I decided to try Dune Rd. for new arrivals, before leading a bird walk at 1:15 PM at the refuge, where the QWR & Eastern Long Island Audubon Society were co-hosting an Earth Day Celebration, which despite the rain, was well attended.
I started on Dune Rd. at the Beach La. Bridge, and went as far east as the Ponquogue Bridge. The # of species was low, but did manage to see an even dozen Great Egrets, a single Snowy Egret, in addition to a lone Willet...with the latter two being FOS birds. The walk started a bit late, but as we assembled near the front of the Nature Center (where the feeders are) we were entertained by chickadees, titmice, downies, cardinals, red-wings, doves, canadas, mallards, towhees and white-throats...to the delight of all the kids, their parents and/or grandparents, plus the adults who were non-birders. Away from the feeders, as we walked around the "Ice Pond" (just short of a mile) the birding was also quit -- 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/ --