Constitution Marsh is a tidal marsh along the Hudson River that provides unique bird and wildlife habitat. This type of wetland is absent throughout much of Putnam County, so this trip provides a unique opportunity to search for some specialty birds. Marsh Wrens are a good example, which we had in very good numbers vocalizing along the duration of our paddle.

However, the specialty bird we always hope to encounter on this “walk” is a Least Bittern. We ended up seeing not one, but two least bitterns on this trip, with one flying out of the marsh grasses just a couple of feet away from our group providing everyone with good looks!

Two flyover Least Sandpipers and a handful of bobolinks signified that fall migration has already begun for some species. Along with the many Great Blue Herons, we encountered a single Great Egret. Surprisingly, we also had a good showing of land birds including a number of Baltimore Orioles, Bluebirds, a variety of vireos and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo to list a few. One final highlight for our group was having all 5 species of swallows (Tree, Barn, Bank, Northern Rough-winged, and Cliff) feeding together over the marsh throughout our trip! Good opportunity to get nice, close comparisons and watch them feed along with chimney swifts. Our final tally for the day was just over 50 species, which can be seen on our eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S261046933