I was at Gilgo in the mid afternoon for a couple of hours yesterday. There were three other birders and a photographer nearby as well. On a distant NW platform appeared a bird that could have been the Gyr, or was it a Peregrine? Even with high end scopes, at 60x, it was impossible to positively resolve the bird. If you decide to make the trip to see this bird, I would recommend a bright day with good light, unless you're lucky enough to have it fly by. Yesterday was overcast and even with our fancy pants scopes, we were unable to get a positive ID. Good luck if you go! Jack Rothman www.cityislandbirds.com
On Feb 26, 2013, at 11:39 PM, <fresha2...@aol.com> <fresha2...@aol.com> wrote: > The previously reported Gyrfalcon that has been hanging around Gilgo Beach > for 10+ days obliged a small group of birders this morning by flying > relatively close to shore at one point. > This allowed me to get some photos that should be reasonably helpful in > clearing up the age of this individual. > > 5 photos can be seen here: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/29840397@N08/ > > As Pete Gustas accurately pointed out, the upperparts patterning of this > individual is indeed adult-like. However, the cere (base of the upper > mandible) seems to have no hint of yellow, and is blue-gray. The legs are > fairly yellowish, which is another point for it being an older bird. I'm > guessing that these discrepancies, on balance, point to this being an older > immature ("subadult," if you like), so maybe a bird in its 2nd winter. I've > asked authorities with more knowledge than myself regarding the ageing of > Gyrfalcons about this, so hopefully they'll be able to confirm or deny this > fairly definitively. > > The bird hung out in the Gilgo Beach area for almost the entire day today, > (and was in view during the majority of the time that I spent there) though > at times it was extremely distant to the NW, and could be easily missed, or > even seen and just not seen well enough to identify (the latter seemed to be > a problem a bunch today, from what I gather). It was fairly active during the > first half of the day, flying from perch to perch to both the east and west > of Gilgo, but usually staying within sight of the main parking lot, which > offers an excellent vantage point for several of the bird's favorite perches, > though it isn't very close to any of them. > > Also directly north of the parking lot, close, was a crowd-pleasing American > Bittern, easily seen for an extended period of time while the tide was fairly > high. > The mixed-species Scaup flock that is often gaining and losing different > individuals through the day is also an interesting study, if you need > something to do while waiting for the Gyrfalcon to appear, or for the > distantlumpFalcon to do something interesting. > > The previously reported female Barrow's Goldeneye continued in the inlet to > the south of the western section of Oak Beach, several miles to the East of > the Gyrfalcon spot. > > First thing this morning, there were 4 White-winged Crossbills, and 3 > White-crowned Sparrows at Jones Beach West End, and around mid-day the 6 > Harlequin Ducks were off the easternmost jetty at Point Lookout. > > Good Birding, > -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- 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/ --
