Bill Richards Park

Our speaker today brought out that problems are like weeds -- they just keep popping up!  So after a long cold winter of weeds, it was beyond wonderful to get together for an afternoon of birding.  Our first real foray of the year.

The catalyst behind this afternoon's adventure was some inside information.  Our birding buddy, Louie, said we might see some Wood Ducks at the Bill Richards Park, known to many as Green Gates.  They often make use of the Wood Duck boxes at the park for breeding.  Of course Wood Ducks only summer on Long Island, so if we did see them we couldn't add them to our Long Island Year Round Bird list, but they are so colorful, we wanted to see them never-the-less.

It was a perfect day, high 60's.  The birds were abundant.  We saw all the usuals:  Cardinals, Blue Jays, Crows, Grackles, Black-Capped Chickadees, Catbirds, Red-Winged Blackbirds and Robins.  There was an Osprey that flew overhead.  We saw at least three different types of Warblers, but they were flitting about so quickly, we weren't able to identify, with any degree of certainty, even one!  We did come across a new bird that sat patiently as we checked the book to see what it was. A Great Crested Flycatcher!  A new bird for us, but not for the blog.  He also only summers on Long Island.  Below is a picture of one just like the one we saw.

Great Crested Flycatcher

We were also very happy to see a common bird that we are able to add to our Long Island Bird List.  That bird is a Brown Headed Cowbird.  A photo below shows what they look like.

Brown Headed Cowbird

As we made our way around the pond, enjoying the variety of birds, we met a friendly Mute Swan, who followed us for a while, perhaps thinking we had a tasty morsel to share.


Mute Swan


We also spotted several couples of Mallards.  Of course, Mallards are a dime a dozen and we didn't take a photo until we met up with this couple on the path.  Notice how the coloring of the male changes with the light.  Usually the head looks green but in the photo taken yesterday, the coloring is purple.

Well, we made it to the end of the pond.  No Wood Ducks!  Disappointed, but happy for all the birds we did see.  We kept scanning the pond on our way back, just in case we missed something.  Persistence paid off.  There on the other side of the pond - Wood Ducks!  We quickly circled around to get a better look.  Unlike Mallards, who could care less if you are there, Wood Ducks are a little on the skittish side.  By the time we got to where they were, they were high-tailing it to where we were not!  We did manage to get a few pictures before they disappeared under the brush at the other side of the pond.

Male and Female Wood Ducks

Yes, they were moving away from us as quickly as they could!  Click on photos for a better look.  As is the case with most species, the female is very drab colored in order to blend in with her surroundings while tending to her brood.  Now our day was complete.  We found what we came for.  Even so, we circled around to the other side of the pond to see if we could catch up with them.  Had a few brief views, but they were determined to be difficult! 

We did happen upon these three rather large turtles, sunning themselves on this log.  Look to the far right and see that they were sharing the log with a Mallard.

Three Turtles and a Mallard!

Had one other nice surprise as we headed back to the cars.  Found this Red-Bellied Woodpecker peeking out from his house!  The next time we go back, we will check to see if there are any babies being tended to there!

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Such was our jam-packed birding afternoon.  How much we love the variety Jehovah provided.  Hope you enjoyed our journey as well.  Keep on Birding!