Winter Hike along the North 40 trail at Floyd Bennett Field...

On Saturday, I went on a Winter hike along the North Forty at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn NY.  The walk was led by well known naturalist Mickey Cohen who is an excellent narrator and is beloved by many for his easy nature and willingness to share his knowledge of the area.  The North Forty, is a trail that winds its way along an open path that takes you through dense shrubland with an ever presence of Phragmites (a type of reed with tall stems and large showy panicles resembling plumes) and ends at a man-made 2 acre pond called the Return-a-Gift Pond.

Mickey decided to begin the walk from the end of the North Forty, so we were essentially working our way backwards along the trail.  The turn out was good...perhaps too good, as we numbered around 22 attendees, which made it harder to keep the noise level to a minimum.  Mickey as usual was in good form, discussing and showing the group many of the Shrubs and Trees found at Floyd Bennett Field, such as Sumac, Black Cherry, Rosa Multiflora, Birch Tree, Aspen and Eastern Cottonwood to name a few.  At the end of the walk, a few us decided to continue on to Raptor Point to see what might be in the waters and we were rewarded with Red-throated Loons and Buffleheads along the way we were also treated to excellent views of a Red-tailed Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cedar Waxwings and House Finches.

A List of birds sighted.

1. White-throated Sparrow
2. Song Sparrow
3. Cedar Waxwing
4. House Finch
5. Yellow-rumped Warbler
6. Cooper's Hawk
7. Mallard
8. Green-winged Teal
9. Northern Cardinal
10. Northern Shoveler
11. Northern Mockingbird
12. Red-tailed Hawk
13. Sharp-shinned Hawk
14. Red-necked Loon
15. Bufflehead

A photo from the walk.


Northern Shoveler at Return-a-gift pond.