The East Pond star of today, although elusive for a while, was the HUDSONIAN GODWIT, which was on the East side of the pond opposite the 3rd spit from a bit after 12:00 (noon) to ~1:30 PM when a Harrier briefly forced all the shorebirds into the air. It then disappeared for several hours while I helped other birders comb the north end for it. Andrew Baksh and I refound it at the Raunt after 6:00 PM and Shai Mitra, Bob Adamo, and another gentleman whose name I forget joined us for extended views (near the Avocet for a while). The bird then flew north and landed amongst some ducks on the east shore of the pond, just to the south of where it had been earlier. It was feeding voraciously for the entire time that I saw it, and it seems like there's a good chance it will stick around.
The hours when it was out of view were still very productive some of the continuing goodies, mostly mentioned by Dave Klauber: the adult Red-necked Phalarope, the juvenile Baird's Sandpiper (2nd spit, south of the cove, I think this may be a different individual than the one present earlier in the week, the American Avocet (between the 2nd and 3rd spits, but also briefly materialized just north of the Raunt near dusk before flying north again), Black Tern (juvenile flying around the north end), and double-digits of Red Knot (6 juveniles included) and Western (11+ juveniles) and Stilt Sandpipers. Adult White-rumped Sandpipers were also still seemingly ubiquitous at the north end. At Plum Beach at low tide this morning there were 2 "Western" Willets and ~460 Black Skimmers (minus one getting devoured by a Great Black-backed Gull). There was also the first good migrant passerine activity of the season at the Floyd Bennett Field Community Garden (including at least 5 Warbler species). Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Temporary archive: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
