Paid my first birding visit to Cedar Beach County Park in Southold (Suffolk Co.) this afternoon (12:45-2:30). The two recent reports to this list regarding Whimbrel sightings there were enough to lure me out to the north fork, where I've birded infrequently. The trip paid dividends quickly when I spotted a Whimbrel in flight within 5 minutes of starting my hike out to the far end of the spit. The bird flew from the salt marsh out across the cove and landed on a small island, where it joined a second Whimbrel. Along with them was a gathering of other shorebirds, including Ruddy Turnstones and Semipalmated Plovers. But with the tide rising, the island gradually diminished in size and all the shorebirds eventually abandoned it. But over the following 1.5 hours the 2 Whimbrel put on quite a show, with one or both seen in flight several times. They seemed easily spooked, though what was disturbing them was not obvious. More often then not they were not even in view before they flushed, hidden in the marsh grass, and the closest I ever came to any of their hiding spots was ~200 ft. On my walk back up the spit to the parking lot, the 2 birds took flight a penultimate time, but now were joined by a previously unseen third Whimbrel. The trio eventually settled back into the marsh, with just their heads visible above the grass. Other sightings included:
Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 5 Snowy Egret 2 Green Heron 1 Osprey 2 Semipalmated Plover 15 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Greater Yellowlegs 5 Willet 4 (only one seen well enough to determine subspecies: Eastern) Ruddy Turnstone 6 Sanderling 8 Semipalmated Sandpiper 4 Great Black-backed Gull (seen picking at a small shark, likely a Dogfish) Least Tern X Belted Kingfisher 1 On the way home I checked sod fields in Riverhead Rte. 105, Doctors Path, and Osborne Avenue. The only shorebirds seen were 19 Killdeer, all in one field adjacent to the Roanoke Winery. I also stopped in E. Shoreham to check the sod fields on Cooper Street. Present there were another 15 Killdeer, plus 44 Semipalmated Plovers and 3 Least Sandpipers. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
