Sullivan County's streak of great birding continued over the last week. Arlene Borko, Scott Baldinger, Lance Verderame and I had some really good birds. It all started last weekend when we had good flights of warblers, vireos and sparrows. Highlights included Lincoln's Sparrows and Swainson's Thrush at every regular hot spot at the Bash, and a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH found on the nature trail by Scott Baldinger. PHILADELPHIA VIREOS were found again, giving us the best year for this species I can ever remember, I have seen ten myself and had reports of many more than that. The next event was the storm on Monday. As we have come to expect these fall storms put down some good birds. This time, a Larid invasion occurred at Morningside Park. Many Ring-billed and Herring Gulls put down, but the best birds of the day were four COMMON TERNS in winter plumage. They fed continually all afternoon, catching some sort of fingerlings amongst the islands. Well-fed, they remained at dark, roosting on one of the islands. The continued unsettled weather was enhanced by the tropical low. The set up was perfect for a good fallout for us. This morning I headed out for Morningside Park again and was not disappointed. Many shore birds had put down overnight. I found three juvenile AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER among the many shore birds seen. When Scott Baldinger arrived I informed him that I had a decent flock of peeps, several of which I thought may be good for WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. The flock was flushed from a far island by a Bald Eagle and cooperated nicely by landing on mud flats much closer to us. The larger peeps were easy to pick out with their paler color, long primary projection and long bills. As they flushed again, we easily spotted White rumps in the flock. We spotted two in flight, but three on the ground. I also had our first Ruddy Ducks of the fall season. Here is a list of the shorebirds present at Morningside.
American Golden-Plover - 3 Killdeer - 2 Lesser Yellowlegs - 1 Semi-palmated Sandpiper - 12 Least Sandpiper - 2 White-rumped Sandpiper - 3 Pectoral Sandpiper - 4 Many gulls and at least three Bald Eagles were all present as well. John Haas -- 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/ --
