Hello, There were lots of birds moving on today's nice NW winds. This is a moderately quick synopsis:
After a brief dawn check of Jones Beach for the Gray Kingbird, which was not reported today (nor the Point Lookout Scissor-tailed Flycatcher), I joined a visible migration vigil at Robert Moses. Thousands of finches were moving east. Most of them were goldfinches, but there were well over a thousand *Pine Siskins* over a few hours. There was a single, calling female *Evening Grosbeak, *one small group of *Red Crossbills, *some Rusty Blackbirds, pipits, and other expected species for this time of year flying by. There were also tons of gannets visible over the ocean. At Tobay Beach in Nassau, there weren't any interesting passerines, but while walking along the edge of the giant parking lot I looked up to see an accipiter passing right over me. Photos confirmed it as a *Northern Goshawk*. It continued east into Suffolk until I lost it in the heat shimmer. Jones Beach West End had nothing too unusual except one (1) of the continuing *Marbled Godwits*. *Lesser Black-backed Gulls* have been reliable in the West End 2 lot lately, through today. The Norman Levy Preserve had a nice number of gulls, the best being merely a Laughing Gull. Also fun was a group of 21 parakeets feeding on the nearby ballfield. Lastly there was nothing too notable at Cow Meadow except two Fox Sparrows, some late Great Egrets and a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. Berries are abundant along the trail to the observation platform, and a variety of regular frugivorous species were present. It is probably worth checking for Evening Grosbeak and stuff. Best, Brendan Fogarty -- 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/ --
