10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2020

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.

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2020 Rabbits Jamaica Pelicans 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

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.

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Charlotte New York City New York Jamaica 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2015

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?

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2015 Jamaica New York Birds 242

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

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!

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2020 Jamaica Birds Family 222

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

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?

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2020 Jamaica New York Owls 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

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!

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Ducks 2011 Jamaica Deer 227

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2015

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.

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2015 Jamaica Hunting Birds 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2012

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?

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Kentucky Michigan United States 2012 190

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2015

He yelled a relatively unintelligible explanation as he ran to the car, abandoning his family, and sped to Jamaica Bay where he parked and ran out to the breach of the West Pond where he relied upon the kindness of other birders, who let him use their scopes while he got his breath back.

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Jamaica 2015 Abandonment Abandoning 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

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.

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Jamaica Fish Adoptable Ducks 259

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

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.

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Ducks 2011 Jamaica Deer 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2012

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.

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Jamaica New York City Abandonment Abandon 182

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

I was fortunate enough to spot the individual in this post at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where it was foraging in bushes and small trees between four and fifteen off of the ground. We are devoting a whole week to wood-warblers but are only just barely scratching the surface of possible topics involving this amazing family of birds.

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Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 182

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

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.

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Goats Falcons Birds Jamaica 245

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

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.

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2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

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.

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2019 Jamaica Eggs Birds 168

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

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.

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2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2013

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.

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2012 New York City Jamaica 2013 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2012

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.

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Florida Miami Bahamas Mexico 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2011

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?

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Ducks 2011 New York New York City 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

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.

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2011 New York Deer Philadelphia 200

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

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.

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2018 2019 2015 Kansas City 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2018

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.

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2018 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

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.

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New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 200

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

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

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2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea California 206

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

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.

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2011 Breeders Deer Breeding 235

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

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 !

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2010 2013 2011 2012 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

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.

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2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 185

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2012

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.

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New York City New York Woodpeckers New Jersey 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

All of the shots in this post were taken on 1 March 2011 at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s West Pond as the sun was going down. Hes only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasnt working as a union representative or spending time with his family.

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2011 Ducks Deer Portland 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

Hes only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasnt working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B. Red-breasted Merganser 2. Monk Parakeet 3.

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2011 Bald Eagle Sparrows Deer 229

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2011

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.

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2011 Deer South Dakota Costa Rica 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

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.

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2011 North America Deer America 124

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

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.

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2011 Deer Owls Birds 133

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

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.

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Bald Eagle Zoos 2011 Deer 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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).

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Jamaica Detroit Medical Birds 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

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.

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Jamaica Birds Family Rights 191