Common Eiders are occurring in unprecedented numbers around Fire Island Inlet, western Suffolk County. A tally of 390 at Robert Moses SP today far exceeded anything in my experience here. Also present along the barrier beach ocean front were thousands of Black Scoters, hundreds of Surf Scoters, and growing numbers of other waterfowl, including some oddballs, such as a pair of Lesser Scaup diving among scoters and eiders. Two Northern Shovelers, two Ruddy Ducks, and three Pied-billed Grebes in a freshwater pond near Fire Island Inlet were also locally unusual on the barrier beach. At Jones Beach State Park Field 6, the massive flocks of Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers and Red Knots included three Western Sandpipers and a juvenile Golden-Plover. The latter sounded very odd to me during at least three bouts of calling, but we were never able to study it closely on the ground (it certainly wasn't a Euro). Royal Terns seem to be the default late season tern on LI nowadays--there were 52 at West End this morning, plus two more at Fire Island (Joe Vigliotta counted 73 at West End yesterday). Five Snow Buntings were picked out by Andrew Baksh at Robert Moses SP, Field 5.
Shai Mitra Bay Shore birding with Patricia Lindsay and Andrew Baksh -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
