I took a trip to EPCAL yesterday afternoon. The Western runway is still completely filled with cars - however, the Eastern runway is now emptied (progress). I took a (short) drive on the Eastern Runway and saw several Northern Harriers hunting and some Red-tailed Hawks. The shrubs/small trees lining the runway are mostly destroyed/broken/uprooted from the activities over the past few months, but the grasslands seem largely intact. I would have toured the whole area - but a speeding ARROW security guard aggressively drove up to me and told me I needed to leave. When I asked him why, he said it was private property and that I need to leave, so I did.
I'm not sure how "private" the property is... I think if anything it's public land encumbered by a temporary lease. I'll try to look into it a bit more - I hope that sooner than later the EPCAL runways can be returned to the public and we can once again enjoy looking for birds in this rare habitat. Also of note, there is a small pond in Brookhaven Hamlet (just west of the old Painter's restaurant) on the south side of Old Country Road. This pond is part of Beaverdam Creek on and on Saturday held two Blue-winged Teal and yesterday one one Blue-winged teal. -- - Luke www.birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com www.wildlongisland.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/ --
