Soccer was canceled today (a miracle in itself) so I managed to get down to Jones Beach West End early this afternoon. My God, was it cold.
At the coast guard station, there was a large cooperative flock of Snow Buntings, Horned Larks, and Lapland Longspurs feeding on the lawn just east of the restroom building. Using the car as a windscreen, I was able to get out and carefully count 16 longspurs amongst about 100 buntings and larks. This is the most longspurs I have ever seen together. Good views of various plumages. I did not really look for the Bohemian Waxwing but did find several Chipping Sparrows in the median. Heading back east, there were both a light morph and dark morph Rough-legged Hawks working the median of Ocean Parkway in the vicinity of Cedar Beach. Good views, too. Finally, the previously reported Lapland Longspur was still feeding with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks in the grass at the entrance to Robert Moses SP field 5. I found another dark phase Rough-legged Hawk over the Fire Island hawk watch stand, heading east. Can’t say for sure if it was the same bird from Cedar Beach. Glenn Quinn Hauppauge, NY --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.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/ --
