This past weekend I went to observe some breeding birds and behavior at Sunken Meadow State Park and Edgewood Preserve in Suffolk County. The highlights from both locations are listed below.
Sunken Meadow State Park *June 18-19 [6:45am-12:00pm] Wood Duck- 2 families; one of 6 and one of 7 Gadwall- 4 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron- 3 Osprey- 4 Piping Plover- 5 American Oystercatcher- 2 Least terns- 14 pairs Great Horned Owl- 1 Eastern Wood Pewee- 4 Great-crested Flycatchers- 4 Willow Flycatcher- 6 Eastern Kingbird- 5 White-eyed Vireo- 9 Warbling Vireo- 4 Red-eyed Vireo- 14 Fish Crows- 9 Dozens of Tree, Barn, and Bank Swallows Purple Martin- 2 Marsh Wren- 8 Brown Thrashers- 7 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher- 4 Wood Thrush- 5 inlcuding a fledgling Cedar waxwings- 6 Blue-winged warbler- 4 Yellow warbler- 27 Prairie warbler- 12 American Redstarts- 14 Common Yellowthroat- 22 Song, Chipping, and Swamp Sparrows Scarlet Tanager- 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak- 1 male Baltimore Orioles- 6 Orchard Orioles- 4 Edgewood Preserve *June 19 [8:00pm-10:00pm] Whip-poor-wills- 2 distant calling birds Great Horned Owl- 1 hunting over fields and a Little Brown Myotis Edgewood Preserve *June 20 [7:15am-11:00am] Red-breasted Nuthatch- 2 Blue-winged warbler- 2 Yellow warbler- 3 Pine warbler- 21 including several fledglings Prairie warbler- 19 Common Yellowthroat- 2 Eastern Towhee- 33! Chipping and Field sparrows Baltimore Oriole- 2 ~During my hikes, I came across many other animals including Raccoons, Red Fox, White-tailed Deer, Muskrat, Northern Short-tailed Shrews, Sand Fiddlers, Little Brown Myotis, Cottontails, Green Frogs, Painted Turtles, Diamond-backed Terrapins, Snapping Turtles, and 11 species of butterfly. Vinny Pellegrino picasaweb.com/vinnypelle East Northport, NY "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." -Henry David Thoreau -- 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/ --