I birded up the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge starting at the south end a bit before 6 AM and exiting out the NE corner. The most notable thing was the dramatic increase in shorebirds on the pond. While there were only maybe 700 or so shorebirds on the East Pond on Tuesday, there were over 3,500 today! Also the water level is already quite a bit lower than it was two days ago. Today one of my priorities was to concentrate on keeping an accurate running tally of every shorebird species. Those numbers and other highlights follow:
Hudsonian Godwit- 1 (I actually only saw it as a brief flyby heading north a bit north of the Raunt (6:24 AM), and I heard later from Ken Feustel that it was showing well at the south end of the pond later on) Wilson's Phalarope- 1 (mostly (or fully) basic plumaged individual initially found by Andrew Baksh at the NW corner of the pond, before it flew down to "The Cove," which is on the west side of the pond just south of the island. It was easily visible from the east side of the pond as well.) White-rumped Sandpiper- 2 (FOS, On The Island @ the north end, one in mostly basic plumage, the other retaining almost all of it's alternate plumage, albeit somewhat worn). Pectoral Sandpiper- 2 Stilt Sandpiper- 26 Semipalmated Sandpiper- 1,492 Least Sandpiper- 113 Short-billed Dowitcher- 1,654 Lesser Yellowlegs- 291 Greater Yellowlegs- 12 Semipalmated Plover- 1 American Oystercatcher- 3 (including 1 chick still on The Island) Spotted Sandpiper- 4 American White Pelican- 1(continuing in the bay north of the East Pond) Black Tern- 1 (fresh juvenile, presumably the same bird from two days ago, north end) American Coot- 1 (continuing) Blue-winged Teal- 2 Green-winged Teal- 3 Tricolored Heron- 1 Little Blue Heron- 3 (including 2 juveniles) Snowy Egret- 44 Great Egret- 51 Black-crowned Night Heron- 42 Yellow-crowned Night Heron- 2 *Most of the Waders were foraging at the south end of the East Pond at first light, which I believe is typical at this time of year. I stopped at Plum Beach in Brooklyn on the way home. Earlier at the East Pond I didn't find any Western Sandpipers despite there being over 1,600 calidrids present. At Plum there were all of 28 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and ~15 Least Sandpipers. So of course it stands to reason that it was at Plum where 2 Western Sandpipers materialized. Go figure. Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. = -- 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/ --
