Following up on Carl Starace's email of today, the Dovekie we saw yesterday was a first for all 3 of us. It was Dick's (a new ELIAS member and birder) first alcid, while also being the first time Carl & I have ever seen this specie in any bay (or other smaller body of water) on L.I. I would welcome hearing reports from those who have.
I, myself, know of one such occurrence, involving Gilbert S. Raynor, one of the best naturalists L.I. has ever produced. Many years ago, while doing his sector of the Orient CBC on Shelter Island, Gil found a beached Dovekie. He proceeded to pocket the exhausted bird, and at the end of the day, went back to Paul & Barbara Stoutenburg's (co-compilers) house for the compilation.After the traditional hot soup & cold cider, Barbara started calling off the species list, which in turn prompted (in most cases)"yeses" from varied leaders, whose groups had seen the species in question. When "Dovekie" was sounded, and after waiting for others to respond, Gil in his low voice said "yes", as he took the revived bird out of his parka pocket, holding it up for all to see- needless to say, it made for much excitement and wonder! The next day being a Sunday, and with his priorities always in the right order, Gil spent the morning with his family at church, took his wife of over 40 years out for their weekly Sunday dinner, and then released the recovered alcid in the ocean at Shinnicock Inlet. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
