The Murre was present through 5:00 PM, although it was moving very fast to the East at this time. When we (Bob Gochfeld and I) first arrived around 4:00 PM we couldn't find it for a while, but then Bob picked it out, sitting still at least a quarter of a mile (probably more) offshore to the SE. Rob Bate showed up a short time later and then the bird paddled in towards shore getting to about 25 yards offshore before turning eastward and moving very fast (alternately swimming and diving) towards Manhattan Beach. Dave Klauber showed up just in time to see it before it disappeared the East (No public access from Brighton Beach to Manhattan Beach).
If it's not seen at Coney Island Beach tomorrow, good spots to check Rockaway Inlet from would be the Kingsborough Community College Jetty, Sheepshead Bay, Plum Beach (as always), and Dead Horse Bay. I've made a map of it's dusk activities here: http://tinyurl.com/ybxw5xd Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -----Original Message----- From: Rob Jett <citybir...@earthlink.net> To: NYSBirds <NYSBirds-L@cornell.edu> Sent: Tue, Jan 19, 2010 6:01 pm Subject: [nysbirds-l] Thick-billed Murre follow up This afternoon Heydi Lopes and I went out to Coney Island to look for the Western Grebe. We started at the Coney Island pier and planned to walk east until we found the grebe or ran out of beach, whichever came first. At approximately 2:15pm we were at Brighton 5th Street (in Brighton Beach) when I spotted a Thick-billed Murre in the water. The bird was ridiculously close to shore, probably no more than a few yards. We watched it as it gradually made its way west, in the direction of the pier. We had run into Starr Saphir and Lenore Swenson earlier in our walk and contacted them about the murre. Heydi and I then continued east looking for the grebe (which we did not locate). On our return walk we spotted the murre again near the aquarium. Starr and Lenore were on the bird. We caught up with them and the four of us watched the bird which, at this point, was off the jetty at West 2nd Street. Using the pier as reference, I'm guessing that the bird was about 200 yards from the shore. When Heydi and I left at about 3:45pm the bird was still present. Heydi was able to take quite a few photos when we first located the bird at Brighton Beach. A link will follow shortly. Big thanks to Jean Loscalzo for getting the word out for us. Good birding, Rob -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
