Although I've been to Muttontown Preserve (Nassau co.) many times in other seasons for other reasons, I can't remember ever checking it for fall migrants. With the wind kicking up on the beach around midday, the time was right to try it. With sparrows everywhere in recent days, it was no surprise finding lots of them here. Most notable were two VESPER SPARROWs around the horse corrals, making up for missing the one that Tom Burke's group found at Jones Beach. Also present were 3 Eastern Bluebirds, mainly interesting in contrast to their rarity along the barrier beach (except extreme western Long Island). I posted a picture of one at my web site http://www.stevewalternature.com/ . Yea, it's a common bird in the grand scheme of things, but I need to do an update sometime.
Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --