A Spring-like day birding at Jones Beach provided a only a fair variety of birds. When one compares today, however, with the weather at this time a year ago, who can complain? Highlights of the mornings walk was a Piping and Semipalmated Plover, likely the birds reported earlier this month, seen together along the north end of the West End jetty. Razorbill numbers were paltry (testifying to how rapidly things can change in Jones Inlet) - we observed four individuals. Other species present in good numbers were Common Eider (300), Dunlin (3200) and Brant (in the many thousands). Photos of the two plovers are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/
On a related note, Sue and I spent three days (Tuesday through Thursday) up in the Adirondacks, where birding was fair, but not particularly exciting. Lake Champlain was unfrozen, but waterfowl numbers (as opposed to variety) were not impressive. There was little snow in the Saranac Lake/Lake Placid Area, but plenty of icy trails. We saw only one snowmobiler the entire time. Birds of interest were White-winged Crossbill (Bigelow Road, Bloomingdale Bog), Pine Siskin (same locations), Boreal Chickadee (Bigelow Road),, Gray Jay (Bigelow Road & Bloomingdale Bog) Northern Shrike (Rt 86 between Paul Smith's and Saranac Lake), Rough-legged Hawk (Lake Champlain area near Whallonsburg known as "The Magic Triangle" bordered by Clark, Cross, and Lake Shore Roads). Bohemian Waxwings were just starting to appear in the Saranac area and may be easier to find next month. We encountered one flock of twenty-four Cedar Waxwings in downtown Saranac Lake on Thursday, only to hear later about a flock of some 300 Bohemians seen the next day at the intersection of Rt. 73 and 9N in Keene (which we passed on our way home). Good Birding to All - Ken & Sue Feustel -- 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/ --
