March Birds

Spring officially begins during the month or March. However, the lengthening days and (sometimes) warmer weather usually only reveals subtle hints of the northbound bird migration. I still spent many hours exploring Brooklyn's coastal habitats for winter waterfowl and any possible rare visitors. I added 14 more species to my growing list of Brooklyn birds for 2011 finishing March with 120 species. I did have a few winter species misses from 2010 that I may not find by the end of the year.

One species that I didn't expect to see in Brooklyn, but cooperatively showed up again in the same place as last year was the Barrow's Goldeneye. This winter I'd been obsessing over waterfowl and spent a lot of time at Coney Island hoping to locate all three scoter species, as well as, Common Eider. Unfortunately, I've struck out on the eiders and White-winged Scoter. It looks like it I may need to wait until December to try again. One waterfowl which was a life-bird for me and very rare for Brooklyn was Greater White-fronted Goose. This bird made a couple of brief appearances at Dreier-Offerman Park (Calvert Vaux) within a flock of Canada Goose. All the other species that I tallied in Brooklyn for the month of March are pretty much expected to be seen at some point. Now that April is here and birds are on the move, I can't wait to see what new birds will be on my next monthly summary.

March 2011 Brooklyn birds:

107) Ring-necked Pheasant (Gerritsen Creek--White Island, 03/05/11)
108) Greater White-fronted Goose (Dreier-Offerman Park, 03/10/11)
109) Northern Gannet (Brighton Beach, 03/10/11)
110) Barrow's Goldeneye (Jamaica Bay West--Brooklyn, 03/12/11)
111) Pine Warbler (Prospect Park, 03/14/11)
112) Wilson's Snipe (Prospect Park, 03/14/11)
113) American Oystercatcher (Coney Island Pier, 03/15/11)
114) Eastern Bluebird (Prospect Park--Nethermead, 03/17/11)
115) Osprey (Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 03/26/11)
116) Eastern Phoebe (Prospect Park, 03/26/11)
117) Laughing Gull (Coney Island Pier, 03/27/11)
118) Boat-tailed Grackle (Coney Island--21st Ave, 03/27/11)
119) Field Sparrow (Floyd Bennett Field, 03/27/11)
120) Winter Wren (Prospect Park, 03/29/11)