Today, between 3 & 3:30 PM, I took a quick trip through the Calverton Grasslands. Although being a bit early in the day for an active Short-eared Owl, it was overcast enough to give it a try. Results were negative on the owl, but positive with the hawks, tallying 3 N. Harriers, one being a "Gray Ghost", and to Red-tails.
The following should have been posted yesterday. It was written last night, but for some reason (probably fatigue) did not get sent off. On Monday night, after Ken Thompson gave our Audubon chapter (ELIAS) a most informative and novel program on the history of Birding Field Guides, we made plans for trying to find the owls & shrike that have kept the West End of Jones Beach buzzing lately ! Unfortunately, we got there too late (~ 1100) and probably left to early (~3:15). We did not catch up with either species, but we did learn that the shrike had been seen at ~ 8:30 AM, at the n/w/c/o of WE 2 p/lot. We did however, get 1, possibly 2 N. Harriers, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Fox Sparrow & a Savannah (Ipswich) Sparrow for our trouble. As we headed east, we found a Peregrine Falcon on the J.B. Water Tower, which hadn't been there earlier in the AM. A quick ride around RMSP on our ride home produced 7 Horned Larks feeding at one of the circles in p/lot 2. These birds were being drowned in sunlight, and were a nice way to end the day ! Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
