Dear NY Birders, While my son was warming up for his soccer match, I had a half an hour to spend at Mecox Inlet (eastern Suffolk Co.). Here's what I found
1 ad Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 first-year BLACK-HEADED GULL 4 American Pipits 1 SHORT-EARED OWL I wish every half hour of birding could be that productive. Hugh On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 6:29 PM, Angus Wilson <oceanwander...@gmail.com>wrote: > My apologies for the lack of timely updates; I've been totally snowed under > with work. Here is a rather poorly digested summary of recent reports. > > On Saturday (Oct 23) Derek Rogers saw and photographed a *COMMON RAVEN*eating > berries on a Virginia creeper near the Nature Conservancy’s Fite > House facility off South Davis Drive/Avenue in Montauk. This is off South > Delrey Road on the western side of town. The bird's massive size prompted > thoughts of 'vulture' rather than 'crow' and it lacked some feathers on the > head and nape, accentuating its vulturine appearance. Unfortunately the > raven did not linger and flew west towards the former Montauk Dump and > Hither Hills. There have been no re-sightings but who knows, it might still > be in the general area. Please let us know if you see it. > > Is this the first documented record from the South Fork? There are only a > handful of records for Suffolk County as a whole. In the East, Common Raven > is a bird of mountains and other wild areas, but over the past few years > they have staged an unexpected expansion into the Greater New York > metropolitan area. Following a series of sightings from State Island in the > mid-2000s, several birds set up shop in Queens and Nassau Counties. Reports > have also come from the Bronx. This spring a pair nested in Kew Gardens > producing two, possibly three young. Wandering birds are also on the > increase with reports this month from Jamaica Bay, Jones Beach and Central > Park (apparently the 1st record). So maybe Derek's bird is a herald of > things to come. > > Speaking of dark birds, Beth and Bob Wilson found a *RUSTY BLACKBIRD* on > feeding with a Brown-headed Cowbird along the edge of Dune Road near Scott > Cameron Beach. That same day, Vicki Bustamante found 8 *SNOW GEESE* in a > field across from LIPA* in Watermill. Jorn Ake noted three jaegers (likely > Parasitics) working the Laughing Gulls off the beach in Napeague State Park > and also noted a couple of RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS riding thermals over Camp > Hero. > > At Mecox Inlet, John Shemilt found a BLACK-HEADED GULL and an interesting > sandpiper with features suggestive of a Dunlin x White-rumped Sandpiper > hybrid. These oddities have been showing up in NY and other states with > increasing frequency, perhaps reflecting distributional changes on the > arctic breeding grounds.* A *LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL* was on the flat the > day before (22 Oct). > > On Sunday (24 Oct) Vicki Bustamante spotted a *PARASITIC JAEGER* off > Montauk Point and then on Monday (25 Oct), noticed 35-40 *GREEN-WINGED > TEAL* in the 'Napeague bog', the wet area at the old and new highway > split. They disappeared in the next days but a pair of *BLUE-WINGED TEAL*were > on Big Reed Pond. > > On Thursday (28 Oct) John Turner spotted an adult male *HARLEQUIN DUCK* at > the seal haulout site on the north side of Montauk State Park. Just out of > area, another male was sighted by Peter Murphy at Moriches Inlet in > Westhampton Dunes. > > Today (29 Oct) Sandy Hunter found a *CATTLE EGRET* at the Mecox Dairy farm > in Bridgehampton. This small herd of Jersey cows are a magnet for Cattle > Egrets but it has been a while since the last sightings there. You can view > the cows from the side of Mecox Road or by looking back from Horsemill Lane. > There has been a rash of Cattle Egret sightings in the region with three > together in Brooklyn and a flock of seventeen flying together down Cayuga > Lake near Ithaca. A number of others are scattered across the northeast from > Ontario to New Hampshire. > > Many people have noted good numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers, kinglets and > sparrows over the past couple of weeks. Attractive *WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS > * have been particularly abundant, with the prize going to Vicki who > logged around seventy five (yes, 75!) on 19 Oct spread over several sites > between Hither Hills SP and Montauk Point. A *WILSON'S SNIPE* near the > Lighthouse at Montauk was also notable. > > On that same day (19 Oct), Bruce Horwith was down at Georgica and noticed a > *DOVEKIE* floating about 100 feet off the beach. This is certainly the > first I've heard of this year, and to be so close to shore in the absence of > a big storm suggests it might be a sick bird. It might be worth checking > with local wildlife rehab people in case it ended up in care but in general > these tiny alcids are more likely to get 'recycled' by Great Black-backed > Gulls. > > This is a good time to start looking at goose flocks with migrants coming > in from the far north. There is currently a Barnacle Goose in Massachusetts > and a one-day wonder visited Belmont State Park on Long Island last week. No > reports yet of any Pink-footed Geese. Late fall migrants from the west such > as Ash-throated Flycatcher are another possibility, so check those > 'phoebes', especially the skulking ones. Cave Swallows have been reported > from Lake Ontario and the lower reach of the Hudson River, so keep looking > up as well! > > Maybe I need to add a liability disclaimer so I don't get sued if someone > falls whilst simultaneously looking up and sideways? > > -- > Angus Wilson > New York City & The Springs, NY, USA > http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ > -- Hugh McGuinness The Ross School 18 Goodfriend Drive East Hampton, NY 11937 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
