I did an early morning Seawatch in Queens covering Riis Park and Breezy Point. The seabird flight was sparse and not the steady stream of birds that I would have liked. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable due to the overcast and cool conditions.
All 3 Scoter species, small flocks of Common Eiders, several hundred Northern Gannets and Tree Swallows made up the majority of birds on the move. Smaller numbers included Red-throated Loons, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls and few Red-breasted Mergansers. The conditions made it easy to pick out Terns over the Ocean and I ended up with 17 Forster's and 11 Royal Terns. A few Royal Terns might be moving between the two sites so I tried to be conservative with my numbers. A mixed flock of about 110 shorebirds seen from Riis heading west included 1 White-rumped Sandpiper, 15 Purple Sandpipers, 1 Ruddy Turnstone and 27 Dunlins with the rest Sanderlings. The number of loafing Gulls on the beach was not impressive; one banded Herring Gull and a 2 CY Lesser Black-backed Gull were my only highlights. Cheers, -- "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick Douglass 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu <http://refspace.com/quotes/Sun_Tzu> *The Art of War* <http://refspace.com/quotes/The_Art_of_War> (\__/) (= '.'=) (") _ (") Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com -- 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/ --
