10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

I wouldn’t discover serious birding until I’d been living in Queens for over a decade, only after making a fateful visit to Jamaica Bay out of sheer curiosity. The eagle’s silvery feathers shone against the red backdrop of the setting sun, which Lech took as a good omen.

Poland 137

Poland Detroit New York City Eagles 137

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2014

The most likely bird would be Fulvous Whistling-Duck which I tried for and dipped on last year thanks to the refuge that was good for them being closed for hunting on the day that I made the attempt. That’s not asking too much, is it? Spend time in the field with the Zickefoose-Thompson clan. It hasn’t happened. This will change.

2015 193

2015 Wildlife Florida Birds 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2011

Long-eared Owl – This is another owl species that was, like most winters, not seen in Queens (though tantalizing second-hand reports of one at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge during the Brooklyn CBC reached me). My long overdue first Queens Snow Bunting and I survived seeing it at Jamaica Bay ! Snow Bunting – Yes!

Jamaica 156

Jamaica Owls 2010 New York City 156

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2012

In my recent post about birding Jamaica Bay’s East Pond I mentioned a very successful Snowy Egret. The egret used two different hunting strategies. It was odd to watch a single bird use such drastically different hunting styles and I really don’t have an explanation as to why.

Hunting 165

Hunting Jamaica Fish Birds 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

They are found in the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Antigua, Barbuda and Jamaica. West Indian Whistling Ducks in Jamaica The decline of the West Indian Whistling Duck has been a steady but gradual one. Until recently.

Antigua and Barbuda 214

Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Not only that, but the long-staying Tundra Swan that had been reported at Jamaica Bay for a couple of weeks but that had disappeared was refound on Monday, the day after Seth and I did our run and just in time for my solo effort. The grebe, the warbler, and the snipe didn’t help me on my record-hunt but a birder’s gonna bird.

Geese 100

Geese Jamaica Ducks Barn Owls 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2020

As for me, well, I could have chosen any of the several new birds among the 277 species I spotted in Queens this year, but I think that my Jamaica trip in February, just before the pandemic completely wrecked 2020, provided more amazing species. So that takes care of Mike: phalaropes are pretty amazing birds.

2020 221

2020 Birds Germany Costa Rica 221

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Scaup are so worthless that when you input “I love scaup” into Google you only get four results and three of them are hunting related. It is a series of shots of Greater Scaup flying out of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s West Pond, of which the image that includes Red-breasted Mergansers is the most interesting.

Ducks 206

Ducks New Zealand France Germany 206