September 30 , A Long Island / New York City excursion. Joe Giunta and I (Sy Schiff) birded the Fire Island Hawkwatch this morning on SE winds, the wrong kind. The only raptors who don't mind this are falcons. And, we saw a few Merlin and Peregrines. Of note a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, but virtually no land birds.
At Jones Beach Marina we were met by Sam Jannazzo. The bar had a resting MARBLED GODWIT and a CASPIAN TERN along with the usual hoard of AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS, DUNLIN, SANDERLING, RUDDY TURNSTONE, RED KNOT and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. There were 4 SURF SCOTERS in the water to the left of the island. Cathy Drake called from Central Park while we were admiring the tern. We drove straight into the city from Jones Beach, immediately found a parking spot, as someone pulled out (on 75th off Fifth Ave--I though this only happens in movie scripts). A police officer directed us to the 72nd street entrance, the only one not sealed off for the concert tonight. (As described in a post to ebirdsnyc, in the Ramble, near the SW corner of Mugger's Woods and just S of the Humming Tombstone) A short walk brought us to the BARRED OWL. This is the first downstate.sighting for all of us. Sy -- 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/ --
