Hi all, Today, Drew Panko, Trudy Battaly and I headed down to Jones Beach for some birding. We stopped first at the Coast Guard Station, where a lone RED CROSSBILL flew over, heading west. Some Pine Siskins and Purple Finches also flew over. When checking the sandbar, among the 75 or so American Oystercatchers and scattered Bonaparte's Gulls was a single WILLET and a young BLACK-HEADED GULL. After watching it for 10-15 minutes, it eventually flew off to the middle of the bay to the west. There were also 2 White-winged Scoters and 1 Black Scoter int he bay. Little else was moving around the Coast Guard Station. In the swale by the West End 2 parking lot were a group of ~30 Tree Swallows resting and foraging. At the Theodore Roosevelt Center, we also found the NORTHERN SHRIKE close to the beginning of the boardwalk.
After birding West End, we headed to check Captree for the Common Ground Dove, which we could not find. We searched the north end of the south parking lot and the area near the green bouy/toll booths. A quick check of the ocean from the Fire Island Hawk Watch platform held some Northern Gannets and many Bonaparte's Gulls streaming to the west. Good Birding, Shawn Billerman -- 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/ --
