Late this afternoon, I birded both the South and North End of the East Pond. There were a good number of shorebirds around indicating lots of birds arrived in the past few days. Leading the charge were *Short-billed Dowitchers* whose numbers were highest to date for the season as I estimated the count to be a around 3,000 (a conservative number, I might add).
Following the Short-billed Dowitchers were the *Semipalmated Sandpipers*who now outnumber Least Sandpipers by a fair margin. SESA's were estimated to be around 300 with *Least Sandpipers* holding steady around 40. The number of *Stilt Sandpipers* have also grown from the one I reported last Sunday to a count of 23 in total. Many were seen on the south end as I worked my way north. The current star of the East Pond, *"Rufous Ruff"*, continues; and as many have noted in their reports, seems to prefer feeding/loafing on the east side of the pond south of North Island. I have found that this bird can easily be missed; especially, if the lighting conditions are not good, so look carefully along the shoreline. Other notable shorebirds include: 1 *Long-billed Dowitcher*, 2 *Pectoral Sandpipers* and 1 *White-rumped Sandpiper*. The other usual shorebirds for this time of the year, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeers, Semipalmated Plovers and Spotted Sandpipers were also represented on the pond. Good Shorebirding in Queens! Andrew Baksh Queens NY www.birdingdude.blogspot.com -- 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/ --
