I spent a good 8 + hours birding both West and East Ponds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (JBWR), Queens Co.
I am pleased to report that the area near bench 4 on the West Pond trail was mowed this morning. The cut back allows better viewing of the South East corner of the West Pond which as of late has attracted a good number of shorebirds. For example, I counted 35 Stilt Sandpipers there this AM and I am sure to have missed a few. While the viewing is much better now. It would be nice to have views with the rising sun behind you. To that effect, I have begun a conversation with NPS on the idea of opening up trails through the Phragmites bordering the South Garden. This is not a new ask. Some of you will remember the fanfare around “Blue-ribbon” discussions at the Refuge where this was brought up but like many ideas, was shelved for more er...pressing matters. More on that later as I let this conversation marinate a bit. The only other highlight on the West Pond was a Ruddy Duck. On the East Pond, I did a compete end to end survey (south to north and back). A total of 16 species of Shorebirds. The highlights were 2 Whimbrels (flyover on the North End), 6 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Ruddy Turnstone, 27 Stilt Sandpipers, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher (different looking than the one I reported on July 31st) and 2 Red Knots among the usual suspects. Non shorebird highlights included: Two Bonaparte’s Gulls continuing on the pond. This afternoon they were loafing near “Gull Point.” Also of note, 1 Green-winged Teal hiding among the duckage. Overall, the shorebird numbers were decent. Mostly peeps, scattered throughout the pond. Among them, I pulled out 2 flagged Semipalmated Sandpipers. A few juvenile Least Sandpipers were a first for the season for me, as well as one juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs. No Western or White-rumped Sandpipers today despite sifting through the peeps as best as I could. P.S. Mosquitoes remain hungry and fierce. Cheers, “Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society.” ~ James Baldwin -------- "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick Douglass 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu The Art of War > (\__/) > (= '.'=) > (") _ (") > Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com -- 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/ --