Greetings! First, a big thank-you to everyone who offered their advice on birding the south shore of Long Island when I posted to this list earlier this week. We've had a terrific day, finding many common shorebirds in breeding plumage (something we do not see in upstate New York, where our big surge of shorebirds happens in fall), and some species we rarely if ever get in and around Lake Ontario.
Specifically, Luke Ormand directed us to Sagg Pond for shorebirds, and we got wonderful shots of a Piping Plover at much closer range than expected, and lots of photos of Least Terns. At Shinnecock Inlet, we spotted a first-year male Common Eider just offshore and captured his image as well. More thanks to the people who suggested the location of a Brown Thrasher (across from a dirt road and small parking area along Dune Road). This bird posed for us on a wire, and then sang from the tops of several shrubs in full view, at just about eye level for us. Those who warned us that the breeding-plumage migrating shorebirds could be gone were quite right—we saw no Red knots of Black-bellied Plovers today. We're heading west tomorrow to try some other areas people suggested (Nickerson Beach, Jones Beach West End), and we'll let you know if we come upon anything unusual. Good birding, Randi Randi Minetor Author and freelance writer 585-737-3449 mobile ra...@minetor.com www.minetor.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/ --
