A favorable mid-day low tide at Cupsogue Co. Park boded well for an early morning's birding. On first arriving on the flats Mike Higgiston was watching a Marbled Godwit; a second bird was quickly found. Richard Kaskan discovered an Upland Sandpiper on the flats across the channel. We watched as the bird gleaned insects from the Spartina leaves. While watching the Uppie I heard a squawking in front of me that I mistook for a gull. Richard yelled that a Peregrine was present (an Immature bird) that had just attacked one of the Godwits (the source of the squawking). The Godwit used his/her feet to ward off the attacking Peregrine and then headed west with the Peregrine in hot pursuit. I missed most of the action but did manage one shot of the Peregrine chasing the Godwit (on my flickr site). The Uppie wisely stayed where he was, much to the delight of Eileen Schwinn's recently arrived Audubon field trip. Eventually both the Godwits returned to the flats and good looks were obtained. Other birds of note were White-rumped Sandpipers (5), and Pectoral Sandpiper (2). A total of seventeen species of shorebirds were observed, the best variety I have seen at Cupsogue to date.
Ken Feustel http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/ -- 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/ --
