Although I had a late start on Tuesday, I still decided to head out for Robert Moses State Park. Once on the barrier beach, and before reaching Parking Lot # 2, a Dark-eyed Junco flew across the road (first of the season for me) ! There were only 12 gulls in the p/lot, including one 3rd Winter, Lesser Black-backed. I then visited the R.M. Hawkwatch, where I saw a good number of familiar faces, but not many raptors...although I wasn't there very long. To wit, the only accipiter I saw all day, was the Cooper's Hawk called out by Drew & Trudy's "Regulars" !
Although I didn't come across any good birds at Captree S.P., I did find a great New England Clam Chowder, which fueled me in fine fashion, before moving on to a very quiet Captree Island. Once on the Ocean Parkway, I had 3 Ospreys, 2 Merlins and 1 Peregrine before stopping at Gilgo. The water level was much lower than on last Friday, with 99% of the water between the houses having receded. The Lesser Yellowlegs was replaced by a Belted Kingfisher, but the sparrows were still not in evidence. Continuing westward, my first "circling" of the Jones Beach Water Tower proved negative, but my second, later in the afternoon, did produce an adult Peregrine Falcon ! There were three highlights for me at the West End this afternoon, two re: birds and one re: two people. The first was the large number of Merlins there, with a conservative total of 7 birds. The second was the huge flock of predominately Tree Swallows, and the challenge it presented, by finding one of it's rarer "cousins" ! The remaining highlight, and certainly the best, was meeting a young birding couple, as they were eyeing a kinglet, while trying to locate the Dickcissel that had been reported earlier in the day. ! Their names are Kevin Rogers and Kerry Murphy-Rogers, they live in Island Park and certainly realize how lucky they are to live so close to two of Long Island's most productive birding spots...Pt.Lookout & Jones Beach. 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/ --
