This weekend on Governors Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_Island,_New_York_City
Saturday
National Public Lands Day Program: Fall Bird Census on Governors Island -With Volunteer In Park Annie Barry, a public volunteer service program
10:30-12:30: Meet at the top of the hill at Soisson's Dock
Join Annie on a search for warblers, kinglets, thrushes, vireos and other migrating birds as they pass through New York Harbor. We’ll also count summer lingerers and year-round residents. Your participation will help the National Park Service gather census data on the birds of Governors Island. Please bring your own binoculars. Meet at the top of the hill at Soission's Dock at 10:30.
The ferry runs from the Coast Guard building next to the Staten Island Ferry or Pier 6 From Atlantic Ave
Manhattan Ferries
Free ferries run between Manhattan and Governors Island on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Manhattan ferries leave from the Battery Maritime Building (10 South Street) in Lower Manhattan.
Brooklyn Ferries
Free ferries run between Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governors Island on Saturdays and Sundays. The ferry ride is a quick three minutes, so ferry service runs continuously. Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 is located at the foot of Atlantic Avenue.
for more info , go to
http://www.governorsislandalliance.org/
212-253-2727
governorsisland@rpa.org
( by the way, Governors Island should be Brooklyn's ,cause its on our side :)> AND it has a great name for the strait between Brooklyn and the Island : BUTTERMILK CHANNEL )
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From Ebird Yahoo Groups listserve ( about Brooklyn Bridge Park)
brooklynbridgepark.org
Larry Zirlin posting:
If Bryant Park seems an unlikely place to find a lot of
warblers then this new park, still under construction, is even
more surprising.
On Pier 1 the planners have created a salt marsh planted
with a variety of water loving plants, while the small hills have
at least a hundred trees along with bushes and flowers. I
was skeptical that these planting would attracted many birds.
However, in 2 visits this week, one in the morning and one in
the late afternoon I found:
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
As well as:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (at least 6 yesterday)
Eastern Phoebe
American Goldfinch
along with mockingbirds, starlings, robins, Mourning Doves,
and House Sparrows.
It also looks like it will be a great place for ducks, geese, gulls, &
possibly grebes in the winter. In the late spring there were Brant,
Gadwall,black ducks, Canada Geese. Gulls abound and there are
always a few cormorants.
A geographic quirk: Apparently the borderline of New York
County extends to the shoreline of Brooklyn in this area of East
River, so technically,this is New York County-at least that's how
eBirds placed it when I marked it on the map. An easy way for
Brooklynites to pad their New York County lists!
In the mornings there are many people around-I found 7 Palm
Warblers on one of the lawns. Human activity picks up
throughout the day and after work it is pretty busy, but the salt
marsh had a lot of warblers and kinglets flitting about.
Larry Zirlin
Brooklyn, NY
