Because of a fairly late start, I decided not to go up west "long" ( Hempstead Lake S.P.) and instead, just went west "short' ( Smith Point C.P.). Upon arrival there, I found Bob Gunning & Dick Belanger, who by then had seen all the species reported yesterday, except for the Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Once out of the car I opened the trunk, and in addition to getting the spotting scope, I dug out the much needed gloves - the wind at the ocean was tough this morning ! As Bob walked up to the car, he didn't say "Hi" first, but gave the best of "birder" greetings..."there it is" ! The Blue Grosbeak was in the same open spot he was in yesterday, except with today's howling wind being most inhospitable - in a short while the bird took off over the parking lot, heading east. Besides finding the Savannah Sparrow I reported on yesterday, Dick & Bob found 2 additional Savannahs fitting that description (a very bright, and lengthy, yellow supercillium). However, when trying to show me all 3 birds, we could only find 2, with one almost as bright as the 4/22 bird, and the other, while being bright, certainly the lesser of the two. They also had a Bald Eagle, as well as a Turkey Vulture, fly over ! After going our separate ways, I headed to Dune Rd, Westhampton Beach, taking it east to Shinnicock Inlet, Hampton Bays, and finding it very quiet. Cheers, Bob P.S...The following should have been the last paragraph in my post on 4/22, at 20:11:39. At my last stop of the day (the Eastport C.C.lake on Montauk Highway, Eastport) I had the following sightings. The #'s involved, along with the date, make them noteworthy. There were ~ 180 lingering Lesser Scaup, together with ~ 110 Ruddy Ducks ( 8 of which were nearing full breeding plumage ). -- 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/ --
