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But one nation that bestows physicians with the respect they deserve is Jamaica, where the national bird is a hummingbird known as the “doctor bird” – the Red-billed Streamerbird ( Trochilus polytmus ). An adult male “Doctor Bird”, as depicted in Illustrations of the Birds of Jamaica by Phillip Henry Gosse (1849).
My family and I spent last week in Cape Cod, enjoying a last summer getaway in a summer where getaway options have been extremely limited for obvious reasons. Lo-and-behold, Robin Taubman had posted images of a Black-throated Gray Warbler at Jamaica Bay! I had never seen a Black-throated Gray Warbler in Queens. Now what will be next?
Saturday morning, 30 August 2014, was a perfect time for shorebirding at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond. … Trips Jamaica Bay Queens shorebirds' And, happily, the shorebirds even remembered to show up! Wouldn’t you agree? By the way, all of the images in this post were digiscoped that morning.
The national bird of Jamaica is the Red-billed Streamertail , known colloquially as the Doctor Bird and scientifically as Trochilus polytmus. It is endemic to the island of Jamaica, which means that Jamaica is the only place in the world where the Red-billed Streamertail can be found. But Jamaica is loaded with nice birds.
If I had my druthers I would be birding the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge pretty much every day from July until September. Isn’t Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge a great place to see them? … Trips Jamaica Bay Queens shorebirds' Aren’t shorebirds awesome? Go find some shorebirds!
That place is the fabled home of shorebirds, both common and rare, the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This year, what with family plans and other commitments, I didn’t get out on the pond until later than usual but it was worth the wait. American Avocet on Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond.
We know that Corey and his family came through the ordeal safely, but what of the warblers? Damage to New York included floods caused by the storm surge, power cuts and disruption to transport, including the loss of the railway line that crosses Jamaica Bay.
Sometimes called “Poor-me-ones&# on account of their haunting calls, these bizarre denizens of the night come in 7 different flavors from the family Nyctibiidae within the order Caprimulgiformes. A Northern Potoo by Nick Athanas Northern Potoos are found from Mexico to Costa Rica and on the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola.
But his Best Bird of the Weekend was one he saw with his family on a visit to Jamaica Bay on Saturday evening. If you were wondering, the rabbit won this encounter. Corey enjoyed some good birding on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Corey went for a walk at Jamaica Bay with his family on Saturday evening, after the rain had stopped in New York City and went out again, alone, on Sunday morning before the rain picked back up. He and his family were delighted by displaying American Woodcocks once it got dark out.
You are also probably aware that Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, one of the best urban birding sites in the world, is on my regular list of spots that I like to stop by and visit. I have seen some absolutely amazing birds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. I can’t abide the thought of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge without a West Pond.
Actually, signs that winter won’t release its icy grip so readily are also apparent… my traditional Easter family hike was canceled on account of snow. In particular, he picked one of the many that has already staked out a claim to a nest box at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Spring is here! How about you?
One could dwell on how convoluted its family tree is… the Butorides complex, as it’s called, is surprisingly complex. Still, for me, it’s all about the neck… Corey’s recent post recounting Jamaica Bay in June includes a sweet shot of a heron sipping sinuously while perched in hanging branches.
There are five families: Stilts & Avocets (Family Recurvirostridae), Oystercatchers (Family Haem), Plovers (Family Charadriidae), Sandpipers and Allies (Family Scolopacidae), and Jacanas (Jacanidae), with Family Scolopacidae representing the bulk of species (as it does worldwide).
Corey got his Best Bird of the Weekend early this weekend as while he and his family were making their way home from a week-long vacation in Cape Cod on Friday a Black-throated Gray Warbler was found in Queens at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. That was definitely my best sighting. Now that’s a Best Bird of the Weekend!
I took my family on Sunday to explore a stretch of the flat but fancy Lehigh Valley Railroad Trail. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was his first Gull-billed Tern of the year at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
Either way, it was a heck of a sight and another example of why Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is the best place in New York City to see amazing wildlife spectacles. … Tags: ducks , features , jamaica bay , migration , queens • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more!
Corey and his family, fresh off a victorious tour of Jamaica, will be expanding their circuit to the New York Capitol Region this weekend. If you focus on first of year (FOY) birds, February always has something fresh and fun to offer. How about you? Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding?
Thus, I was surprised and a little saddened to learn from my Kentucky family that kids in the Bluegrass State go back to school next week. Corey will be in Queens, probably tracking rarities in real time at the East Pond of Jamaica Bay. No kid should be stuck in school in early August! How about you?
This explains why when I was upstate celebrating my parents’ fortieth anniversary on Sunday I was not to happy to learn that a Ruff was found at Jamaica Bay. Other than my overall life list it is the one to which I most like to add a bird.
The little stiff-tails are almost year-round at Jamaica Bay though almost all leave to breed in the summer and in the depths of winter, when the ponds are almost completely frozen, they tend to head for open water. She was essentially cream-colored, much lighter than the typical female Ruddy Duck.
I’m much less embarrassed by this Gull-billed Tern shot because, despite the family that has been hanging out for weeks this summer on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay, they are usually tough to find in Queens. I’m kind of embarrassed that this is the best flight shot I got of one all weekend.
