Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!leah!gmr044
From: gmr044@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregg Recer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Jamaica Bay
Keywords: ducks and shorebirds, basically
Message-ID: <3612@leah.Albany.Edu>
Date: 11 Sep 90 15:38:34 GMT
Organization: The University at Albany, Computer Services Center
Lines: 60




Howdy,

     Cathy and I made a day trip down to Queens last Sunday, not, like
everyone else, to see the US Open men's final, but to go to Jamaica
Bay Wildlife Refuge.  The times I've been there the refuge has never
been disappointing but I would say that the variety of species was
definitely greater last year at roughly the same time than it was on
Sunday.  Waterfowl consisted almost entirely of puddle ducks -- mallard,
black duck, blue- and green-winged teal, N. shovelers and A. wigeons
-- along with lots of ruddy ducks and a couple of pied-billed grebes.

     Shorebirds were fairly ordinary, compared to last year when we
found wilson's phalarope and buff-breasted sandpiper.  Pretty much all
the usuals were there -- hudsonian godwits, A. oystercatchers, semi.
and western sandpipers, black-bellied and semi. plovers, short-billed
dowitchers, both yellow-legs, killdeer, dunlin, ruddy turnstone --
however, the water level in east pond was very high and so numbers and
activity were limited.

     We probably had the best day in terms of herons and egrets we've
ever had outside of Louisiana.  Loads of great and snowy egrets were
accompanied by great-blue, little-blue (5 or 6 immatures and one
adult), green-backed herons, a cattle egret and adult and juvenile
black-crowned night herons.  Another pair of juvenile night-herons
flew overhead at one point but I didn't get a sufficiently good look
to see if the tarsi were fully exposed behind the tail.  The feet
_seemed_ (that jizz thing again) very prominent though, so at least
yellow-crowns with a question-mark seemed a reasonable conclusion (or
so I tried to rationalize).  Also plenty of glossy ibis were around.

          One other interesting observation was the large flock of
black skimmers we saw there.  When we've skimmers before they've
generally just sat on the beach.  Alas, we've never actually gotten a
look at them in foraging mode.  On Sunday the flock at the refuge was
in continual motion, not feeding but just circling around the ponds.
At Monomoy 2 weeks ago the Mass Audubon trip leader described hearing
skimmers for the first time as sounding like "flying chihuahua's".
Well, we got to hear the skimmers at Jamaica Bay calling and damn if
he wasn't exactly right.  Like a pack of little yappy dogs!!

     Anyway, migration reports are finally starting to pile up here
at home.  Little-green-jobs are the item on this week's agenda.



Gregg



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     "In future you should delete the words crunchy frog and 
     replace them with the legend crunchy raw unboned real
     dead frog!!"  
                 -- Inspector Bradshaw, The Hygiene Division

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