Despite the efforts of 12+ birders, the Elegant Tern was not found this afternoon/evening between 1:00-8:15 p.m. Most of the manpower was concentrated on the Cupsogue flats but there was additional coverage of Tiana/Pike's Beach, Triton Lane etc. by Hugh McGuinness, John Gluth, Mike Shanley and Shai Mitra. Sean Sime and I left the flats around 6:45 and covered those areas again without success. There were 2 Arctic Terns (1adult/1first-summer), 5-6 Black Terns and at least 7-8 Roseate Terns (and probably more like a dozen), and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the flats. There was also a significant westward movement of shorebirds, predominately Short-billed Dowitchers and Least Sandpipers but a good number of Willet, Greater Yellowlegs and a few Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers. We did not see the Red-necked Stint which I believe was last seen on July 4th. Sean found about 50-60 Black Scoters off of Tiana Beach and a couple of Surf Scoters on the ocean at the end of Triton Lane and one unidentified shearwater.
Best regards, Shane Blodgett Brooklyn NY -- 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/ --
