At 0805 on 9/15, I received a distress call asking if I could deliver a much needed piece of clothing (youngest grandson Brady's church choir over-garment) to my daughter's home in Rockville Centre. After "doing my duty", I headed to Hempstead Lake State Park, only to find many Robins, and 1 Carolina Wren. Rather than head straight home, I decided to take the Ocean Parkway back, with, naturally, a stop at Jones Beach State Park's West End.
Arriving at the Coast Guard area, I found Ed Becher busily counting A. Oystercatchers. He settled on ~ 400, after losing his exact count of 300 - which, of course, was fine with me ! There were many larger plovers on the bar, but neither Ed, nor I, could pick out a Golden. I got to see my first Red Knots (2) of the season, while Ed had seen 4 earlier. Other shorebirds present were: Semipalmated Sandpiper; Ruddy Turnstone; Sanderling; Dunlin and Short-billed Dowitcher. After going our separate ways, I found an A.Kestrel hovering near the West End/Ocean Parkway interchange - also saw 2 Ospreys while driving the length of the the parkway. My last stop was at Heckscher State Park, where all the puddles, but one, in Fields 7 & 8, had dried up, with only our common gull species in attendance. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
