This afternoon I took a ride to Dune Road / Shinnecock Inlet. The inlet held a nice raft which consisted of various scoter species and Common Eiders as well as some fringe red-breasted mergansers. The highlight was an immature male King Eider that I photographed (accidentally).
The rest of Dune Road was really quiet - there was a Snowy Owl in the marsh near the Bridge which was previously mentioned on this list. A northern Harrier was found further west as well as a female Belted Kingfisher. I noticed a very large number of gulls both over the ocean/on the beach where large waves were crashing as well as perched on dredging equipment in the bay. I'm sure some patience at either location would have produced something good. As the sun set and I drove over the bridge, I noticed another sizeable collection of gulls perched on the rocks of the coast guard marina - it may be worth checking for all you gullheads out there Photos of the birds - including the king eider can be seen here: http://birdsoflongisland.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-long-time-coming.html -- - Luke www.birdsoflongisland.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/ --
