July Birding Continued...
On Tuesday I was out in the park at both Turtle Cove and Bartow-Pell Mansion with the hopes of seeing some new species. Bartow-Pell was disappointing, with only some Egrets down by the shoreline, a brief glimpse at a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher and not much else. Down at Turtle Cove, we fared a bit better with Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Black-crowned Night Heron, Marsh Wrens, Killdeer, a juvenile Little Blue Heron, Great and Snowy Egrets. Ticks and mosquitoes were out in force. Most of us agree that this is the hottest July we could remember and that has kept me unexcited about going out and trying to find and photograph birds. Yesterday, today and tomorrow they are scheduled to spray mosquito larvaecide in the park, so I stayed away. There are lots and lots of shorebirds being reported at Jamaica Bay on East Pond. I’ve yet to go there because of the heat and next week may be better. In the meantime, birds should start moving soon. We will repeat the Evening Owl event we had last summer in mid August- that was a huge success. I will keep you posted and send out an email when we get close to the date.