We started our birding day at Montauk Point, where there were a good number of Scoter and Eider on both sides of the Point. Despite the good numbers, we could not turn up anything of interest. The highlight was a good Razorbill flight consisting of approximately110 birds. After leaving the Point we started working our way west, still not turning up anything unusual. We fortuitously received a phone call from Doug Futuyma, who related that Brent Bomkamp had a LeConte's Sparrow on Dune Road. We had not seen anything particularly noteworthy up to that point and since we were headed to Dune Road anyway - why not? Upon arriving at Triton Lane on Dune Road we ran into Doug who told us that Brent had determined the bird was a Grasshopper Sparrow and would we like to see the Nelson's and Salt Marsh Sparrows just across the road? Why not? We quickly headed into the shrubbery and found two beautifully marked Nelson's Sparrows (race Nelsoni) along with Swamp and Song Sparrows. We then proceeded to the other side of Dune Road (specifically, the dirt parking lot just west of Triton Lane) where the Grasshopper Sparrow made a quick appearance perched on a railing (photo on my flickr site). We then headed down to the Ponquogue Bridge where there were eleven American Pipits, most were in one flock on the old Ponquogue Bridge causeway and a single Boat-tailed Grackle was in the parking lot. While looking for the pipits we ran into Tim Dunne and told him about the Triton Lane sparrows. We then headed to Shinnecock Inlet where we again ran into Doug Futuyma looking at the previously reported five King Eiders. Additionally, the first year Glaucous Gull was wandering around the jetty (photo on my flickr site). While we were there Tim Dunne called and asked would we like to look at the Orange-crowned Warbler that was with the Grasshopper Sparrow? Why not? We went down to Triton Lane and shortly found the Orange-crowned feeding on goldenrod seed heads around the parking lots south perimeter. One of the birders we were with pointed out a Snowy Owl across the way that started to hover over something. That "something" turned out to be a Clapper Rail (which we believe escaped). After a slow start a nice finish to the days birding with a little help from our friends.
Ken & Sue Feustel -- 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/ --
