i am curious to know more about the reported "king eiders", from the "off the wall" location at rye playland. i grew up in westchester and have birded playland since a was 11 (35 years), but i am not familiar with the "wall location".
secondly, i would like to ask the reporter of the king eiders, about what exacyly he saw and when, as it pertains to these eiders. although scoters are expected for the most part, king eider at playland (long island sound) is an extremely rare occurrance. the most likely time frame to see eiders on the sound is in may, during migration on selected evenings when northbound migration conditions are optimum. outside of that window, i'm not sure that a king eider (let alone a pair) has been reported there in maybe, 20 years or more ?
congratulations on your quite notable find.
JPA
John Askildsen Millbrook, New York
On 03/01/11, Jerry Lazarczyk<lazar...@netzero.net> wrote:John Askildsen Millbrook, New York
I decided to investigate Benjamin's findings. Instead of ideal conditions, I had fog then rain at Playland then the Read Sanctuary on Monday.
I arrived very late in the day Sunday but despite the lateness saw a single Mute Swan in the Marsh and a Bald Eagle very late off the Wall.
So NO Scoters nor Long-tailed Ducks nor Grebes on Monday. Despite the weather I still had 32 species for the day topped by a pair of King Eiders off the Wall and FOY Am. Widgeons off Playland. Then the Read Sanctuary which had a huge flock of Scaup considering the small Lake. Closer to Playland were Buffleheads, more Scaup, Canvasbacks, at least one Redhead, and a striking Great Cormorant. Early on I noted a Hooded Merganser momentarily then never refound it until my final scan when it showed and continued. A highlight was my FOY Killdeer then more nearer the Sanctuary. What a day. The feeders at the Sanctuary drew a nice variety of species and two very nice Sanctuary folks that filled the feeders. Thank you Benjamin.
Jerry Lazarczyk
Grand Island NY
Hi all,
Hi all,
Kyle Bardwell and I birded Croton Point this morning. Highlights included three Common Redpolls and two Snow Buntings flying over the old landfill. Bald Eagles were omnipresent, as usual. An immature Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a rock protruding from the water at the Croton Train Station (which held virtually no waterfowl).�;
At Read Sanctuary in Rye this afternoon, Surf and White-winged Scoters (very roughly 250+ and 150+, respectively) continue off the beach. Still a large raft of Long-tailed Ducks too (around�400, unless I missed some), but smaller than in previous weeks.�Good viewing conditions combined with the convenient passage of a large boat allowed me to pick out one female Black Scoter among them after much persistence (this species has been scarce off Westchester County this winter). Numbers of Horned Grebes have also increased recently--there were conservatively over 20 present, including one group of seven (compared to only a couple at the beginning of the year). The warmer temperatures have opened up Playland Lake more in recent weeks as well--hundreds of Lesser Scaup (with a few Greaters mixed in) were feeding, plus the usual 15-20 Canvasbacks. One Common Redpoll late in the afternoon around the feeders.
Good birding,
Benjamin Van Doren
White Plains, NY
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