Once the morning fog lifted at Coney Island I realized that there was an unusually large number of Northern Gannets sitting in the water off of the Steeplechase Pier. I counted 131, but there were lots more flying around much farther offshore. In addition there were large numbers of Long-tailed Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers resting in the glass-calm water. While I was scanning the water a Common Loon, in some sort of disagreement with a male Black Scoter, chased the later under the pier directly beneath me. There were a few thousand gulls sitting on the beach between the pier and the western jetty, but I was unable to pick out anything unusual. The previously reported Red-necked Grebe was still present near the jetty at the western most end of Coney Island.
Happy New Year and good birding, Rob -- 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/ --
