Good evening birders, Just wanted to shoot a quick update on the PHALAROPE ;-) in Shirley for those interested...
It was seen this afternoon/evening by a handful of birders. When you park in the SE corner of the marina parking lot, walk straight up the path/dirt road to the top of the impoundments. Check the first impoundment, then continue walking straight and staying left to check the second. If not in either impoundment, look west from the west side of that northern impoundment and you have a decent view of the pannes out in the marsh. This evening, myself and three others found the bird feeding at first with three Greater Yellowlegs (~5:45) and then again on it's own (~7:30) in the farthest panne to the left as you look at the marsh from the impoundment. The Phalarope looks puny next to the GRYE, and seems as though it could walk right under one. A scope is certainly necessary to identify birds in the pannes, however the bird was also seen originally last night and also earlier today in the impoundments in very close range. There is the perfect amount of water in the impoundments for great stopover shorebirds habitat, I only wish I knew about it during the peak shorebird migration earlier in the season. Since we're practically neighbors to the marina, I'll keep checking for the Phalarope in the days to come hoping for a better look in the impoundments, so feel free to email me offlist for more updates. Other birds of interest in the impoundments/pannes included: Gadwall (one male, potentially an accompanying female) Little Blue Heron (two adults, one immature) Greater Yellowlegs Glossy Ibis (a handful out in the pannes and flying overhead) Black-bellied Plover (a handful in the pannes) Semipalmated Sandpiper (5) Sanderling (1) Willet Killdeer (two pairs very protective in some areas around the impoundment, likely with young or nests nearby) Good birding! Justin LeClaire -- 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/ --
