Today, between 1130 & 1340, I was scouting out Area # 26, of the DEC Property in Rocky Point, in preparation to leading an ELIAS Bird Walk there tomorrow, starting at 0800. The non-optimal time certainly helped achieve the meager total of 18 bird species, but managed to pick up a few highlights.
The best bird was a Red-shouldered Hawk, that took it's time, slowly flying over an open trail, at a fairly low height. The Yellow billed Cuckoo took 2nd Place because it stood almost still for ~ 10 minutes before hauling off - I used "almost" to cover 2 very short hops (~ 1 & 1/2 ' each). The Black-billed Cuckoo was placed 3rd due to being airborne during all of it's sighting. An adult male Scarlet Tanager took the 4th spot, when on another day might have been the B.O.D. ! Sun-lit and singing, with flowering Dogwoods in the background, made for an unforgettable spring day ! The remaining 14 species were all common and expected in these woods, at this time of year, however, due to my limited field time so far, they included 6 firsts of the year ! A 1st of the year Barn Swallow was seen coursing over what is left of the Shoreham Sod Farm. While ~ 2/3 of the acreage has been converted to Solar Collectors, the south & southwest end of the property is still in turf. Upon arriving at The Calverton Grasslands, a pair of Grasshopper Sparrows had me running all around before nailing their I.D...getting some neat photos at the end ! I didn't get any meadowlarks, but picked up a Kestrel while trying. The next set of connecting sightings proved to be the best ! >From the last spot you can look over the longer westmost runway (from inside the property) I saw a lone Turkey Vulture flying over it. I then noticed a 2nd vulture above the T.V., which turned out to have white wing tips & a short tail...yesssssssssss! As I started taking photos of the Black, a smaller, lighter colored bird came into view, which turned out to be the 2nd Red-shouldered Hawk of the day - how cool is that ? The Grasshoppers and Black were my firsts of the year. After taking care of personal business in E.Quogue, I routed myself home by way of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, where I added N.Rough-winged Swallow to my FOY list. Cheers, Bob P.S. Any questions - contact me offline, or call my (C) 631-905-7360 after 0600. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
