10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

But, as with so many other species, these birds have been left to do their own whistle blowing. West Indian Whistling Ducks are the largest of the eight different whistling duck species. They are found in the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Antigua, Barbuda and Jamaica.

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Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2015

Late morning this past Thursday, 27 August, I was on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay. Phalaropes of any species are a good bird in Queens and this was only my fourth Red-necked Phalarope sighting in my home borough, my first since May of 2011. In fact, it didn’t look like a peep at all.

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Jamaica Wildlife 2011 Rights 158

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2011

“Jah Man (pronounced Jamon )&# is something you will hear often when visiting Jamaica. When our local driver asked me in Patois, an English-lexified creole language unique to Jamaica, if we would like to go and see Jamaican Owl , I had no idea what he was talking about. “Yu wan cu pan da patoo wid dem big eyes?

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Owls Jamaica Cats Rights 216

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2011

That is until a recent Nikon’s BATV film trip to Jamaica revealed a unique avian femme fatale, the Crested Quail-dove -- also known colloquially as the mountain witch. A Crested Quail-dove by Biswarup Satpati Crested Quail-doves are found in limited habitat in the Blue Mountains and John Crow Mountains of eastern Jamaica.

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Hunting Jamaica Blackbirds Transported 239

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2011

10,000 Birds writers have previously featured 2 of the 7 species (Renato’s post on Rufous Potoo and Corey’s post on Great Potoo ) and now you’ll meet a third, the “Patoo with the long bill&# as it is called by the Jamaicans or the Northern Potoo , Nyctibius jamaicensis. “Whhhaaaaaaa, whu whu whu whu whu whu&#.

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Costa Rica Jamaica Eggs Cooking 260

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2018

Late Saturday afternoon a Tundra Swan was reported from the south end of the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. done I headed over to Jamaica Bay. But both species of swans present had enough neck to reach something to eat on the bottom of the pond. Once I got my trip out to Breezy Point (four year birds!)

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Jamaica Wildlife New York City Ducks 117

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Over three hundred species of birds have crossed my field of view in Queens in that time including thirty-eight thirty-nine species of shorebird. Now if only someone would find me a Whimbrel … Trips Buff-breasted Sandpiper county listing Jamaica Bay Queens shorebirds' I’ve lived in Queens since March of 2008.

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Jamaica 2008 Killing Wildlife 237

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. A distant American White Pelican on the East Pond was Corey’s 264th species in Queens this year, which tops his previous best by three species. Corey enjoyed some good birding on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

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2020 Rabbits Jamaica Pelicans 277

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2021

Corey went out onto the East Pond at Jamaica Bay both mornings this weekend and saw bunches of great birds. Normally, one of the two species that were new for him for the year (in this case, Least Bittern and Western Sandpiper ) would be his Best Bird of the Weekend.

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Jamaica Birds Experience Experiments 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2014

Sunday morning was a perfect morning to get out on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. We saw a total of fifteen species of shorebirds but four stole the show – the peeps! It apparently derives from the typical call notes of the species which, broadly speaking, can sound like “peep.”

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Jamaica Wildlife Species Rights 193

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Then Seth and I grew tired of Nassau County and decided to wind up our day back in Queens, at Jamaica Bay. Though our birding there started slow we kept finding more birds, with Northern Pintail , Pied-billed Grebe , and Green-winged Teal being some of the highlights before we got to the really good birds.

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Jamaica United States Geese Barn Owls 229

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

At least that’s where I added this species to my New York list. 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.

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Charlotte New York City New York Jamaica 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2012

Sometimes a species just stops you in your tracks. So it was with a superlative, breeding-plumaged, male Scarlet Tanager today at Jamaica Bay. The particular Scarlet Tanager that caused my jaw to hit the ground today was found foraging in small trees on the west side of the West Pond at Jamaica Bay.

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Jamaica Collecting 2009 Breeding 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

As migration proceeds in fits and starts I find myself torn between wanting to find as many birds as I can on each birding outing and wanting to take my time with each species that I haven’t seen since they left for fairer climes back in the fall.

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Jamaica Wildlife Experience Experiments 227

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2013

With the foresight to get my taxes taken care of early, I was free to enjoy the cold spring weather and lingering winter species around here. He was walking along a trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge when he saw a flash of yellow up ahead. It’s nice to see that Red-breasted Nuthatches still haunt my home turf.

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2013 United States Jamaica Birds 228

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

North of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens is a middle class neighborhood, predominantly Italian-American, known as Howard Beach. … Trips Howard Beach introduced species Monk Parakeets parrots Queens' Named for William J. Monk Parakeet carrying a stick to add to its already bulky nest (Click for a bigger version.).

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Parrots New York City New York New Jersey 255

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2012

On a recent walk around Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge I took the following picture. Here, let me zoom in for you… It’s a Gray Tree Frog , Hyla versicolor , a common species at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Why is it interesting? What if I give you a clue? Do you see it now? And do you know what it is?

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Jamaica Wildlife Species 158

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2017

And it is even less frequent in New York City where we only have one species of hummingbird, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird , and they don’t nest very often. How many species can you identify singing in the background? It is not every day that you get the chance to see a hummingbird’s nest. She sits tight in this video.

