walking the dog

I took Rimsky (that's our dog) for a walk down the street and down the hill to the Brooklyn Bridge Park on the East River. This is a rather new park adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge on the site of a demolished stretch of the old Brooklyn Waterfront. The docks that were here went out of business when maritime shipping became containerized and the new park has some creative landscape features including a restored bit of marsh, some low landscaped hills and stunning views of downtown Manhattan, the East River and Upper New York Bay. I covered this area for the Brooklyn Christmas Bird Count but it was only moderately birdy at that time (mainly a few species of wintering ducks). However, in past years the area along the river by the River Cafe, around the Brooklyn pylons of the Brooklyn Bridge and in the park behind the Empire Warehouses in Dumbo has been good to excellent for birds in spring and fall migrations and I thought that in late April the new park might catch some birds. Besides the active local breeders (Am Robin, N Cardinal, N. Mockingbird plus House Sparrow, Common Starling and Rock Pigeon), there were indeed a number of migrants including two warblers (Palm and Common Yellowthroat), sparrows (many Savannahs and White-throats and at least one Swamp Sparrow), Common Grackles, a Catbird, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and several Barn Swallows (which could be migrants or local breeders). Laughing Gulls were everywhere on the river and in the little inlets along the shore (and they were indeed laughing out loud). An early morning walk would probably be even more productive. I might try it in the next couple of days.

Eric Salzman