An overnight camping trip to the beach east of Watch Hill, Fire Island yielded good numbers of shorebirds.
Sanderling - 1000 (conservative estimate) Red Knot - 11 on beach Ruddy Turnstone - 6 on beach Whimbrel - 10, flock of 8 flying west along ocean, 2 on beach Willet - 10 (at least) Semipalmated Sandpipers - many small flocks up to 30 birds moving west along ocean front but not stopping Black-bellied Plover - 16 Semipalmated Plover - 2 Oystercatcher - 1 Greater Yellowlegs - 4 in salt marsh Also on the ocean several Royal Terns, one Forster’s along with Common & Least. On the beach at least 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls along with the usual Great Black-backed, Herring, Ring-billed & Laughing. A single hen Common Eider on the ocean was surprising. This wonderful location is accessible by ferry from Patchogue, either to Davis Park or Watch Hill. As well as miles of virtually empty beach there are great boardwalks through salt marsh at Watch Hill. Wilderness camping (no amenities) is available by permit from the Parks Dept website. Happy Summer. Paul Sweet | Department of Ornithology | American Museum of Natural History | Central Park West @ 79th St | NY 10024 | Tel 212 769 5780 | Mob 718 757 5941 -- 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/ --
