Todays Nor'easter pounded the eastern tip of Long Island and birds were few and far between. The storm still rages as I type. The high winds, heavy rain and volume of spray/sand in the air made seawatching a challenge to say the least. When I could see beyond the crashing surf, there seemed to be little activity. On the ponds, waterfowl numbers seem low and I could not find anything of note among the lingering flocks of Canada Geese.
Not too surprisingly, most of the Great Black-backed Gulls had moved inland off the beaches to wait out the weather and flocks stood huddled in fields and other open areas. Looking through these, I found an adult *GLAUCOUS GULL * on Bridge Lane in Sagaponack, and just before dusk a 2nd basic-type *GLAUCOUS GULL* on Further Lane in East Hampton. This latter bird, a predominantly white individual, flew in as I was watching an adult *KUMLEIN'S ICELAND GULL *bathing in a rain water pool. A couple of Bonparte's Gulls were on Shorts Pond in Bridgehampton, the first time I've seen the species there. Ironically, we've reached a point where I find the absence of any Lesser Black-backed Gulls among these storm displaced gulls more surprising than if one or two were present. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- 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/ --
