I was surprised to see a 1st Summer Glaucous Gull at Mecox Inlet, Suffolk County, this morning. There are some May dates for this bird on Long Island in eBird, but I think this is particularly late. Photos can be seen on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/TWjQdj; https://flic.kr/p/TWjQyQ (And, thanks to the ABA What's This Bird? Facebook group for providing a platform in which the identification could be confirmed.)
Besides the gull, the only other notable birds that I saw while I was there last evening and this morning was a Bank Swallow, flying with the Barn Swallows, and two Piping Plovers. They don't appear to have nested yet. I chanced on the young man in charge of endangered bird protection for the summer for the town of Southampton, and he told me the water levels are too high and that the nesting area keeps getting flooded out. The town is scheduled to create the break to the ocean this coming week, which should help and also create more mud flats for shorebirds. (I only saw Sanderlings and Least Sandpipers and two Skimmers, who simply skimmed through.) Donna Schulman Forest Hills, N.Y. -- 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/ --