We had a family picnic at Fort Tilden less than two weeks after my last set of predictions and a single Purple Martin was flying low over the fields with Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows. Since then I have had a second Purple Martin at Jamaica Bay’s East Pond. Ruff – 02 Jul 2012 – One finally showed up in Queens.
With a family renowned for its strong flight and capability to colonize far flung locations (such as the Imperial-Pigeons and Fruit-Doves of the Tropical Pacific, Blue Pigeons of the Indian Ocean, or endemic pigeons of the Canary Islands), this fact comes to no surprise.
I also spent a week in northwestern Costa Rica on a family vacation, a long weekend in Barbados, a week in Georgia, and two week-plus-long trips to visit relatives in southern California. Our family trip to Barbados was mostly about the beach but it was also chock full o’birds! Number 7 – Barbados Bullfinch.
I haven’t always acted in accordance with this philosophy, but those avian observation excursions undertaken with friends or family loom larger in mind than the ones I took alone. While some birding runs work well solo, most are greatly improved by good company. In many ways, birding can be so much more than just looking at birds.
Car troubles keep shutting my birding plans down, but at least I got out with the family to cut down our Christmas tree. Another weekend in the books means that this calendar year is almost over. Did you make the most of the second weekend of December? While we were there, an Eastern Bluebird perched auspiciously on a handsome spruce.
This pair of birds on Jamaica Bay’s East Pond had been around for several days by the time that I got to see them in early September 2014. Say’s Phoebe – A self-found rarity at Edgemere while accompanied by my family made my day back on 05 October 2014. Finally, one that I predicted! And were they ever cooperative !
Nice. ((** all names have been changed to protect identities and have been substituted with (almost) randomly chosen substitutes suitable for a family of Alpine Accentors.)) small families putting less pressure on the adult members of the family). In this case, they would be exhibiting polyandry.
All of the shots in this post were taken on 12-13 March 2011 at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, New York. … Tags: digiscoping , ducks , jamaica bay • Have you seen the cool 10,000 Birds t-shirts? If you liked this post featuring Ruddy Duck images why not check out 10,000 Clicks , our collection of photo-galleries?
But Gotham’s many parks have some very suitable habitat for birds from the family Picidae and a birder in any borough of New York will generally find at least a couple of species during an average morning’s birding. Disbelief probably seems like the proper response to the idea that there are woodpeckers in New York City.
Corey encountered a bunch of winners, but 24 Common Redpolls at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, in almost the exact same spot he saw them a couple of years ago, feeding on birch inflorescence by the East Pond, were easily his best birds of the weekend. However, I’ll bestow that honor upon my first local Common Grackles of spring.
On Saturday I met up with Seth and we headed out to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where we nearly froze to death and I refused to wear gloves because it is April and gloves aren’t necessary. I moped all the way to Coney Island where I drove with my family on an outing to the New York Aquarium. What a horrific result!
Great Shearwater – At this point, seabirds are my weakest family in Queens with the most species having reported in the borough that I have not seen. White Ibis – A pair of young was spotted in Queens a couple of years ago and it is just a matter of time before another shows up at Jamaica Bay. I must stare at the ocean a lot.
There was one at Breezy Point in the summer of 2018 and another one showed up at Jamaica Bay last summer. I took a gamble and got the family out on a (socially-distanced) whale-watching boat on the 12th and was rewarded, finally, with my Queens Great Shearwater ! I really, really hope. Because a crane in Queens would be amazing.
That larger clade is in turn sister to a clade containing the four remaining totipalmate bird families, which do still seem to be related, and which needed a new order name once pelicans were removed. But meanwhile, let’s look at the four avian families that comprise the brand new order Suliformes. Feeding Frenzy at Jamaica Bay.Or
We had a wonderful family vacation in Germany and the Czech Republic during which I managed to do a bit of birding. I also spent a bunch of time on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and, as usual, managed to see some birds on workdays. Adding a new shorebird to my Queens list was a big plus as well! Pied-billed Grebe.
I first met Anthony Collerton when he was trying to see the Barrow’s Goldeneye at Jamaica Bay back in February. Truth is, coming in to this year I found myself with some time off after the sale of a business, but I was tied to New York and not really able to travel extensively for family reasons.
more migratory sky shots here ) Tags: march , weekend • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more! Jochen the swallows have arrived at NYC at Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge too. Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend ! A perfect shot.
Crafty Like A Crow Birds at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Almost Squished Wood Thrush (and a fox) About the Author Jory Jory is a native Long Islander living just outside of Albany. Tags: ID Quiz , quiz • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more! Beware of hybrids.
The Snow Geese at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge will soon be winging their way north, so he spent some quality time with them, his best birds of the weekend. I always choose a target bird for my trips to Florida, which are mainly to visit with family, but I never ever dreamed that one of my FL Life Birds would be a MacGillivray’s.
There has been one for the last couple winters at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, but I don’t think anyone has gotten as close to it as I got to the one at the Queens Zoo. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B.
Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh.
Over President’s Day weekend my family and I took a much-needed break in Jamaica. Though it was frustrating to stay at a spot for five days without a single sighting one of Jamaica’s many endemic birds, the Holiday Inn Resort was perfectly acceptable as a beach vacation destination.
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