Multiple migrants in the backyard this morning provided motivation to put work on hold for some storm birding. I was hoping to get some Gull action out east, so I started at Jones Beach. Birding in the rain there was not very productive as the birds sought shelter. The West End parking lot usually good for gulls in this weather was a bust. However, the spit near the Coast Guard Station had an impressive number of shorebirds; several passes through the flocks of birds did not produce anything out of the norm. 140 *Forsters Terns*, 27 *Red Knots* and an estimated 600 *Black Skimmers* were the highlights there.
Continuing east, the Field 6 parking lot at Jones produced my first *Lesser Black-backed Gull* of the day. At Zachs Bay near the shrubbery immediately after the underpass, I found a rather drab looking *Yellow-breasted Chat*, that looked good for a juvenile bird. At Tobay Beach, I had 3 *Lesser Black-backed Gulls*, loafing in the parking lot (all adults), bringing my total of LBBGs to 4 for the day. Later on at Robert Moses field 2, I had nice looks at a *Clay Colored Sparrow* near the volley ball courts. Not a lot of birds on the barrier beach, but still a good day to be out storm birding! Good Birding! Andrew Baksh Queens NY www.birdingdude.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/ --
