I visited a second Least Tern colony this evening (different from yesterday) on behalf of the Parks Dept. due to my proximity to the site, familiarity with the birds and difficulty in reaching the site. I found just one least tern chick that was nearly fledged but was surprised to find another chick that had likely hatched that morning (it was still being protected by its parent and was not mobile). This may have been the result of an abandoned first nest attempt and a successful hatchling from a second clutch (especially since there was only 1 bird as opposed to the expected 2 or 3). Other birds seen in the Goose Creek area while en route to the tern colony were Black Bellied Plovers (including 1 in breeding plumage), ruddy turnstones, semi-palmated plovers, least sandpipers and 1 common tern that flew overhead. A photo of the least tern hatchling can be seen here: http://birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com/2011/08/least-tern-hatchling.html
-- - Luke Ormand, Flanders www.birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com www.wildlongisland.blogspot.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
