This afternoon Vicki Bustamante found a handsome male *WESTERN TANAGER* in her yard on the east side of Lake Montauk (Suffolk Co.). She called a number of birders in the area and after some waiting, the tanager reappeared and gave excellent looks. The location is at the top of Big Reed Path, a steep street that branches off East Lake Drive just before the entrance to the county park. Big Reed Path forms a T junction with Deer Way, which is not more than the entrance to several houses. In addition to the two feeders in the middle of Vicki's lawn (easily visible from the beginning of her gravel drive), the tanager has been visiting some suet feeders across the street and this afternoon spent time in the bittersweet above a patch of scrub situated on the NW side of the T junction (41.070102, -71.912012°). Vicki is happy to have birders visit to look for the tanager and if needed, walk along the driveway as far as the basketball court. Please refrain from entering any other property, including the driveways. There is room to park on the street without blocking the road or the entrance to the various houses.
Whilst we were watching the tanager Tom Burke alerted us all to a male *WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL* that came in to briefly inspect the activity - a most unexpected bonus. A Fox Sparrow and immature White-crowned Sparrow were in the scrub below these two uncommon visitors. Good luck if you go and please let us know what you find. -- 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/ --
