NEW YORK – When a boatload of bird-watchers set forth on an “eco-cruise” of New York’s harbor, it was almost as if the birds knew they were coming.
From the upper deck of a big yellow water taxi, eagle-eyed veterans of the binocular-toting, sensibly shod birding fraternity spotted at least 20 different ducks, gulls and other species that most people might not even notice, let alone be able to identify.
The two-hour trip in 40-degree weather on Wednesday was a preview of the New York City Audubon Society’s plan for a series of winter cruises to discover the wintering wildlife “hidden around New York City’s islands,” program director Yigal Gelb said.
“Falcon! Is it a merlin?” cried Joe Giunta as a small bird soared overhead moments after the catamaran left the South Street Seaport dock on the East River. After a quick discussion, it was decided that Giunta, a retired teacher who lectures about birds for the local Audubon society, was correct.
As the boat headed down Buttermilk Channel between Governors Island and Brooklyn, expert eyes zeroed in on bufflehead ducks, black ducks, mallards and red-breasted mergansers loitering along the shoreline.
Afloat in Erie Basin was a flock of brants – small geese resembling ubiquitous Canada geese – for whom the arctic is home and New York is a winter in the tropics.
“For a lot of birds, this is south,” said Gabriel Willow, a Brooklyn-based naturalist who served as tour guide.
The waterborne tours will help people connect with the “archipelago city” of New York in new ways, he said. “To know the city, to know where you live, you have to know what else lives there, too,” Willow said.
As the water taxi cruised toward the Statue of Liberty and then turned for home, the experts racked up more sightings: ring-billed gulls, the most common in New York; a great black-backed gull, the largest; a greater scaup; a black-and-white duck; a gadwall; a ruddy duck; an American widgeon; and a horned grebe.
Giunta had no sooner mentioned that two peregrine falcons were living on the Brooklyn Bridge than he spotted a sleek bird circling high overhead.
“It’s a peregrine,” he exulted. “Right on cue.”
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