Despite seeing a negative report online, I went down to Timberpoint this afternoon to check for the Dovekie again (saw the bird Tuesday). As others have mentioned the marina was iced over save for where aerators were in operation around the pilings. The channel from the bay into the marina was open, but the bird was not there either. So I walked down to the bay and carefully scoped offshore. The only small black and white birds out on the water were Bufflehead. The ponds on the golf course had also iced over, so the Tundra Swan (likely the same bird seen at Connetquot S.P. last weekend) and other waterfowl were absent as well.
So I went over to adjacent Heckscher S.P. where I went on a 2.5 hour walk. The outward leg of my walk was along the beachfront, to within a half mile of the Timberpoint marina inlet. No sign of the Dovekie on the bay, though I didn't look too hard for it. It was pretty quiet bird-wise in general, and I was ready to chalk up my visit as a nice dose of exercise and fresh air. But then I came upon a flock of 8 AMERICAN PIPITS feeding in the grassy median near the RC model airplane runways. Not long afterward I encountered a small flock of Tree Sparrows and 1 Savannah Sparrow feeding near the edge and within the phragmites ringing the interior marsh. And near the swimming pool complex I found a pair of FIELD SPARROWS. It only takes one or two nice finds like those to make a birding walk worthwhile. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
