Corey Finger and I visited the site of the COMMON RAVEN nest in Kew Gardens, Queens County today. Sure enough the ravens are back and building a new nest on the water tower. We observed two ravens bringing nest material. There is a second new nest on the tower too, in an earlier state of construction. This is most likely a false start. There is no trace of last years nest.
At Jones Beach West End we had two fly-over COMMON REDPOLLS at the Coast Guard Station. Then, with Doug Futuyma, we tracked down a flock of 19 Common Redpolls in the dunes just west of the boardwalk at the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center. We had another 9 Common Redpolls at Point Lookout. Another group of birders reported a flock of 50 briefly alighting at the Coast Guard Station. Snow buntings were prominent at the beach today. Some of the males are near full breeding plumage, especially several in a flock at Nickerson Beach west of Point Lookout. There were 8 HARLEQUIN DUCKS at Point Lookout (4 ad. males, 2 imm. males, 2 fem.). Another highlight was 92 REDHEAD, on the pond at Willets Creek in Babylon, Suffolk County. This is on the north side of Route 27A, about ½ mile west of the Robert Moses Causeway. Seth Ausubel Forest Hills, NY -- 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/ --
