Plan B

~A female Bufflehead looking cute at the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 01/20/18.~

Unfortunately, today’s Brooklyn Pelagic was cancelled due to what they described as a “horrendous forecast”. They are trying to reschedule it for February 4th; hopefully it will fill up and I will be able to make it.

I resorted to ‘Plan B’, which I came up with on my commute home last night: I’d take a trip to the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary in Rye, New York. It’s been a while since I’ve been there and I thought it would be fun to see how well I could do with waterfowl. Afterwards, I ended up also going to the Marshlands Conservancy, which is also in Rye, and then stopping at Piermont Pier on my way home. For the day I had 19 species of waterfowl; here’s my list by location:

The biggest surprise for me was the number of Common Goldeneyes at the sanctuary. My count of 22 is very conservative and I don’t remember ever having nearly that many there in the past. I was also hoping to see my first shorebirds of 2018, but it was not to be (in the past, I have had Purple Sandpipers at E.G. Read Sanctuary and back in December of 2013, I had 13 Dunlin at the Marshlands Conservancy). As for songbirds, I feel like I’ve done better at the sanctuary and the conservancy in the past. My best songbird of the day was a fleeting look at a FOX SPARROW at the Marshlands Conservancy. Here’s some more shots from the day:

~A Greater Scaup enjoys a snack at Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 01/20/18.~
~Song Sparrow at Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 01/20/18.~
~A male Bufflehead at Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 01/20/18.~
~This Black-capped Chickadee was waiting its turn at the feeder station at the Marshlands Conservancy, 01/20/18.~

4 thoughts on “Plan B”

  1. You could have driven 45min northeast to Stratford CT for some Snowy Owls. We had 3 today on a Greenwich Audubon trip. Also had some Iceland Gulls as a highlight of the trip.

    Love your posts!

    1. Now that sounds like an exciting day of birding, Rich. I’m glad you are enjoying the posts, thanks for commenting. Matt

  2. Really nice shots Matt
    I like the Bufflehead best because the colors are showing
    I’m glad you had a great day.

    Wilma

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