After an early afternoon appointment at the VA Hospital in Northport, I decided to stop at the Calverton Grasslands on the way home. While there, I had 2 dark morph Rough-legs, plus a very probable 3rd bird, and 1 of the resident Red-tail Hawks. "Lonesome George", the moniker given to the single Turkey Vulture that has patrolled the Wading River, Calverton and Riverhead fields and roads for a number of years, was seen today over Middle Rd., Calverton. Closer to home, near the intersection of Roanoke Ave & Reeves Ave, Riverhead, were N.Harrier, Red-tail Hawk and a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk. Combining the posts of Sean, Ardith and my own (10 sure, 1 probable and 2-4 possible) caused me to wonder what a realistic number for L.I. might be ? I'm going to make it ~ 28, taking into effect, that although we were in prime habitat, there were only 4 individuals involved. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject.
Again referencing Sean's post, I too was surprised by finding certain ducks resting with a goose flock on a snow covered field, on Lenny Bruno's Farm, at the intersection of Wading River Rd. & the LIE (Exit 69). Taking this exit to get to the Calverton Grasslands, I pulled over to check out the Canada flock, finding 6 Pintails, ~ 20 Mallards and ~ 5 Black Ducks, among the geese. While Mallards & Black Ducks are fairly common in the fields out east, I can't remember ever finding Pintails with them. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
