Backyard and Beyond

I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Interdependence Day than going out to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. A warm, foggy morning developed into a hot sunny afternoon.There are three visible osprey platforms at JBWR. One is right on the highway. This one is the closest to the West Pond path. Two of these three nests had youngsters, the third was too far away to tell (but at least one adult was perched out there).

Here are all the bird species I saw: Canada Goose, Mute Swan, American Black Duck, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Glossy Ibis, Osprey, Killdeer, American Oystercatcher, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Least Tern, Common Tern, Forster’s Tern, Black Skimmer. Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, (Empidonax sp.),American Crow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Marsh Wren, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, House Sparrow.

Quite a surprise:High up in a cottonwood, the remains of a great egret.