*Jones Beach - * Since I value negative reports just as much as positive ones, I figure I should post that I did not see the Jones Beach West End II Northern Shrike. This despite putting in a ground search for several hours covering the area from the WEST END II parking lot to the Nature Center and back.
It was windy so the bird could have been keeping low and that coupled with Shrike propensity for ranging quite far when hunting did not bode well for my quest. I think that the past reports that were positive, show that the bird favors the parking lot area in the morning hours. Folks may want to keep that in mind when trying, so good luck to those who try for it and please post updates with as much details as possible so that we could piece together a pattern of its movements. Besides the CAVE SWALLOW that I lucked out on, there was some movement of Tree Swallow, American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, Red-winged Blackbird and American Robin. ************************************************************** *Jamaica Bay East Pond - * To add to the Drake Eurasian sighting on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay this morning I would add that waterfowl numbers continue to increase; further proof on the *IMPORTANCE of open fresh water source for wintering and migrating birds.* I won't bore readers listing all the common birds so I will only list notable changes in numbers or new species to arrive. American Coot and Red-breasted Merganser were the new arrivals. Snow Geese numbers had jumped up to 350 on November 5th with 13 juveniles and 5 *BLUE MORPHS* in the flock. I continue to monitor and document the passage of shorebirds. The recent highlights include PECTORAL SANDPIPER, WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER and the best of the bunch on Sunday, I found what I termed a first non breeding WESTERN SANDPIPER. This was a diminutive bird, a female I think and I was lucky to get good enough looks to resolve the ID. I had to cross all the way over to the North End of the pond which is where this bird was feeding with a flock of Dunlins and then wait over an hour for it to return after 2 Peregrine Falcons came in and spooked everything. Subsequently, I had this bird and another Western on the 5th and an entirely different looking one this morning. I will try and have photos online soon of the WESTERN (s) for those interested. Cheers! 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/ --
