Murre Monday

A Thick-billed Murre/Uria lomvia was floating off the tip of… well, I’m not even sure what to call it, the small corporate amenity park behind the BJ’s parking garage on Gravesend Bay.

This is a very rare bird for Brooklyn/Kings Co. Several have suggest this individual is ill, because none of the observers have seen it diving for food. When I saw it last Tuesday, the bird was paddling back and forth, but I also didn’t see it fishing during the half hour I was there.

With a Red-breasted Merganser.

This was a challenging spot to get to via pubic transportation. The highway cuts off most of the shore from inland Brooklyn, with few underpasses or pedestrian bridges. Other than the birds, more of which I’ll show you tomorrow, I found the spot grim, and not because it was a winter day. I counted more than 30 BJ’s shopping carts on the low-tide rocks. The carts I saw in use were filled with junk food. It looks like everybody drives to get here. At 10 a.m. on a weekday, it was very busy; pedestrians must to careful crossing the in-&-out garage traffic to get to the “point.”