It was a beautiful day to be on the Hudson as I filled in for Gabriel Willow on his NYC Audubon Winter Eco Tour. Notable sightings include a pair of Red-necked Grebes continuing(?) to favor the Erie Basin, in the waters viewed just from Ikea Brooklyn in Red Hook. A great article by Team Birdcast on the subject of RNGR migration suggests that they could be new individuals, or maybe at least one new individual. One was in the partially enclosed area between the first two docks extending southwest from the western corner of the Ikea parking lot, while the other, between Ikea Dock proper and the very long damaged one just to it's east. There was likely another pair, also close to the seawall, between the 58th street parking lot and the water treatment plant off of Owl's Head Park in Bay Ridge. It would be great if someone birding the area could confirm positively or negatively of there presence since they were seen from a relatively fast moving boat. Posture, silhouette, and especially the slightly downward pointing, dagger shaped bill strongly suggested this species, even at a distance. It was also nice to see a small flock of five Tree Sparrows feeding off and over Swinburne Island. Swinburne Island is located about 3/4 of a mile east of midland beach in Staten Island and about a mile west of Seagate in Brooklyn in the northern part of Lower New York Bay. This Island is a favored wintering locations for Harbor Seals in the Bay of New York, and is a federally protected marine sanctuary and so is not open to the public.
Keep'em up! Nadir Souirgi -- 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/ --
