Sue and I spent a pleasant morning birding the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge today. Highlights included continuing American Avocet, Caspian Tern, and Bald Eagle. Other species of note were American Golden Plover(2), Eurasian Wigeon(1) and American Pipit (5).
The presence of the Bald Eagle on the north end of the pond and a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the old dock pilings at the Raunt ensured that most shorebirds were flybys that did not linger. The two Golden Plovers were at the north end of the pond hunkered down near a large piece of wood when the Bald Eagle decided to land on the wood causing their abrupt departure. Despite the presence of raptors, we recorded nine species of shorebirds, all in very low numbers. The Eurasian Wigeon, a rufous morph female, was with a large mixed waterfowl contingent north of the Raunt. The pipits were seen feeding on the south end of the East Pond on the exposed flat. Cheers, Ken & Sue Feustel -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --