16 Dec. Joe Giunta, Sam Jannazzo and I (Sy Schiff) spent this morning at Jones Beach . Across the inlet, there were 20 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS; on this side DUNLIN and SANDERLING; in the water, both LOONS, BUFFLEHEAD, LONG-TAILED DUCK and RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. BONAPARTE'S GULLS were feeding in the boat basin and close in along the marina board walk. Small birds were mostly lacking in the median.
Moving over to the beach, we scoped 2 SNOWY OWLS, one east and one west of where we came onto the beach. A GREAT BLUE HERON flew east hugging the shoreline. That was a surprise. Returning via the swale, we encountered a flock of HORNED LARKS with a single LAPLAND LONGSPUR. A large flock (125+) of SNOW BUNTINGS swirled over the parking lot as we were leaving, briefly landing. In spite of the freezing temperature and brisk wind, this was Winter birding at its best. Sy -- 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/ --
