Although windy and distinctly chilly, it was none-the-less an excellent birding day on the South Fork of Long Island. As mentioned in an earlier posting, there was moderate flight of crossbills along the beach front in Montauk (Suffolk Co.), with small flocks of both WHITE-WINGED and RED CROSSBILLS moving throughout the day. Early on a pack of 10 CAVE SWALLOWS passed low over the dunes at Kirk Park in Montauk Village headed west and were followed a few minutes later by a lone TREE SWALLOW. In the early afternoon Anthony Collerton, Derek Rogers and I enjoyed at least 6 Cave Swallows coursing back and forth over the parking lot at Camp Hero SP. Later, I picked up a third flock of 5 Cave Swallows moving west along the ocean-facing dunes near the White Sands Motel in Napeague.
Braving the brisk WNW to N winds, Anthony and Derek seawatched from the west side of Montauk Inlet and were lucky to pick out a DOVEKIE flying east relatively close inshore past the Montauk Inlet. Interestingly, local fisherman Jack Passie had seen a couple of Dovekie in this same area yesterday from his boat. These sightings would suggest a number of Dovekie have come into the outer reaches of Block Island Sound. Anthony and Derek also noted a couple of RAZORBILLS but the conditions were not good for detecting feeding birds. Consistent with the crossbill flight, they heard a LAPLAND LONGSPUR pass over head. Additional RAZORBILLS were seen off Hither Hills State Park and Ditch Plains. At Montauk Point, there were at least 40 RAZORBILLS feeding in the rips immediately SE of the point along with many loons and Bonaparte's Gulls and 5 or more adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES. Whilst trying to get better views from the rocks protecting the base of the lighthouse, Derek found and photographed an interesting loon with features suggestive of a Pacific although the viewing conditions weren't ideal and the ID is confounded by the presence of many Red-throats in 'funny' transitional plumages. Independently, Mike Scheibel also noted a 'strange looking loon' in the same area. Those visiting the point in the next few days should keep an eye out for this bird and if possible, obtain photos. Whilst watching from the wave lashed retaining wall, Derek also witnessed 2 LAPLAND LONGSPURS come in off the water, perhaps landing around the base of the lighthouse. Five GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE continue among the Canada Geese on the lawn of the Further Lane Farm in Amagansett and were joined by a sixth bird in the morning that was seen by Derek only. On nearby Hook Pond in East Hampton, I found a RED-NECKED GREBE among the more usual waterfowl. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.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/ --