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Jamaica Wildlife New York City New York 102

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

The Green Heron ( Butorides virescens ) is a spectacular species familiar to anyone who pays attention to the places where water meets land. While Butorides spans the globe, it is either recognized as a single species called Green-backed Heron or as three distinct species, the aforementioned New World heron B.

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Jamaica Fish Adoptable Ducks 259

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2012

For some inexplicable reason when my folks were visiting and we took Desi for a walk around Jamaica Bay the Yellow Warblers would not show themselves. This despite our hearing eight different individuals singing. None of them would come out into the open and sing.

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Jamaica Species Birds 240

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2015

Corey had quite a few species to choose from this weekend but decided that his Best Bird of the Weekend was the simple Tree Swallow. In particular, he picked one of the many that has already staked out a claim to a nest box at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This time, we spotted two shaggy cranes flying across the wetlands.

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2015 Jamaica New York Birds 218

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2020

Learn to read the signs, and you’ll be able to tell the time of year just by which species cross your path… I had the chance to observe some interesting avian activity along the lakeshore this weekend, but the Eastern Bluebirds down in rural Pennsylvania were most distinctively colorful, which counts for a lot with me.

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2020 Pennsylvania Jamaica Birds 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Gray Kingbird perched on a Gumbo Limbo Tree, another typical West Indian species native to South Florida. Although a reasonably common species in southern Florida, Gray Kingbird is especially abundant in the West Indies where even islanders not interested in birds are very familiar with this species.

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Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Miami Florida 250

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2013

Of course we should seek reasons to celebrate every bird species we share our weekends with, but is the species that delights us most always the most memorable? He was very pleased to get such close looks at such a cool shorebird species with the sun low in the sky behind him.

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2013 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 195

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2014

Every single summer when I am out experiencing the mud and heat and shorebirds on the the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge I find myself getting into the same silent argument with myself. Then, invariably,shortly thereafter I spot the other species and decide that it is better. … Birds Jamaica Bay shorebirds'

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Jamaica Wildlife Birds Species 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2012

My weekend was devoted to a seemingly endless celebration of my son’s 8th birthday, which meant that my best bird was bound to be a backyard species. I had a large, half-rotten tree taken down last summer, but chose not to have the stump ground down.

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2012 Jamaica New York Woodpeckers 193

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2013

It was fun and I ended up with 124 species. And, amazingly, despite visiting less parks and having to end my day even earlier than last time to go pick up my son, I ended the day with the same exact number of species. Worm-eating Warbler was my twenty-first and final wood-warbler species of the day.

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Jamaica Baltimore Eggs Wildlife 179

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2013

I decided to spend my day Friday birding the heck out of my home borough to see how many species I could track down for the day. Nonetheless, I ended up with 124 species of birds in Queens in the just-over-twelve-hours I spent birding. Still, any day in New York City with 124 species is a day well worth experiencing!

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Jamaica Oakland New York City Bats 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2021

So, as I cracked open a can of Parula Pilsner this week, I decided to have a look back at my own history with this species. Since the trippy can art by Boston artist Ian Tartasky is a bit too visually ambiguous for a solid call between Northern and Tropical Parula, we can just pretend it’s whatever species we want.

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Jamaica Boston New York Peru 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2013

The natural attractions of midsummer seem more subtle than those enjoyed during the frantic peregrinations of the world’s migratory species. Of course, the reasons why robins might mob a crow are obvious, but I never attributed a mob mentality to that species! How refined are your tastes in nature? How about you?

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2013 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 165

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2013

Anyway, one of the birds I looked hard for all winter was a Ross’s Goose , the diminutive species that looks like nothing but a very small Snow Goose.

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Geese New York City New York Jamaica 232

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2011

In terms of bird watching though, ’tis not the season to be jolly unless you’re either utterly devoted to your local resident species or on vacation in a place you might enjoy someone else’s local resident species. Corey did a bit better, enjoying tons of juvenile Yellow Warblers at Jamaica Bay.

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2011 Jamaica New York Birds 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

Taking inspiration from Matthiessen’s 1967 book (long out of print), which combined his natural history essays with species accounts by Ralph S. Species Profile, Black-necked Stilt, p. 57; © 2024 by Pete Dunne and Kevin T.

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North America America 2006 Delaware 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Mostly the ducks were Red-breasted Merganser and Greater Scaup , the two most prevalent species on the pond, but there were a few other birds mixed in as well. 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.

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Ducks 2011 Jamaica Deer 190

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Florida is a great place to bird in January because in addition to the year-round species there are a host of birds that winter in the relatively balmy climate that Florida has in winter. Get my Florida list to 180 species. I should be able to find sixteen species that I have failed to add thus far in the great state of Florida.

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2015 Wildlife Florida Honduras 233

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2021

Fascinated with New York’s Jamaica Bay, I started dreaming about creating a similar wetland reserve on the Danube inside Belgrade, the very area I explored. It is a spacious floodplain between the River Danube and the levee, 2.1 mi at its widest point and some 9 km2 / 3.5

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Serbia Boars Deer Otters 279

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. A couple of Semipalmated Sandpipers and single American Oystercatcher rounded out the shorebird species that I spotted in my first sweep.

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Jamaica New York City Abandon Abandoning 162