I spent a couple of hours in the park yesterday morning and was happy to see that spring migration is now in full swing. In the Baselands, I flushed my first American Woodcock of the year. It was in a spot where I've seen them before, and even though I knew exactly where to look, I couldn't see the bird until it exploded practically in my face. In the Wet Woods, I saw and heard a single male Rusty Blackbird. It was mixed in with European starlings, Common Grackles, and a whole choir of singing American Robins.
This is a good time of year for ducks. Yesterday there was a pair of Green-winged Teal in Bay D and several more in Cell 2. They were all in full breeding plumage. It would be worth lugging a scope down to the Spit just to get a good look at the colors on these teal. The male is stunning with his green and rufuous head, the female more subdued, but she has that vivid chartreuse speculum that she's not afraid of flashing. Other ducks included American Wigeon, Ring-necked and Wood Ducks.
Maybe the big duck news of the day was flock after flock of Northern Pintails passing overhead. There's something stirring about seeing these big birds in flight, with their swanlike necks and the males with their correspondingly long and pointed tails. I saw two flocks of around 10 birds apiece, but other observers reported seeing as many as 40 flying over the Spit to the northwest.
