After running some errands early this afternoon, on a whim I decided to take a quick spin through Heckscher State Park (Suffolk Co.). I found both the paved and grassy areas of parking field #7 good and flooded. Present in the grassy area as you first enter the lot were 2 Lesser Yellowlegs. The first one I spotted was swimming through some deeper water and briefly fooled me into thinking it was a phalarope. In one of the narrow grassy islands of the lot was a juvenile AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER (AGPL). After observing it for a while I decided to run home for my scope and camera. I was waylaid though by 2 small birds landing in the wet grass closest to the beach. At first I thought they might be Least Sandpipers, but then I caught a very brief glimpse of the head of one bird sticking up above the longer grass. It was an ammodramus sparrow with a substantial amount of ochre coloration on the face (the eyebrow and around the ear coverts). The impression I got was of either Saltmarsh or Nelson¹s Sparrow. But despite a search I never saw it again, the bird probably flying for cover when I backed up my car so as not to block the road. The only sparrows I saw afterward were Savannahs. Before I could resume my departure a kite-surfer just off the beach spooked up all the gulls present. The AGPL also took flight, circled around a bit with 5 previously unseen Killdeer, then put down again, but only briefly before flying off in the direction of field #8. I drove over there but found the gate to the lot closed. But a flock of shorebirds was present on the large, oval, grassy island beyond the gate. The AGPL plus a second were among ~20 Black-bellied Plovers. A bit farther way on the pavement in the lot¹s eastern half were 2 Dunlin and 2 Semipalmated Plovers.
I returned to the park from home ASAP (~15 minutes later) with scope and camera, parked in field 7 (where there were now 2 Greater Yellowlegs) and walked over to field 8. I found all the shorebirds had relocated from the lot to the beach. I was able to count them there and came up with this tally: Black-bellied Plover40 American Golden-Plover2 Semipalmated Plover2 Sanderling45 Semipalmated Sandpiper2 Dunlin11 Two different passing PEREGRINE FALCONS (PEFAs) put a scare into all the birds, sending them up out over the Great South Bay for minutes at at time. When I returned to field 7 I saw another two PEFAs, one an adult, the other a hatch-year bird of the tundrius subspecies. I¹d been photographing the former after it landed in a large puddle to drink and bathe when 2 Lesser Yellowlegs flying overhead sent it skyward again. I began reviewing my photos then, but falcon vocalizations grabbed my attention. I looked up to see two falcons flying in close proximity. Not sure which was vocalizing. Photos and video of the AGPLs and PEFAs can be viewed online here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgluth_brb/sets/72157626094030203/ -- 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/ --
