When Pat and I pulled up at the Lake Montauk Inlet around 8:00 this morning, we were elated to see a juvenile Brown Pelican on the east jetty. Scoping further, Pat noticed an older individual on the west jetty, and I found a one year-old Great Cormorant, our first of the fall, near the first pelican. The juv pelican soon got up and began feeding inside the northern part of Lake Montauk. In the airspace above, we heard a few Dendroica zints and one Bobolink; more surprising was a late Orchard Oriole that dropped out of the sky, paused in a bayberry clump for a few seconds, then flew off to the east.
Montauk Pt was quiet in terms of birds, but it was a great pleasure to gaze upon the ocean again. A duo of yellowlegs, one of each species, were a curious sight as they flew eastward toward Block Island. When we returned to the inlet around mid-day, both pelicans were together on the west jetty, but they were soon disturbed by people and flew into Lake Montauk. The day started out feeling like fall but regressed back to summer. Several early migrant species showed notable reductions compared to recent days: Barn Swallows and Least Terns were scarce, and we saw just one each of Purple Martin and Bank Swallow. Black Terns also seemed fewer than during and immediately after Irene: we saw two at Deep Hollow, about 60 at Napeague Harbor, and just 3 at Mecox Bay, whereas much larger numbers had been present at these places a few days ago. Because we were afield all day without smart phone technology, it wasn't until 4:30 that we learned of Jim Ash's White Ibis. We pulled up at Bridge Lane on Sagaponack Pond with Doug Futuyma around 5:00, and it took Pat's keen eye only a few moments to detect the ibis (rather distant and obscured by heat shimmer) along the southern edge of the ploughed field--joined at times by a Green Heron. Photos of some of these bird can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/LongIslandFall2011 Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ Change is in the Air - Smoking in Designated Areas Only in effect.<http://www.csi.cuny.edu/tobaccofree> Tobacco-Free Campus as of July 1, 2012. -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
