I visited the Nassau County waterway corridor from Hempstead Lake southward for the first time since the CBC. As on the CBC, a Cackling Goose was on the Mill River, in the vicinity of East Rockaway High School. After it drifted down river along with a small group of Canadas, I relocated it from the Pearl Street bridge. I was hoping they would continue southward into close photo range. They did continue southward, but by taking flight and passing right over me. So what's south of there? Bay Park. That's where I ultimately headed -- and located a Cackling Goose on the golf course. That was too easy, so I need to overanalyze this. The goose flock on the river was of the canadensis variety. Most of the ones surrounding the golf course Cackling were maxima. A different Cackling?
Also at Bay Park were a Kestrel, a fly by Pipit, 30 Horned Larks (worth a close look, as this was once the most reliable local spot for longspurs), and 5 Killdeer. It's tempting to think that the Killdeer are a sign of northbound migration, but I'd feel better about that two weeks from now. Hempstead Lake had about 38 Common Mergansers on it, in pockets of open water. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
