Thanks to Jay for relaying our message this morning. Here are some details.
Having just finished enjoying long, close views of the two SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, the DUNLIN, and a clean-lookin' mean-lookin' red-mouthed breeding RING-BILLED GULL out on the windswept spit, Tilden and I decided to spend a few more minutes watching from the car. We saw the plovers wheel around and back once and watched the OSPREY kiting over the mouth of the creek, but got most of our entertainment from dozens of swallows foraging over the whitecaps. At about 10 AM, I saw two more shorebirds together in the air just off the tip of the spit. Their identities were immediately obvious - one was a Dunlin in breeding plumage (quite possibly the same one we had just seen), and the other was a WHIMBREL - about twice the size of the Dunlin (which itself surprised me with its apparent length and heft in flight), with plain brown plumage and an unmistakable, long decurved bill. (The bird lacked the warm tones and extreme bill length of a Long-billed Curlew.) For about 20 seconds, we saw the two birds turning and swooping together like fighter jets in tight formation, debating a joint landing. But then they headed north over the lake. While I phoned Jay, Tilden followed the rapidly retreating birds for about half a minute more, until he was distracted by the sight of a male and female BUFFLEHEAD flying across our view. (I am modestly hopeful that this latter species will give us double coveted eBird "need details" prompts, which I don't remember ever getting on a single previous outing.) We waited for about 10 minutes for the Whimbrel to return, to no avail. We did check the cove south of the private marina on our way out, where T spotted a COMMON LOON pretty far out. We saw many more swarming swallows over the water here too. Applying negligible effort, we didn't find any Yellow-throated Warbler or any other unusual songbirds today (even the Warbling Vireos were silent in the nasty cold wind). Mark Chao PS. The Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest starts tomorrow with a walk I'll lead at the McIlroy Bird Sanctuary in Summerhill at 8 AM. I welcome participation and pledges! -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
