Pat saw the continuing SY Glaucous Gull at Orient Pt on Friday evening. We both saw it as our ferry pulled in on Saturday evening, but it flew off toward Gardiners Island before I could get any photos. I noticed that its right leg drooped as it flew, suggesting that an injury might underlie its persistence through the summer.
If anyone has good photos of this seasonally unusual bird, I would be grateful to see them. Folks with long memories and strong stomachs for staring at tattered immature gulls might remember another SY Glaucous Gull at Shinnecock Inlet, back in the summer of 2001. That bird inspired some controversy because a leucistic Great Black-backed Gull had been misidentified as a Glaucous at the same site the previous winter and apparently persisted there for many months. We had intimate studies of the 2001 GLGU (and the odd GBBG too), and I’m completely satisfied regarding their identities. I think this year’s bird is a GLGU, but I’ve only seen it briefly on a couple of occasions, with binoculars only, and I’d appreciate critical details/photos if anyone has them. Birding Cupsogue on Sunday morning, we saw six Marbled Godwits. These birds move frequently between the main flats north of the parking lot, the “pelican bar” to the west, and Pikes Beach to the east, and their groupings are very fluid. For instance, on Sunday, I was watching one on the main flats when Pat and Joan Quinlan called to let me know that five were in transit from the pelican bar toward me. One of these quickly joined the one I’d been watching; another flew north out of sight behind a big spoil island a few minutes later; and the other three eventually showed up on the edge of the barrier beach. While eating lunch at the Beach Hut, we noticed a good flight of inshore Cory’s Shearwaters. We tallied 87 from 13:00-14:00, along with a Manx Shearwater, 8 Gannets, and a Black Tern. A little further to the east, Andy Guthrie and Angus Wilson also saw this flight and furthermore picked out two Greater Shearwaters. These two added another bird to the day list when they visited Cupsogue on the falling tide, and it was a big one: a Brown Pelican doping about on the northeast peak of the main flats around 18:30. Yesterday (Monday) I visited Jamaica Bay briefly after begging out of a very slow banding session at Fort Tilden (sorry Juliette!). Apart from the continuing Marbled Godwit and intimate studies of molting Western, White-rumped, and Stilt Sandpipers, my highlight there was a juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher that allowed close study alongside an adult Long-bill and both adult and juvenile Short-bills. I would appreciate feedback on the identification of this bird because it seems very early for a juvenile Long-bill, and because its tertials showed a bit more patterning than expected on a typical specimen. Structurally, and in terms of its overall plumage, I thought it was pretty clearly a Long-bill: http://picasaweb.google.com/tixbirdz/LongIslandMiscellany2010# Andrew’s ethical teachings must be rubbing off because I didn’t even consider trying to make it call! Shai Mitra Bay Shore Think green before you print this email. -- 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/ --
