John Gaglione, Bill Hollweg, Rick Kopitsch and I spent the day on the east end of Long Island, New York, looking for new year birds. Failing to find a number of target birds, (Dovekie, Snowy Owl, Greater White-fronted Goose and American Bittern) being some. We did find a number of target birds, ( all three Scoters, Common Eider, Razorbill, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Goldeneye, Great Egret). We also had some extras, at Camp Hero we had two Harlequin ducks, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on East Lake Dr., a flock of Common Grackles with at least one Boat-tailed Grackle amongst them on the side of Rt. 27 in Bridgehampton. The biggest surprise was at Kirk park in Montauk, NY on the oceanside, After walking to the beach, Rick and I went back to the car for our scopes, upon walking back to the beach, Bill saw a grebe by itself to the east. He kept insisting it was different from the Horned Grebes. I finally relented and looked at his grebe. I told Rick to quickly look up the grebe page in his Sibley's field guide and check for Western Grebe. After many looks by all of us, we were sure of our ID of a Western Grebe. Calls were made and others were able to get to see the grebe. On our way home we stopped at South Haven county park to look for a reported Greater White-fronted Goose, but we did not see it. We found a small flock containing 4 Pine Warblers, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 3 Brown Creepers, Red and White breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice and Black-capped Chickadees. A nice day of birding. Steve Schellenger
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