My walk this morning starting around 9 AM at Sunken Meadow State Park in Suffolk County produced a Louisiana Waterthrush, which happens to be my first for the park. An early fall migrant, this bird was observed on the opposite bank of a stream in the western section of the park. I managed to study the bird for almost fifteen minutes while it foraged along the bank and bathed in the stream edge pools before it spooked and flew further down stream. Also a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird has been on her nest for the past few days and has only left for short breaks. A Great Horned Owl has been frequenting the same area for a while now and the Blue Jays are not having it! Every time I pass the same tree the owl is perched (visible from the trail), the Blue Jays are relentlessly mobbing the poor guy/girl. The only other avian highlight was 5 Eastern Phoebes, 3 of which were fresh juveniles. I'm assuming they were local nesters or possibly early moving after breeding. On another note, I found fresh River Otter scat at several of the latrine sites within the park. Although I had a few fleeting encounters of the two or three otters that reside in the Nissequogue River watershed over the years, I have been unsuccessful at capturing a picture or video of them, just their remnants of food and scat! :) The checklist from my walk from today is below. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30791934
Vinny Pellegrinopicasaweb.com/vinnypelleEast Northport, NY -- 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/ --
