Bayonne Dawn

morning train ride to Bayonne to check out the twin parks this morning (despite some nagging shin splints) yielded very few warblers, just a couple Black-and-whites and a solitary Ovenbird. I heard but did not see Warbling Vireo and Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Eastern Kingbird I've spied in the willows and birches overhanging the pond was back, and did a little hunting just over the water's surface before returning to his perch to sing. This also marked my first walk since mid-April without White-throated Sparrow.

The boardwalk was interesting, though, with Least and Spotted Sandpipers, a Great Egret, Gadwall, and three Great Black-backed Gulls tearing up a washed up Channel Cat. Also dipping around the mudflat was a Solitary Sandpiper, which caused a doubletake. This was an odd setting for this bird in my experience, but green grass is now showing in the middle of the flats and may have attracted the puddle-picker to the area. Kingfisher wasn't around, and no Yellowlegs either.

No Pheasants or Warblers in the scrub meadow, so I packed up and headed for work.