Jones Beach West End 20 October Land birding was slow except for the always present Yellow-rumped Warblers.. The interest, for me, was on the bar in front of the marina. Here there were some hundreds of shorebirds to look through:--~125 Black-bellied Plover; 1 Golden Plover, several passes before I found it; ~20 American Oystercatchers; ~40 Red Knot; a dozen Sanderling; 150 Dunlin; a dozen Short-billed Dowitchers, can't rule out a Long-billed as many had their heads tucked and offered unfavorable views.
The eastern end of West End #2 lot had a small rain puddle which attracted gulls including a full plumaged adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with bright yellow legs. At the turnaround, a short flurry of raptors included a Northern Harrier, several Sharp-shinned Hawks including one that made a pass a larger Cooper's Hawk. As my grandson used to say, "COOL". Close-up comparisons are always neat. Sy Schiff -- 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/ --
