Lila Fried and I saw the LARK SPARROW today in fading light at 4:30 pm in almost exactly the same spot as described by Eileen Schwinn and Mike Higgiston on December 20th. (This is the bird first reported by Vinnie Pellegrino on the 17th.) It was feeding in the grass along the edge of Grumman Boulevard, immediately to the west of the closed entrance to the former Grumman facility in Calverton, Suffolk County. It was with another mixed flock of sparrows, mainly Chipping with a few Song sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos and at least one Field Sparrow. We had extensively but fruitlessly checked the area earlier in the day, from 7:40 to 8:30 am, and found virtually no sparrows at all, but we decided to make another pass through the area after spending most of the day birding eastern Suffolk. We did find a Northern Harrier and a pair of Red-tailed Hawks hunting over the Calverton Grasslands in the morning, and hoped for, but could not find, any owls in the area in the evening.
We had started the day at Upper Lake in Yaphank, where we found the pair of wintering TRUMPETER SWANS. They were still sleeping, with heads tucked, when we arrived at sunrise, so at first we couldn't distinguish them from the Mute Swans that shared the lake. The id became clearer when the swans were rudely awoken by a pair of shotgun blasts in the nearby woods. I didn't see the hunters, so their intended target remains unclear. Upper Lake, which is really a small pond, also held over 100 Canada Geese, 6 Mute Swans, 30 Ring-necked Ducks, 20 American Wigeon, 4 Hooded Mergansers, and 150 Mallards, so there were plenty of targets. After Yaphank and then Calverton, our next stop was Further Lane in East Hampton, in hopes of spotting the GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. Once again we had no luck at first - there were no geese at all on the fields and lawns at 9:30 am - but the four GWFG were there, amidst a large flock of Canada Geese, when we returned at 3:30 pm. We could not find the previously reported Cackling Geese. After our first stop at Further Lane we continued on to Montauk Point State Park, where we spent several hours battling the frigid winds at the Lighthouse Restaurant deck while watching the incredible spectacle of literally thousands upon thousands of White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Surf Scoter and Common Eider streaming around the point from the south-east heading northwest into Block Island Sound. The birds came in a seemingly limitless constant stream, flying a few feet over the water's surface. It was simply not possible to count them. Mixed in with the Scoter and Eider were much smaller numbers of Long-tailed Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Northern Gannets and a relative handful of RAZORBILLS whizzing by. We also spotted a trio of adult ICELAND GULLS flying above the seaducks at the point, and finally an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL sitting on the beach near the mouth of Napeague Harbor on the north shore of Lazy Point. We assume this is the gull that Angus Wilson referred to as "Larry". We never did find "Freddy" at Fort Pond Bay, but we were too timid to bear the Arctic wind for long. Good winter birding to all. Richard Fried Lila Fried New York CIty -- 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/ --
