January 19th, 2015, was cold and windy.
Unfortunately, it was also the day that I was set to do the NYS Winter Waterfowl Count. Organized by NYSOA, the count gets a general idea of what waterfowl are wintering in New York State.
I had been asked to help cover the North Shore of Nassau County, and had signed up to do the east side of Hempstead Harbor, a small inlet of the Long Island Sound. My goal was to cover from Roslyn to Glen Cove, a total of 7.6 miles.
The first stop was at the Roslyn Duck Ponds, two small ponds at the base of the harbor. Two merganser species, the Common and the Hooded, were present among the fifty Mallard, four Mute Swan, one Ruddy Duck and two American Coot. Otherwise, there was pretty much nothing hanging around (other than the ubiquitous Ring-billed and Herring Gulls), as the ponds were mostly frozen over.
Nothing else was at Cedarmere, so I headed up the road to Tappen Beach, my old wintertime patch, and found two Greater Scaup, a loon sp., and a pair of Bufflehead. Further up the beach were six Common Goldeneye, plus more American Black Ducks and Bufflehead.
Unfortunately, it was also the day that I was set to do the NYS Winter Waterfowl Count. Organized by NYSOA, the count gets a general idea of what waterfowl are wintering in New York State.
I had been asked to help cover the North Shore of Nassau County, and had signed up to do the east side of Hempstead Harbor, a small inlet of the Long Island Sound. My goal was to cover from Roslyn to Glen Cove, a total of 7.6 miles.
The first stop was at the Roslyn Duck Ponds, two small ponds at the base of the harbor. Two merganser species, the Common and the Hooded, were present among the fifty Mallard, four Mute Swan, one Ruddy Duck and two American Coot. Otherwise, there was pretty much nothing hanging around (other than the ubiquitous Ring-billed and Herring Gulls), as the ponds were mostly frozen over.
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| Hooded Mergansers |
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| Common Merganser |
Next up was, interestingly enough, a senior center. Behind this senior center is a trail that runs along the water, offering great views of the harbor. Here there were ninety American Black Duck, four Great Blue Heron, and of course numerous Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.
As I took a brief break from scanning the water, something black caught my eye. I got my binoculars on what looked to be a crow, but it was gliding, flying like a hawk. And then it turned.
The bird had a wedge-shaped tail.
COMMON RAVEN is by no means a common bird in my area, yet that is what this bird was. I relocated it at the next stop Cedarmere Preserve, and it flew right over my head and called. While it is an uncommon species, ravens have nested in the area in the past, so it was not totally unexpected.
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| Common Raven. Terrible shot, I know. |
Nothing else was at Cedarmere, so I headed up the road to Tappen Beach, my old wintertime patch, and found two Greater Scaup, a loon sp., and a pair of Bufflehead. Further up the beach were six Common Goldeneye, plus more American Black Ducks and Bufflehead.
Next up was Sea Cliff Beach, the site of the 2013 Black Guillemot. I found no guillemots, but I did see a Common Loon putting on quite a show, and eight Red-breasted Mergansers, giving me all the North American merganser species for the day.
The final stop of the day was Morgan Memorial Park, or rather the jetty there. However, by this time, it was so cold and so windy that any sort of optics were useless; indeed, it was virtually impossible to stand upright. The only good bird I picked up there before being blown back to the car and home was a Horned Grebe, just before the light darkened too much to see any further species. I hope to participate in this survey again in the future, though hopefully in better weather.
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| Common Loon |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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