Today, my dad and I enjoyed a great day of birding, in which we focused on
Jones Beach West End.
The highlight of our day was a Gray Kingbird, which I found around 10:15.
As we were driving out of the boat basin lot, the kingbird flew up off the left
shoulder of entrance/exit road and into the east end of the hedgerow. It was
flushed out of dense cover by several mockingbirds, and assumed a prominent
perch in a small bramble patch. After several minutes, it flew east and landed
in the cedars (just outside the men’s restroom) at the east end of the boat
basin lot. Shortly, it flew out of these shrubs and continue east out of
sight. Extensive searching of the barrier beach between West End and Field 10
proved unsuccessful in relocating the kingbird.
When we first found this kingbird, we were heading for the median where a
male Hooded Warbler was reported. Later while we searching (unsuccessfully)
for the warbler, I found a Western Kingbird perched in a dead snag just east of
the Coast Guard Station/Boat Basin entrance. Soon after, it flew off to the
east, following a similar path of the Gray Kingbird.
Earlier in the day, around high tide (9:30), there was a good concentration
of shorebirds on the bar. Highlights included 1 Am. Golden Plover, 3 Marbled
Godwits, 10 Western Willets, and a single adult Long-billed Dowitcher; a
juvenile dowitcher sp. was seen by others earlier.
Also of note were three immature Little Blue Herons foraging in the Captree
Marsh at dawn.
Photos of many of the highlights can be seen at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117391989476777248424/LongIslandBirds2011#
Good Birding,
Michael McBrien
East Patchogue
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