Gotta Go, 2020 — Birds Bugs Buds

In these days of Covid, there are new considerations even for outdoor activities. For instance: will my favorite park be open? Or: which location is empty enough to keep safe distances, but not so empty that it is unsafe?

And the most important of all: is there a bathroom?!

Because, if you know me, you know that I love being outside, but I also like modern conveniences, too. These days, while so many more of us are taking to more outdoor activities like birding (good), many locations are not operating at full staff capacity thus limiting some conveniences like restrooms (not so good).

On this final Sunday of the year that will live on in our minds for decades to come, I decided that a bit of birding was time well spent to ring out the last several months’ concerns.

After my traditional anchovy-onion-black olive-mushroom slice (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) from New Park Pizza, first stop was Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Yes, the birding is great, but I was after their restrooms before driving a short distance further south to Sunset Cove Park. This small park has community ball fields, spectacular views of Manhattan, and a small bay beach where horseshoe crabs lay eggs in the summer.

Herring Gull with Razor Clam/Jamaica Bay, New York

Today, the tide was lower than I had ever seen. Lots of Brant Geese gurgled their little conversations to each other and I spotted a raft of Buffleheads near the Cross Bay Bridge. Gulls picked at Razor Clam shells.

In the distance, I heard a strange, faint barking noise. As it grew clearer, I saw them – hundreds of Snow Geese flying to one of the inaccessible marsh islands of Jamaica Bay.

Onwards to the Rockaways, hopefully to see some winter waterfowl and Northern Gannets along the ocean. I had not been to Riis Park since the summer and figured that would be a good place to start shoreline walk. Plus, there were restrooms.

Or so I thought. LOCKED!

No worries – Fort Tilden was just as good and only a short drive away. I had been there only a few weeks earlier.

Nope. Now the doors were locked.

I was determined to get in a beach walk so I doubled back along the Rockaways to the beach operated by the NYC Parks Department. Surely this busy boardwalk will offer me both the ocean birds I longed to see, as well as facilities that I longed for even more.

LOCKED OUT!

Just about this time, I started to think that rationing my iced tea consumption would’ve been prudent. (Yes, I drink iced tea even during the darkest days of winter.)

Pre-Covid, this situation may not have been so inconvenient. A visit to a local coffee shop would offer me, in addition to facilities, another iced tea and probably a cookie too. Good for me, good for their business. But Covid has created the obvious, heart-wrenching hardships, and even impacted the most minute conveniences of our lives.

Covid be damned – it was not going to cloud my outlook and make me sad. Back to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where the restrooms were thankfully still open, and in the remaining hour of sunlight, a brisk walk to the West Pond.

I never got my ocean beach time. But the stillness of the pond on this winter afternoon, with Ruddy Ducks gently bobbing in the soft waves, and a perched post-dinner Merlin in the setting sun, provided a calming scene.

As we begin closing out this year and its challenges, I wish this same stillness to you and yours.

Canada Geese and New York City skyline/Jamaica Bay, New York