Finally, there were some shorebirds on the pond today. An estimated 1100 birds, which were mostly made up of Semipalmated Sandpipers. The birds were scattered throughout the pond and observed as I covered from South to North and back.
As I mentioned before in previous posts, the Algal mat is so pervasive throughout the pond, that some peeps were feeding in the middle of the pond on patches. This also makes observation a lot more tedious as the entire surface of the various Algal patches needs scanning. Adding to that was the presence of 2 juvenile Peregrine Falcons complete with bands, who were putting things up about 2 hours into my survey. The shorebird highlights were 2 STILT SANDPIPERS, 1 juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 juvenile Least Sandpiper and 1 juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper. The complete Shorebird list includes: American Oystercatcher Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Stilt Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Non-shorebirding highlights include 1 Caspian Tern flyover on the north heading south, 1 adult Tri-colored Heron, 1 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Pied-billed Grebe. With the exception of the Tern which was first reported Saturday, all the other birds mentioned, have been around over the past week or so. Let's keep hope alive that the shorebird numbers build and we have a few weeks of decent shorebirding. -- 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu <http://refspace.com/quotes/Sun_Tzu> *The Art of War* <http://refspace.com/quotes/The_Art_of_War> (\__/) (= '.'=) (") _ (") Andrew Baksh 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/ --
