In addition to the Eastern Bluebirds noted by Jeff Ritter and Steve Walter, two males were present at the Jones Beach (West End) Coast Guard station Saturday morning. Migrant Northern Flickers and Tree Swallows (ca. 20) were also evident. At Point Lookout, the 8 Harlequin Ducks (4 adult-plumaged males, 4 females) linger, but I saw only 2 Horned Grebes and no ducks; it looks as if there has been a major exodus of wintering waterfowl. One Piping Plover and ca. 14 American Oystercatchers were on or near the jetties.
At Hempstead Lake State Park,, 1 Brown Creeper, 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a basic-plumaged Yellow-rumped Warbler. The strong wind at Jamaica Bay made birding difficult, and the extraordinarily low tide in mid-afternoon (a lower spring tide than I recall ever seeing there) kept waterfowl mostly very distant. 17 "Blue" geese constituted 0.71%.of the approximately 1,960 Snow Geese (counted off in 5's) resting on the sand bar at the end of Terrapin Trail. The numbers of Greater Scaup on the West Pond look to have dropped by about half since last week. Great numbers of Ruddy Ducks, certainly well over 500, were on the East Pond. Doug Futuyma Stony Brook, NY -- 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/ --
