Yesterday, I birded both tide cycles at Cupsogue, LI getting in my first fall shorebird survey. There was a decent amount of shorebirds to look at consisting mostly of what was reported by Steve Walter on the 16th.
Highlights included:* WESTERN SANDPIPER* (presumably continuing bird), *WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER* and *WESTERN WILLET* (presumably continuing birds). Additionally, shorebirds not mentioned on the 16th but were observed yesterday included Red Knot and Sanderling. I also saw both flagged Semipalmated Sandpipers mentioned by Steve and grabbed video of the one bird that was bothered by the flag. Based on my observation, I think the behavior of the bird suggest a case of a bad flag that escaped QC (quality control) team of whoever did the flag making. In any case, it should have been caught at the point of the actual banding. Either this was either an oversight, someone being careless or just plain ole GI. Pat Lindsay, who along with Shai and Pete Morris who had joined me on the flats, helped in counting Piping Plovers. We tallied 16 with several young birds; a good season in the area? Of the 16, four were flagged with the white lettering on green flag (U/L) and orange ring (U/R) which is a Virginia Tech scheme One bird had the yellow over blue rings on both legs, which is another VT banding scheme. On the Terns, nothing really of note save for one Roseate Tern that flew in on a rising tide. The Great Black-backed Gull numbers on one of the adjoining islands is quite impressive. Easily 500 birds there with many juveniles that look quite spiffy with their crisp plumage. Leaving the worse for last - Seawatching, sigh...was once again a non event. 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 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/ --