The A-Train
Two weekends ago, Toby and I took the A-train (like in that song!) from our place, near its western terminus, to nearly the other end. The train certainly become more and more crowded as we got closer to downtown Manhattan, then emptied by the Brooklyn Bridge, and was pleasant for the rest of the ride! Passengers were able to get a seat, and people seemed to be in a generally jovial mood. Perhaps the surliness is confined to Manhattan?
We got off the subway at the Broad Channel stop, 75 minutes after we entered the subway system. Not as long a trip as I'd anticipated, which was a nice surprise! This stop also has a shuttle to take people to the beach, and everyone who exited the subway with us were obviously headed beachward.
Turns out that Broad Channel is like the ubiquitous little highway villages all across North America! It had several streets of little houses, a church, and a fire hall/ambulance garage. Except that it was still part of New York City, so yards were tiny, houses small and close to one another. There were junk (ahem, yard) sales, people out walking their dogs, and everyone had a vehicle. By the shore though, houses grew and definitely had that "new and designed" look to them - weekend homes for rich city folk, I'm guessing. Overall, Broad Channel was a surreal experience!
We walked through the village, and along the expressway for about a half mile. We were heading to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Sounds like a place conserved for its inherent wildness, doesn't it? In fact, like so much of the city, the refuge is an artificially created saltmarsh, with introduced plants and animals. But, it did have wildlife and walking paths, so we thought it would be a nice getaway for us. We arrived to find that the new visitors' center hadn't opened yet, so it was still operating out of a trailer. The enthusiastic park ranger was confined to an 8ft x 16 ft space, and was probably roasting in his uniform! (It was a hot day.) We got our (free!) permit, and a map, and headed out along the path. Lots of waterfowl was to be found along the ponds. And talk about the New Yorker experience: every birder we saw had the giant spotting scope, giant binoculors, huge camera with fancy lenses and tripod! New Yorkers have to be serious about everything! We certainly looked out of place with our tiny, slightly damaged binos!
What had all the birders a-buzz was the appearance of three fulvous whistling ducks. We learned that these ducks are native to Central and parts of South America, plus southern Florida. They winter as far north as the southern coasts of Texas and Louisiana. So seeing these butterscotch-coloured birds this far north was rare indeed! We managed to just get glimpse of a butterscotch patch through the grass. But I think that every birder within a day's drive had come to the Wildlife Refuge to see these birds and add them to their list of "birds I've seen". (One birder proudly told us this was his 619th species of bird he'd spotted in his lifetime in the USA.) We enjoy identifying flora and fauna, but I doubt we'll ever be that serious!
On the saltier side of the Refuge, we noticed lots of horseshoe crab carcasses! They've an alien look to them, and far larger than I'd imagined them to be. We found out later that that weekend was the annual come-ashore-for-mating-and-egg-laying ritual, and I guess some crabs just didn't make it back to the water in time. We also watched young osprey look dazed and fluffy, seagulls dropping shellfish to crack their shells, pretty herons and ibises, and tonnes of tent caterpillars (eww). There was a pond with turtles and pretty golden and purple finches (those are 2 separate species). Away from the spot where the whistling ducks were, the paths were quiet and had very few people. We could still see downtown across the bay, a hazy collection of monoliths in the distance. But it was still wonderful to feel like we were away from the craziness of the city!
Purple Finch
Horseshoe Crabs
We got off the subway at the Broad Channel stop, 75 minutes after we entered the subway system. Not as long a trip as I'd anticipated, which was a nice surprise! This stop also has a shuttle to take people to the beach, and everyone who exited the subway with us were obviously headed beachward.
Turns out that Broad Channel is like the ubiquitous little highway villages all across North America! It had several streets of little houses, a church, and a fire hall/ambulance garage. Except that it was still part of New York City, so yards were tiny, houses small and close to one another. There were junk (ahem, yard) sales, people out walking their dogs, and everyone had a vehicle. By the shore though, houses grew and definitely had that "new and designed" look to them - weekend homes for rich city folk, I'm guessing. Overall, Broad Channel was a surreal experience!
We walked through the village, and along the expressway for about a half mile. We were heading to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Sounds like a place conserved for its inherent wildness, doesn't it? In fact, like so much of the city, the refuge is an artificially created saltmarsh, with introduced plants and animals. But, it did have wildlife and walking paths, so we thought it would be a nice getaway for us. We arrived to find that the new visitors' center hadn't opened yet, so it was still operating out of a trailer. The enthusiastic park ranger was confined to an 8ft x 16 ft space, and was probably roasting in his uniform! (It was a hot day.) We got our (free!) permit, and a map, and headed out along the path. Lots of waterfowl was to be found along the ponds. And talk about the New Yorker experience: every birder we saw had the giant spotting scope, giant binoculors, huge camera with fancy lenses and tripod! New Yorkers have to be serious about everything! We certainly looked out of place with our tiny, slightly damaged binos!
What had all the birders a-buzz was the appearance of three fulvous whistling ducks. We learned that these ducks are native to Central and parts of South America, plus southern Florida. They winter as far north as the southern coasts of Texas and Louisiana. So seeing these butterscotch-coloured birds this far north was rare indeed! We managed to just get glimpse of a butterscotch patch through the grass. But I think that every birder within a day's drive had come to the Wildlife Refuge to see these birds and add them to their list of "birds I've seen". (One birder proudly told us this was his 619th species of bird he'd spotted in his lifetime in the USA.) We enjoy identifying flora and fauna, but I doubt we'll ever be that serious!
On the saltier side of the Refuge, we noticed lots of horseshoe crab carcasses! They've an alien look to them, and far larger than I'd imagined them to be. We found out later that that weekend was the annual come-ashore-for-mating-and-egg-laying ritual, and I guess some crabs just didn't make it back to the water in time. We also watched young osprey look dazed and fluffy, seagulls dropping shellfish to crack their shells, pretty herons and ibises, and tonnes of tent caterpillars (eww). There was a pond with turtles and pretty golden and purple finches (those are 2 separate species). Away from the spot where the whistling ducks were, the paths were quiet and had very few people. We could still see downtown across the bay, a hazy collection of monoliths in the distance. But it was still wonderful to feel like we were away from the craziness of the city!
Purple Finch
Horseshoe Crabs
posted by blumaroo at
12:31 PM
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