Today I finished my section of the waterfowl count in the Napeague area (Suffolk Co.) The waterfowl was incredibly uneventful.
I found the immature NORTHERN SHRIKE along Lazy Point Rd, sitting on the Osprey nest. At Hither Hills State Park campground I found 1 American Pipit, 3 White-crowned Sparrows & 5 Am. Tree Sparrows. The ocean was very quiet with very few birds of any sort. Red-throated Loons were especially scarce and last weekend's count at Montauk Point and vicinity was a mere 6 individuals. Today's count was even lower until I arrived at Napeague Lane in the "Beachampton" section of Amagansett where I observed a most interesting event. A feeding flock of gulls developed and from nowhere there were at least 75 Red-throated Loons arriving from the southwest. It is common knowledge in these parts that when the extreme cold periods of winter arrive, Red-throated Loons disappear. I had always assumed that they head farther south, but today's event made me wonder if they don't move farther offshore The most frustrating moment of the day occurred at Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett. I was scanning the ocean and came upon a small grebe; my immediate identification was "Eared." However, it dove within a few second, and I never found it again. So, while I won't claim the species in my report, this location is only a few miles from where I found an Eared Grebe on the Christmas Bird Count about a month ago. It might be worth scanning the ocean between East Hampton and Amagansett in case the Eared Grebe is still around. Finally there were 2 adult GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE along Further Lane in the gi-normous hedged estate across from the big lawn where they have spent much of the winter. Hugh -- Hugh McGuinness The Ross School 18 Goodfriend Drive East Hampton, NY 11937 -- 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/ --
