Sue and I began our Sunday trip at the County Road 51 bike trail, where we hiked north up to its intersection with a dirt road leading southwest from the Hunter's Garden entrance road. We found neither the previously reported Blue Grosbeak or Summer Tanager. On our way up we heard our FOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling, and were able to get good looks at a calling Acadian Flycatcher near the north end of the bike trail. A group of male Wild Turkeys were displaying for a few females in the farm field west of the bike trail.
Our next stop was Dune Road, birding from Tiana Beach to Pike's Beach. Shorebirds were present in good number but low variety. The three most numerous were Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, and Semipalmated Sandpiper. On the ocean at Pike's we noted a flyby Black Tern, and a pair of Roseate Terns flew by the North end of Triton Lane. No luck on John Gluth's Least Bittern, which we did not anticipate staying around. A Tricolored Heron was just west of Tiana Beach. Our observations of shorebirds at Tiana Beach was interrupted by a young Peregrine Falcon, who proceeded to scatter the flocks of shorebirds all over the bay. We finished our trip at the Calverton Grasslands, where Grasshopper Sparrow was present in good numbers around the EPCAL runways, in addition to Eastern Meadowlark, Horned Lark, and American Kestrel. Ken & Sue Feustel -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
