The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is perhaps the premier place on Long Island to see birds. Its ponds and the bay waters are attractive to a large variety of birds. Early spring here, is a transitional time of year; the weather is no longer cold and birds are starting to change from their winter to summer plumage. This is also a mating and nesting time for birds.

On the last day of March a male red-winged black bird is in a tree making its characteristic ratchety call announcing its territorial claim. It is showing only the yellow epaulet on its shoulder; however, when the bird flies, the bright red one also appears. In another tree a lone grackle, its white eye blazing and its thin black bill open, calls out by making a high sound like a child's metal noisemaker. Then it makes an "uh, uh, uh " call. Is this an advertisement for a mate? The bird flutters its wings fast either to keep warm or to help attract a mate with a display of energy.

In the very large West Pond there are two laughing gulls, both with summer black on their heads. One's black bill is visibly starting to redden before turning dark red, as it will be in the summer. A nearby ring-billed gull has plucked a clamshell from the water but quickly drops it. Two ospreys perch on a tall platform, which holds a huge nest, in a marsh across from the pond. One of the raptors stretches its wings, jumps and flies to the dried grass below. A minute later with some long trailing dried grasses in its bill it circles up and lands in the nest. Nest lining material.

One of the pond's regulars is the mute swan, which at 60" is eye-catching. Its body is white and its beak orange with a black knob above it. It is a Eurasian bird introduced here in the 19th or early 20th century, possibly on large Long Island estates and along the Hudson River in Dutchess County. One's neck is bent like a sink drainpipe, and holding that pose, the swan tilts its neck backward and its head up. Swan yoga. Later I see one close up and notice tiny droplets of water on its flexible neck. When the bird paddles away it partially raises its wings cupping them. Does it use them as sails to catch the breeze? When one flies off the pond, water comes up under its feet while its beating wings make a loud flapping noise like a heavy canvas sail flailing in the breeze.

I walk to the East Pond across Cross Bay Blvd. where cattails twice my height, seem to reach up to wispy clouds. On the other side a subway train rides along and a plane lifts off from nearby Kennedy Airport. In the water are over one hundred ruddy ducks. They are in various stages of weather-beaten, dull winter plumage. Most have white dotted breasts and blackened heads. The males except for one are not yet starting to show their breeding plumage. Their tails are characteristically held upright, their bills slightly upturned. The one male in breeding plumage is showing a light blue bill, a white cheek and a ruddy back. In a few weeks he may be making a series of vigorous up and down head motions, suggesting that he is looking for a female mate. A female comes close to shore but not up on it, as these birds are unable to walk upright on land.

At the end of April, with spring in full bloom, I watch brants, which are shorter, stouter cousins of Canada geese and have a characteristic white "lipstick" stain on their necks. Today they appear to number in the hundreds. When they lift off the dark blue pond water and take to the air, there is a prominent large white V on their rumps that is arresting. On tree limbs everywhere are the fibrous looking, white cocoons of tent caterpillars. Look closely on the outside and you will see small caterpillars. Look even closer at one on an especially thin branch and inside is a rose colored bud. What will happen to the trapped spring bud: will it blossom or perish? Two mallards are resting, perhaps asleep, in a small pond that is visible through a blind. Their necks are turned around and their heads rest on their soft back feathers. The eye of the male on its blue, green and light purple colored head continuously opens and closes like a white beacon from a lighthouse.

A small mammal about the size of a rabbit but slower and with a longer tail, meanders near a woodpile. Its fur looks soft and black in the shade as it clambers into the bush. It is a muskrat, which live here and eat the roots and stalks of cattails. At the East Pond, a sound like a window screen being flapped up and down, gets progressively louder. From behind the tall cattails comes a flying mute swan, its neck stretched out straight as an arrow while its wings beat a steady cadence. These birds may be mute but their movements make loud and intriguing sounds. Across on the other side of the bay a swan lies on the surface, its head submerged feeding. Another sits in a clearing in the cattails atop a high nest of plant materials. Is it incubating eggs? I hope so. I just sit here for a while enjoying the sun and the moment.

In May the refuge is a stopover for large numbers of migrating birds. If you've never been to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge or haven't in a long time, May is the month to go. Below are directions.

Take the Belt Parkway to exit 17s, which is Cross Bay Blvd. South. Proceed 3 and 5/10 miles south on Cross Bay Blvd. to the parking lot entrance on the right just after a large brown sign, which announces the refuge. Currently there is a small temporary visitors' center and a few picnic tables to enjoy something to eat.