I birded all day on the "Island of Long." Most of my time was spent @ Cupsogue
starting at 7:00 a.m. birding two tide cycles.
The day started with a seawatch which was better than previous attempts. Made
so, by the double digit number of Wilson's Storm-Petrels that worked a couple
of areas near fishing boats. A few Shearwaters were observed but were too far
out to label.
>From the seawatch, I got onto the flats on a rising tide and spent a few hours
>sorting through the birds that were present. In the Tern flock, I found 2
>ARCTIC TERNS - 1 first summer and 1 second summer. The latter, showing a
>speckled forehead and some traces of the dark lesser-covert bar.
Later as the tide got high, I picked out a WESTERN SANDPIPER from among the
peeps. This bird was retaining much of its breeding plumage, showing extensive
rufous in its crown and scapulars. Pete Morris and Taylor Strum who had shown
up on the flats were able to get on these birds as well.
Later in the afternoon, I did a second round on the flats. I re-found the
WESTERN SANDPIPER from earlier and then found another. The second bird was not
as bright at the AM bird but it did have a slightly larger bill and showed some
rufous in the scapulars.
It took some time but I also managed to re-find the 2nd summer ARCTIC TERN.
Unfortunately, I could not re-find the 1st summer bird.
Rounding out the highlights: A total of 6 ROSEATE TERNS were also present on
the flats this afternoon. 1 Royal Tern dropped in onto the flats but did not
stick around for too long.
Leaving Cupsogue, I decided to end the day with a seawatch at Shinnecok Inlet.
Before the rain came, I managed to pick out several Wilson's Storm-Petrels.
There was also some Shearwater action. 2 were identified as Cory's and several
left as Shearwater sp. due to distance and poor visibility.
For those interested, I'll have some photos of today's birds on my blog shortly.
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 The Art of War
> (__/)
> (= '.'=)
> (") _ (")
> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device!
Andrew Baksh
www.birdingdude.blogspot.com
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