Exploring the Arverne East Nature Preserve on Labor Day Weekend

It was a direct ride from Manhattan on the A train, and a lovely day for exploring. We often go to other sections of Rockaway Beach, and have seen the protected areas for Piping Plovers near Riis Park and Fort Tilden, but not this bird conservation area by Arverne.  

I thought the beach might be closed off entirely, but I also knew the Piping Plover nesting period was over. The beach part turned out to be open but not for swimming or surfing, and there was no going up in the dunes. 

There was hardly anyone along this part of the beach, and we started walking towards a bunch of gulls loafing around down the way.  

But first we ran into some Royal Terns. During breeding season they have sleek black caps that extend over the backs of their heads. By now they were done, though, and their hairlines had receded.  

Royal Terns

Then it turned out that the terns weren't entirely done with parenting. 

A young one showed up and was pestering the adults for food. 

The adults were not cooperative, and flew away.    

There was also a juvenile Laughing Gull standing next to an adult. Maybe also hoping for a handout. 

Juvenile Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull with post-breeding head feathers

The juveniles are brown, while the adults have gray backs and white bellies - and solid black heads when they are breeding. Like the terns, the Laughing Gulls lose their dark head feathers after breeding.

Laughing Gull with black head during breeding season

The large Black-backed Gulls dominated the waterfront further out along the beach.  

Black-backed Gull

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Along with a few slightly smaller Herring Gulls. 

Herring Gull

The Ring-billed Gulls are even smaller, but also feisty.

Ring-billed Gull

Overhead, several Ospreys were scanning the water and dropping down to snatch up unsuspecting fish.

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I was surprised to find a number of Double-crested Cormorants on the beach. I have mostly seen them nesting on off-shore islands around the city, or standing on piers, rather than wading in the surf.  

A flock of small Sanderlings swung by and then quickly moved back towards the east. They are often running in groups along the shoreline, collecting small snacks as the water recedes, then retreating as the next wave comes in.  

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Sanderling

I sometimes get confused between Sanderlings and Semipalmated Sandpipers, which both congregate on beaches and are around the same size. However, the Semipalmated Sandpipers don't have the same behavior of chasing the waves. 

Semipalmated Sandpiper

There was also a Ruddy Turnstone, a larger type of sandpiper that has much more dramatic coloring.

My favorites, though, are the big Oystercatchers, with their bright carrot-like bills, and high-pitched voices. 

It was a sweet end-of-summer day at the beach, and just a subway ride away.
 

Piping Plovers and Other Shorebirds Benefit From a Protected Nesting Area at New York's Fort Tilden Beach

 

American Oystercatcher, Common Tern, Piping Plover adult,
and immature Herring Gull

An area of beach was roped off so the Piping Plovers and their chicks could run down from the dunes to the beach to get food from the water's edge. Even the adults are barely visible from behind the barriers because they are so small.  

Piping Plover chick

The American Oystercatchers also benefit from the protected area. However their chicks will get fed by the adults, so they won't have to make the trek to the water until they are older. 

An American Oystercatcher sat on a nest in the protected area

• The oystercatcher parents take turns on the nest, doing a quick turnover.

Oystercatcher parents switch off so they both have a chance to go get food.

But the non-sitting oystercatcher parent also keeps watch for danger. When a Great Black-Backed Gull passed over and got too close, one of the oystercatchers flew up and chased after it, apparently thinking it might be a threat to the eggs.

Great Black-backed Gull

Interestingly, the oystercatchers didn't seem afraid of the herring gulls foraging along the shoreline. 

An immature Herring Gull ate mussels washed up on the beach

Or concerned about the smaller Laughing Gulls gathering around on the open beach area.

Laughing Gull

Several Common Terns took advantage of the unpopulated beach area to do some fishing, although they were not nesting there. 

Common Tern

 

And an Osprey also flew over, heading further out to sea to do its fishing.  

Ospreys nest nearby in Jamaica Bay

Confusing Sapsuckers and Other Spring Birds in Lower Manhattan

 

This bird seemed to be a sapsucker but didn’t have any red on its head.

On April 20, I was passing through City Hall Park with a friend and happened to see maybe 10 sapsuckers flying around the trees. I didn’t have my camera with me but did manage to get a photo of one of them with my cell phone. When I looked closely I didn’t see red on its head, unlike the other ones I have seen before. I thought maybe it was a juvenile.

Although there are thousands of yellow-bellied sapsucker holes in the trees in City Hall Park, I rarely see the birds responsible for making the holes there. A sapsucker is a type of woodpecker that makes lines of small holes across the bark of many different kinds of trees, and then licks up the sap that wells up, along with any bugs attracted to the sap. Over time, some trees are almost entirely covered with these holes, since the holes don’t close up, and new ones may be added every year. 

