Roosevelt Island, 16 May 99

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Hello all,

I was slated to meet Kurt Gaskill and Ray Carter at Roosevelt Island on 
Saturday, at 06:30.  What none of us knew was that the northbound approach to 
the parking lot would be closed, and the detour would take you throught 
Roslyn and put you on the parkway north of Teddy's Island.  Since I had never 
been there before, and I know little about that area, I was annoyed.  I had 
no way to reach Kurt and Ray, and since they had similar trouble getting 
there, they scrapped the plans and went to Great Falls.  

I took a chance and called Bob Abrams, and he suggested to go into DC, and 
come out on the Roosevelt Bridge, hoping that I would be able to access the 
Parkway from there.  I could.  Which annoyed me further because the signs 
that were put up on the northbound stretch just prior to the detour was that 
the Parkway itself was closed between the Memorial and Key Bridges.  A 
blatant lie.  

Nonetheless, I made it, and ended up meeting Bob as well as Joan Boudreau at 
about 07:30.  

It was very thrushy.  This is a great spot.  Anyone who has never been should 
give it a try.  Most of the birding was easy.  The birds were concentrated, 
and most were singing.  Some of the island has short trees, and it is not too 
difficult to get looks at many birds.  The biggest problems were joggers that 
were flushing thrushes, and the fact that the wind was north, which meant 
that planes were taking off right over the island.  We netted about 70 
species, and as I said it was very thrushy.  One of the first birds I had on 
the island was a Gray-cheeked that flew into a beech tree at the end of the 
footbridge on the left.  Bob had heard another Gray-cheeked singing. 

The complete list:

DC Cormorant (12)
Great Blue Heron (2)
Black-crowned Night Heron (3) seen across the Potomac, one on T.R.
Canada Goose (8)
Wood Duck (2)
Mallard (4)
Red-shouldered Hawk (1)
Killdeer (1)
Solitary Sandpiper (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (2)
Ring-billed Gull (4)
Herring Gull (2)
Great Black-backed Gull (2)
Rock Dove (6)
Mourning Dove (6)
YB Cuckoo (1)
Chimney Swift (12)
Kingfisher (1)
RB Woodpecker (2)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Northern Flicker (1)
Acadian Flycatcher (1)
Great Crested Flycatcher (3)
Eastern Kingbird (12)
Purple Martin (1)
Tree Swallow (2)
Rough-winged Swallow (4)
Barn Swallow (18)
Blue Jay (6)
American Crow (16)
Fish Crow (4)
Chickadee (8)
Titmouse (6)
WB Nuthatch (1)
Carolina Wren (4)
House Wren (4)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (6)
Veery (7)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)
Swainson's Thrush (18)
Wood Thrush (8)
Robin (30)
Catbid (4)
Waxwing (12)
Starling (30)
White-eyed Vireo (1)
Yellow-throated Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (4)
Red-eyed Vireo (8)
Parula (1)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Magnolia (2)
Black-throated Blue (6)
Yellow-rump (16)
Blackpoll (20)
Redstart (3)
Prothonotary (1)
Ovenbird (6)
N. Waterthrush (2)
Kentucky (1)
Common Yellowthroat (2)
Canada Warbler (2)
Scarlet Tanager (6)
Cardinal (10)
RB Grosbeak (1)
Indigo Bunting (3)
Song Sparrow (2)
Red-winged Blackbird (12)
Common Grackle (12)
Cowbird (10)
Orchard Oriole (4)
Baltimore Oriole (6)
House Finch (2)
Goldfinch (4)
House Sparrow (2)

Cheers,

Todd Day
BlkVulture@aol.com
Jeffersonton, VA

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