The birding today was certainly not as exciting as yesterday in Irene's wake, but all in all it was a very good day. I birded with Andrew Baksh and we were joined by many others. There was a modest flight of diurnal landbird migrants along the barrier beach. The highlights included
3 Sandwich Terns. Two of these were at Jones Beach West End and another on the beach at Pt. Lookout. 8 Royal Terns. Scattered singles at various locations. 20+ Black Terns at various locations. 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the beach at West End. 13 Pectoral Sandpipers at Pt. Lookout in a pool on the lawn near Lido Blvd. 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Floyd Bennett Field near the pools at the northwest corner of the runways. 1 juvenile Western Sandpiper (same location) 1 Monk Parakeet at Gilgo. My first ever on the barrier beach. 4 Purple Martins. 2 at West End and 2 at Gilgo. 5 Bank Swallows at various locations. 35 Eastern Kingbirds, migrating in several flocks of roughly 7-10 birds. Other swallows, Bobolinks, Red-winged Blackbirds and Cedar Waxwings were prominent in the landbird flight Mary Normandia and others reported a Whimbrel and a Marbled Godwit in the swale at West End. The mosquitoes were bad at all the barrier beach locations, but at West End they can best be described as a ravenous cloud. Seth Ausubel Forest Hills, NY -- 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/ --