Sapsucker holes are lined up in horozontal rows.

About a week later I went on Monday morning Battery Park City bird walk with Marieke Bender and there were a number of sapsuckers around the Cedar of Lebanon trees in the South Cove. The markings on their backs provide a lot of camouflage when they are against the bark, but red feathers on the head will catch your eye.  

This sapsucker had red on its head but not its throat so I figured it was a female. 

The male yellow-bellied sapsuckers usually have red on their heads and throats.

Then on April 30 I went on the bird walk in The Battery with Gabriel Willow. We saw several yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the Labyrinth there chasing each other around on the Atlas cedar trees. And one of them had a black head. Like the one I saw in City Hall Park. Gabriel told us that some adult females are a black-crowned variety – maybe one in ten. It's mentioned in the Sibley app. Interesting to learn.

Meanwhile we were treated to a good look at Astoria, the lonely female wild turkey who seems to be roaming the city in hopes of finding a mate. People were reminded of Zelda, a different wild turkey who lived in The Battery for quite a few years a while back.

Elsewhere in The Battery, some house sparrows were making a nest in a London Plane tree hole.

And a pair of mockingbirds had a nest in a tree by the Farm.

The mourning doves had already moved out of their nest in the Labyrinth. 

White-throated sparrows were still around, after spending the winter in the city. They were singing their wonderful high-pitched song, but will soon be moving north to breed.  

Other birds were just stopping by on their way north.

Including an Ovenbird.

And a Ruby-crowned Kinglet on the Atlas cedar.

Further uptown, in the Trinity Church graveyard, there was a Veery.

And a male Common Yellowthroat.

Fun to see so much springtime life in lower Manhattan. 

Meeting and Celebrating Trees (and some birds) in City Hall Park

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For Earth Day in April, I organized a show at the One Art Space gallery on Warren Street called Celebrating City Hall Park Trees, in conjunction with a weeklong program of events put together by the Friends of City Hall Park and the City Hall Park Conservancy. 

Some of the photos in the show showcased the flowering trees in the park, just across the street from my apartment.  Another set of photos focused on the different personalities of some of the trees, and the faces in the bark I began to see as I spent a lot of time studying the trees and getting to know them better. 

At the same time I published a new book Meeting Trees in City Hall Park on Amazon.com, where I included many of the photos from the gallery show, along with other information. 

People can use the book to explore the park, looking for the featured trees with distinctive faces and personalities, and learn about the eclectic mix of foreign and domestic species that have ended up in New York City's former commons. 

                   

I highlighted the trees that resident birds like, as well as some of the visiting migratory birds.  

 

Here is some info from the Introduction:

I set out to learn about the trees in New York's City Hall Park, and found some fascinating new friends and neighbors. After almost 40 years living across the street, I decided to get to know the trees in connection with a project for the Friends of City Hall Park. It turned out to be quite challenging, as there was no easy source of accurate information for some of the ornamental trees planted in the park.

Often I stood in front of a tree for a long time circling around searching for clues in its branches, or on the ground. Sometimes I spoke to the trees, asking for information or admiring their beauty. I touched their bark and caressed their leaves. It seemed like I could feel their energy. Some of them became special friends and I was eager to sit and visit with them when I went out to the park.

Trees from around the world have been planted in the park, and their lives are in many ways controlled by people. Yet even though they may have little in common, they still form a community, connected with each other - and with us too , as neighbors.

When I was getting familiar with the different trees, one particular elm seemed to have a sassy face on it. Then I began to see expressive looks on many of the other trees. Wow, I thought, they're looking back at me. How do they feel about me, I wondered. About us. About their lives in New York City.

Some of them must have seen successions of Mayors, City Council members and government officials, plus thousands of public events - demonstrations and protests, celebrations and parades. Witness trees.

It's common now to reference the ways trees communicate with each other, through underground networks of fungi or airborne chemical signals. Walking among the trees is touted as good for our immune systems. All those airborne chemicals and the cooling, calming shade. However, more important, I think is that trees are able to use the magic of photosynthesis to create energy and matter from light, supporting life on earth, including ours, and producing oxygen for us to breathe.

I encourages you to get acquainted with the trees in your own neighborhoods, and to appreciate the many ways they support us and grace our lives. Introduce yourself to a tree, any tree, and get to know it better. Maybe say thanks.

The trees in City Hall Park include beech, buckeye, catalpa, cedar, cherry, crabapple, crape myrtle, dawn redwood, dogwood, elm, gingko, hawthorn, holly, horse chestnut, linden, London plane, magnolia, maple, oak, pine, plum redbud, snowbell, spruce, sweetgum, tupelo, viburnum, and more.

I hope you will check out the book....