Nassau Co. Beaches 24 July The Nickerson Beach tern/skimmer colony has simmered down now that most of the young have fledged and are flying. Except for one Great Black-backed Gull that was continually dive bombed till the tern gave up. Of course directly in the sun from my position, so no chance of a photo. Count of the east most colony:-4 to 500 Common Terns, 150 Black Skimmers and 100+ American Oystercatchers, but probably many more of each. The scouring of the beach by "Sandy" offered no grassy cover for nesting to the west and the prior colony there was abandoned this year by both terns and skimmers. Fewer Skimmers this Summer over all, but the terns seemed to have doubled up to the east.
I arrived at Jones Beach West End just at a very high tide (2 days after full moon). The water was level with the marina board walk and the sand bar was completely under water. The island (Jones Island on the map) is about half the previous size; most of the channel side having been washed away by "Sandy". Crowded on a small piece of sand at the base of the drowned sand bar were 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 1 imm. Forster's Tern, 2 Common Terns, several American Oystercatchers, 3 Ruddy Turnstone, 1 imm. Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Least Sandpiper and a group of 10 Semipalmated Sandpipers that flew in and quickly left with the Least and Spotted. The West End #2 lot had a dozen Semipalmated Plover and a half dozen Semipalmated Sandpipers. The swale is dry and completely vegetated with a mixture of phragmites, sedges and some sandy and grassy areas. No birds visible. Sy Schiff -- 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/ --
