Tom Burke, Gail Benson, Andy Guthrie and I joined forces for some birding out on Long Island today.
As if yesterday's cold and bumpy Pelagic ride was not enough; today, we subjected ourselves to natural exfoliation, getting sand blasted while birding the barrier beach on Long Island. The windy and cold conditions made for slow birding with our only notable being a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL loafing in the parking lot at Field 6. Leaving Long Island, we split up with Tom and co. heading to Jamaica Bay and I to Kissena Park in Queens. Tom and his crew reported 2 continuing Barn Owls in the box at Big John's Pond along with the usual waterfowl on the East Pond. At Kissena Park proper, I was quite surprised at some of the birds I pulled out given the conditions. The highlights were: BROWN THRASHER, RUSTY BLACKBIRD a surprising huge flock near the lake. First counted 60 as I coaxed birds out of the phragmites and then quite surprised as another big group flew in just after I called Tom Burke to give him an update on a EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH that I found in a flock of Goldfinches. "Decent Birding" "Don't start none, won't be none" - Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh 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/ --
