If you are going for the Say's Phoebe at Edgemere today here is the easiest way to get there by car:
Get out to the Rockaways via the Cross Bay Bridge and head east on Beach Channel Drive. Take a left on Beach 51st Street (after passing a housing project on your left) and at the end of Beach 51st Street continue straight (be careful, the entrance has a kind of big bump). Drive past the sanitation facility on your right and where the road ends take a right. This will put you behind the sanitiation facility. Turn right and drive around the bottom of the capped landfill. The bird was last seen on the northeast side where there is a gravel road that goes up to the top of the landfill. Make sure to drive slowly on and around the landfill as the road is pretty rough. If you have a low-clearance vehicle do not try to go up on top, especially from the access directly behind the sanitation facility. (I do it but I have a Ford Focus that doesn't mind a bit of punishment.) You can also take the A train to Beach 44th Street or Beach 60 Street and walk from there. There have not been any issues in the last year or so with Sanitation Department employees making people leave and the wild dog pack has been gone for at least 18 months. If you look at Google maps, Edgemere Preserve is the big green bulge sticking out of the Rockaways south of JFK airport that is labeled “Rockaway Community Park.” Pics of the bird are here: http://10000birds.com/a-says-phoebe-at-edgemere-landfill-queens-new-york.htm Also, the Northern Wheatear was seen again yesterday evening as reported on the New York Birders Facebook page by Gus Keri who wrote: "It was very unfortunately for a lot of people who went to Plumb beach to see the Northern Wheatear today but they could not. I felt sorry for them. The bird was last seen around 11:30 am and then no body saw it again. After I walked along the south side of the beach, I couldn't see it either. then, I decided to go to the northern end where it was reported (near the Graffiti boat), which meant I had to walk back to the parking lot and walk along the north side of the beach because of the high tide that blocked the way; and here it was. The bird was flying back and forth between the bushes that are lining the northern side of the high tide water. the best way to reach this area during high tide is by walking the paved path on the side of the Belt Parkway and then go down to the beach just before you reach the bridge." He continued in the comments: "We saw the bird on 4 different occasions between 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm. It landed near a small bush just 50 meters north of the boat on two occasions." Finally, here are some images of the Strack Pond Connecticut Warbler, which was last seen on Friday: http://10000birds.com/cooperative-connecticut-warbler-in-queens.htm Good Birding, Corey Finger -- 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/ --