A forecast of mild overnight easterlies shifting to the southeast at dawn prompted me to plan a morning seawatch today at Robert Moses Field 2. I was joined by a number of other birders, and we were treated to a reasonably birdy scene. Scoters were moving in numbers from daybreak up until just before 9 AM, with several thousand Black Scoters, a few dozen White-wings, and just six Surfs observed. The gannet show was also impressive, though it was difficult to accurately gauge numbers since the birds were milling about and feeding actively. It's safe to say that conservative counts were in the high hundreds. Two Great Shearwaters were a nice surprise, and they periodically appeared throughout the morning in association with some fishing boats. No jaegers this time, and surprisingly few foraging or flyby gulls as well. A few other sea ducks were tallied, and I observed lingering Lesser Black-backed Gulls loafing at Robert Moses and Jones Beach, both adults.
Cheers! -Tim H -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
