Hi James & all,
At the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (in Queens County, New York City),
Gull-billed Terns may be around for much of August and sometimes even
into September but the best time to seek the species would be now or
very soon... like all the locally-occuring Sterna (and other genera
of) terns they may be more prone to wander and move on by the end of
August & more certainly as September goes along. It is a somewhat
more "solitary" species here so don't anticipate a feeding flock as
with other terns such as Common or Least Terns, etc. - also listen for
their distinctive sort of "yipping" calls which are different from the
other local terns - indeed this can be a good way of locating one (if
vocal, obviously) as it is with so many other birds, whether they are
true songsters or not. In August though, they might be a bit less
vocal than earlier in the summer season.
At Jamaica Bay Refuge, I've had more luck with this species from the
southern sections of both the West Pond trail and the East Pond,
however I also have sighted them off the north marsh (from the West
Pond trail) and at the northern portion of the East Pond so it may
just be coincidence in seeing them off or over the south sections.
I've also spotted them over the bay itself any number of times,
especially (again perhaps by coincidence) viewing from the south
section of the W. Pond trail (ie looking south or southwest over the
bay). In the recent past (and presently?) Gull-billed Tern was also
regular at a few locations (or more?) on southern Long Island but
farther east from Queens County. Perhaps some of the Long Island
regulars will fill you in on that.
Good luck and let us know what you find in NY.
Best,
Tom
Tom Fiore,
Manhattan
- - - - -
<>
On Aug 10, 2010, at 11:20 AM, eyeflight16 AT optonline.net wrote:
I was just wondering if anyone could tell me when the Gull-billed
Terns start to leave Jamaica Bay, as well as where the best spots to
look for them there are. Thanks.
James Randall
Fairfield, CT
--
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/
--
