With apologies for the belated report, I observed a WESTERN GREBE from about 10:15 to 10:45 this morning ~400 yards off of Riis Park in Queens, NY. The bird was amongst a large flock of RB Mergansers and Long-tailed Duck.
With the wind and choppy water I had a hard time staying on the bird and lost it for good about 5 minutes before Seth Ausabel showed up. We spent a good hour scouring the ocean but it could not be re-found. I thought I had sent out a message via my cellphone when I first saw the bird this morning, but checking my computer just awhile ago I saw that it didn't go through. I'm curious how many Western grebes are actually in the area. Aside from the one off Coney Island on the 18th of January, there have been reports in each of the last 3 weeks from Deal, Elberon, and Long Branch NJ and before that one was present from late November through most of December off South Amboy (for the 5th year in a row. Do we have one Western Grebe with a severe case of wanderlust or are there multiple? Regards, Shane B. Brooklyn NY -- 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 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
