Birding Dude: Early birding catches the worm at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Early birding catches the worm at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge?

In my case, it was early birding results in at least 2 hours of birding before the rain. I got a call from my friend Don Riepe on Friday night, reminding me of an Audubon NYC walk that was scheduled to take place on Saturday. Strangely, that walk was not on my schedule, but I offered to make the necessary adjustments and be there to help out with the walk. The event was scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM; for me that was too late, and so I was hitting the West Pond Trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge around 7:30 AM. I am glad that I did because I got in a good 2 hours of birding while there was no rain. I did not pick up much; however, I had two nice birds in Black-billed Cuckoo and Gull Billed Tern. The walk, which was attended by about 15 hardy birders, did not last long as rain moved in and put a damper on things half an hour into the trek. Don, being the good sport that he is, decided to do a slide show to those who had braved the weather elements to be at the refuge. I am sure the participants appreciated his kind gesture. After the slide show, I went over to Don’s and hung out for a bit doing some volunteer work for the American Littoral Society. During that time I was able to photograph Egor The Great Egret that has become quite a regular visit to Don’s house. Tags: