There has been a steady departure of shorebirds over the past few days as evidenced by the numbers. For example, the number of *Short-billed Dowitchers* have dropped from the thousands to less than 200 on the pond this morning.
*Stilt Sandpiper*s which maxed at 54 on Sunday were down to less than 10 today on the pond. *Semipalmated Sandpipers* were still in decent numbers; however, the numbers here too are dropping quickly. The highlight of this morning was a *Long-billed Dowitcher* which I was not sure of at first due to distant looks but I finally got better looks to confirm the ID. This took a long time as the birds were quite skittish and kept putting up all morning. Finally their fear was realized as the "the" young Peregrine Falcon, came by but once again left without a kill. I have seen this bird make several sorties with zero kills to date from my observation. Hopefully he learns quickly or find another source of entertainment as it is quite frustrating to have him jack with the shorebirding. Other notables were *White-Rumped Sandpiper* (2) and a single *Western Sandpiper*, I think a male given the small size of the bill. I'll have photos online as well as more detailed shorebird numbers later. "I saw a Royal baby...Tern that is" Andrew Baksh Queens, NY www.birdingdude.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/ --
