I visited EPCAL both yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday). On Saturday, the winds were really ripping but I was able to check out both runways since the skydiving outfit was not operating. Between both runways, there were at least 20 American Kestrels, and 1 Northern Harrier, re-affirming that EPCAL is the #1 place to find Kestrels in any kind of numbers throughout the year.
No other birds were noted aside from some swallows coursing through the air on the northern EPCAL property (radar site). Today, there were no winds, but the eastern runway (which held the majority of Kestrels yesterday) was being used heavily by skydivers which meant I could not check it out. On the Western runway, there were a handful of Kestrels, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, at least 1 Eastern Meadowlark, a pair of Savannah Sparrows and a small gaggle (?) of turkeys. One of the Kestrels I photographed stalking, catching and eating a grasshopper. For photos, checkout this link: http://birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com/2012/09/september-birds.html -- - Luke Ormand, East Patchogue www.birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com www.wildlongisland.blogspot.com -- 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/ --
