Jones Beach West End 14 Oct Joe Giunta and I (Sy Schiff) birded the west end this morning to find fewer birds but still 50+ species The bar still harbors a few hundred AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS plus an undetermined number of mostly hatching year BLACK SKIMMERS. As the tide increased, the dozen DUNLIN were joined by BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, RED KNOT, a few SANDERLING, more DUNLIN and a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, Best additions were 2 ROYAL TERNS.
A COMMON LOON was in the basin and moved out into the channel where FOSTER'S TERNS were feeding. RUDDY TURNSTONES continue on the Coast Guard breakwater. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS continue on West End #2 parking lot. Raptors included NORTHERN HARRIER, SHARP-SHINNED, COOPER'S HAWKS, MERLIN and PEREGRINE FALCON (are falcons still raptors now that they've been classified as Parrots?---just a thought). A WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (rare on the beach) joined RED-BREASTED in the median. We saw a PINE, a number of PALM, loads of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, a male BLUE-THROATED BLUE WARBLER and a BLUE-HEADED VIREO. Sparrow species were limited but WHITE-CROWNED were present. Briefly seen by others was the continuing CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. Also, a BLACK TERN was reported at the jetty. 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/ --
