Pardon the tone of this post if it comes across as brooding or sarcastic, but I had the misfortune of completely striking out on storm-borne pelagic waifs today. A lack of hurricane birding savvy, a delayed start to my day afield (didn't get out until after 1:00), and circumstances beyond my controllack of access due to storm-caused closures, and floodingall added up to a somewhat dispiriting time.
I'd wanted to check parking field #7 at Heckscher State Park for shorebirds, terns and gulls. But of course Heckscher, like all waterfront state parks today, was closed. Nearby Timberpoint Country Club was next on my itinerary. I wanted to check the golf course and the bay at the mouth of the Connetquot River. It too was closed, as were the two small town parks on the riverfront farther up Great River Road. A backup destination, the marina at the end of Vanderbilt Avenue in Oakdale, which is across the river from Timberpoint, was unreachable due to flooding. Having been thus far thwarted from even getting to a south shore vantage point to try for storm-entrained pelagics, I headed inland to Lake Ronkonkoma. Luck finally smiled upon me and I was able get there, despite having to take some detours. I did find a few terns there, but they were of the more mundane variety2 Blacks (both juveniles), 2 Forster's, and 3 unidentified sternas (up high and going away). I headed down to the ocean next, but figured I'd already missed any reasonable chance at the birds seen earlier in the day, so I did not go all the way to Jones Beach west end (it was close to 4:00 by then). Instead I did a sea watch from the pavilion at Overlook Beach (Town of Babylon) for ~45 minutes. There I spotted another Black Tern flying east and 2 Royal Terns trying to power through the westerly headwind. Also had a single male Black Scoter fly by going east. Probably the most notable sighting though was the hapless Long-tailed Duck getting sand blasted on the windswept beach. For reasons known only to the bird, it was sitting on a higher part of the beach half obscured by the mist of dry sand, instead of down alongside the large tidal overwash pool where the sand was wet. But it was busily preening, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. It flapped its wings once, revealing very worn/molting remiges, so it likely couldn't fly. This was confirmed when it just sidestepped away from any closely passing beachgoers (who for reasons known only to them, were willfully subjecting themselves to a free derm abrasion). I finished my lamentable hurricane bird search at Oak Beach Park. There I ran into Shai Mitra and Pat Lindsay, and later Brent Bomkamp and his dad. They all recounted the great birds they'd seen or heard about, but were kind enough not to let the slightest tone of gloating creep into their tales. As for the birds I saw out over the roiled waters of Fire Island inlet, they included one unidentified Storm-petrel (too far out to be sure, but probably Wilson's), and a flyby shorebird duoa Short-billed Dowitcher and a White-rumped Sandpiper. So, when's the next hurricane? -- 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/ --
