A 2-hour sea watch from the Montauk Point restaurant and Camp Hero early this morning was rewarded by a spectacular number of scoters (20,000 is a conservative estimate), of which at least 3/4 were Black; the rest were mostly White-winged, Surf being conspicuously sparse. At least several hundred Common Eiders (probably many more) were in the mix, but no King was discerned. Fair numbers of Common and Red-throated Loons, a fly-by Great Cormorant and an out-of-place Snow Goose, in the surf, were also seen. I saw no Razorbills or (surprisingly) Gannets.
An immature Iceland Gull was near the beach at the south end of Lake Montauk (South Lake Drive), and another was at the west jetty. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the water at the south end of Fort Pond Bay, as were ca. 25 Horned Grebes. Here I was joined by Brent Bomcamp and Stella Miller; we proceeded to Lazy Point, from which vantage point we saw no Snowy Owls. At Hook Pond in Easthampton, we found 2 Tundra Swans. Sagaponack Pond offered no notable birds, but at Short's Pond (on Scuttlehole Road, Bridgehampton), Brent spied a particularly petite Cackling Goose in the large flock of Canadas. At Shinnecock Inlet, Brent spotted an immature male Harlequin Duck. Just to the west, opposite Ponquogue Bridge, a huge number of gulls, feeding on presumably storm-tossed clams and other invertebrates, included an immature Glaucous Gull and a first-year Lesser Black-backed Gull. Michael McBrien kindly alerted us to the previously reported Snowy Owl on the island east of Ponquogue Bridge. Good birding, Doug Futuyma Stony Brook -- 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/ --
