A walk this morning on the East Pond just after sunrise (at pretty much dead low tide) with Sean Petty didn't net us any spectacular rarities, but we did see some decent birds. The park service has hacked a trail through the phragmites on the far side of the fence on the south end of the East Pond, making getting around the "cut" in the bank there much easier. Just take the long way around the fence and the rest is easy.
Despite the rain last night, water levels continue to drop. We went 2/3 of the way to the north end on the east side of the pond without any difficulty: just be careful of the poison ivy by where you have to go up along the tracks where the breach on the pond was. Though there is still a significant algeal mat over much of the north end of the pond it seems to be breaking up. Birding highlights were: 4 Pectoral Sandpipers at the Raunt, at least 4 White-rumped Sandpipers scattered around, lots of juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers, 6 Stilt Sandpipers just south of Dead Man's Cove, and an adult Bald Eagle. Good Birding, Corey Finger -- 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/ --
