path along Little Neck Bay where I saw the Royal Tern, and went into Crocheron Park. One spot, the patch of the woods in the center of the park by the ball fields were very active. The rest of the park was slower, possibly because more people were coming to the park as the weather improved. I walked 7 miles and birded for 6 hours. I will post my list of sightings later today on ebird as I head to Jamaica Bay NWR. -- Joseph O'Sullivan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
