A planned trip to Delaware was put on hold for the weekend and so I ended up visiting the East Pond at Jamaica Bay on August 22nd for a quick spell of birding before it was off to work on a friend's computer...UGH (what was I thinking)! Initially, I thought I had gotten there early, before anyone else; however, as I walked out on the North End of the East Pond, I saw birder Peter Chen and his two kids already on the mudflats. When I caught up to Peter, he keyed me on a Sora (Porzana carolina), along the edge of the phragmites. It was a pleasant surprise to see this elusive bird feeding oblivious to our presence.
After looking at the Sora for a few minutes, we were joined by several groups of birders. Despite the crowd the Sora stuck around and we were able to pass the word out; I believe most people that arrived around that time saw the bird. Among the groups were a number of birders/bloggers that were out on a Jamaica Bay walk. The only one from the blogging group I knew was Corey Finger who I have birded with. Eventually, I did get to meet a few of the bloggers/tweeters including, Christopher from Picus Blog, Ann Marie also known by her twitter handle as iheartwarblers, Beverly Robertson from Behind the Bins and Catherine Hamilton from mydogoscar. Since, I knew Beverly Robertson had expressed her desire to land an American Golden Plover, I tried hard to find the one that was seen there a few days ago. Alas, it was not to be a Golden Plover day for Beverly as it appeared that the bird was no longer around. By then, it was time to leave and so I reluctantly left Jamaica Bay, but not before getting a few photos, including one that captured a visitor who got stuck in the mud around the dreaded cove. My hats off to Christopher from Picus Blog, who was a total gentleman in being the only one who ventured out into the mud to help, while other birders walked right by her. They, no doubt fearing their own demise if they stopped to help. Luckily, with Christoper's help she made it out of the muck. Of course, I did nothing to help either; instead, I seized my chance to get a few photographs of the moment.
Oh dear, I am stuck...maybe I should not have come this way. 
Never fear, Christopher is here. A gentleman to the rescue.Tags:
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, 
birding, 
Shorebirds, 
Sora
6 comments:
Now THAT is mud!!! Looks like a great day. That's Christopher is a gentleman :)
You are forgiven for not coming to my rescue Birdingdude! But Christopher's assistance was much appreciated!
Hoping the friend to whom you were referring when you wrote, "UGH - what was I thinking" when commenting on working on his/her computer isn't reading this blog.
@LadyWoodpecker - Hi Kimberly, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yep, that is our East Pond mud, whatever you do, show some respect or you are bound to kiss dirt :)
@Anonymous Ann...AH, but I think you should be more concerned with the others that you were out with that walked right by you :)
@Debbie - Don't be such an instigator. Was I referring to helping the friend as "Ugh" or was I referring to "Ugh" giving up birding time to work on computers on a weekend? My friend would totally get it.
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