We have entered the off-season of birding, which means the Bird Nerds have been able to spend more time with our family and friends again. Of course there are many birds that spend the summer in our area, so on June 14th we ventured to a new location, Plumb Beach, Brooklyn.
Plumb Beach in perspective
View from Plumb Beach to Verrazano Bridge
This location is directly off the Belt Parkway and is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area (I have to wonder if we’d have any birds left in NYC if it weren’t for the National Park Service?) It is a rather seedy location with an equally seedy past, if the Wikipedia page is to be believed. The shore is covered with sea glass-in-the-making, a fair amount of garbage, dead fish and horseshoe crabs.
Future sea glass on Plumb Beach
Horseshoe crabs are an important food source for shorebirds, but their numbers have been declining in recent years. Walking along Plumb Beach gave us an optimistic feeling- we saw dozens buried in the sand, waiting until night to come out and mate.
Horseshoe crab buried in the sand at Plumb Beach
Which brings us to the birds. Overall Plumb Beach is a smorgasbord for shorebirds (mainly gulls) and we found lots of them feasting.
Gull assessing the best way to eat a fish
Yeah buddy, just get the whole thing in there at once!
Gull angelically soaring with a muscle in his beak
We also saw a favorite shorebird species of ours, the American Oystercatcher.
American Oystercatcher coming in for landing
Oystercatchers cruisin’ for mollusks. How can you not love these guys?
Tucked away between the shoreline and the Belt Parkway, Plumb Beach also has a marshy inlet.
Marsh at Plumb Beach
The seclusion of this area makes it a popular spot for (can you guess?!) private encounters. We found evidence of this as we walked along the marsh, but mostly we saw thousands of Fiddler Crabs scurrying into their holes.
Full moon over Plumb Beach
We saw a Black-Crowned night heron sitting in the tall grasses, and watched it take off and soar to a new spot.
Black-crowned night heron
Obligatory NYC Skyline pic- as seen from Plumb Beach under the Belt Parkway
As we walked from the marsh back to the beach, we saw a family having what was surely an illegal and nearly out-of-control bonfire, and a group of Willets:
Willets
And more gulls!
Gulls on Plumb Beach
Last but not least, we found about a dozen Least Terns, flying closely over the water and rapidly diving to catch fish:
Least Tern diving
Least Tern
And because this is still New York City, of course our ubiquitous feathered friends were also on the beach: the House Sparrow and Pigeon!
Beach House Sparrow
A beautiful bird
Finally, the list:
Laughing gull
Pigeon
Barn swallow
American oystercatcher
House sparrow
Least tern
Snowy egret
Red-winged blackbird
Black-crowned night heron
Tree swallow
Boat-tailed grackle
Common tern
Willet
Double-crested cormorant
Great black-backed gull
Herring gull
Mourning dove
Northern Cardinal
rowhousesparrows 