Because of a doctor's appointment in Garden City, I took my wife's car, a Prius, in order to use the HOV lane as a single occupant, but without switching-out my birding gear...grrr ! By the time I arrived back home in Riverhead, my wife and binocs/ scope were somewhere on the South Shore.
So, buoyed up by my earlier medical experience, I headed toward Doctor's Path & Reeves Ave, in the hope of finding at least one birder, carrying the tools of the trade ! Upon arrival my cup overflowed, in finding 5 bodies, 5 binoculars and 2 spotting scopes ! Using same, were Ed Becher, Bob Proniewych, Frank ? from Southampton, NYSYBC member Ryan Zucker, and his mother, Karen. They had seen at least one Buff-breasted Sandpiper prior to my making the scene. Shortly afterward, this group went its separate ways, with the Zuckers and myself heading toward the sod fields on Route 105. While we didn't find any shorebirds there, I believe we had at least 2 Bobolinks feeding among the higher grass and flowering weeds, located between the road and the sod grass. I happened to see these birds first, albeit without binocs, but had a full frontal view of one, as it hovered just above the grass/weeds. It appeared to be a juvenile, plumage almost all yellowish buffy. The spread out, pointed tail feathers were very prominent, and along with its pointed wings (which I only realized later) added up to a good call. Meeting a "young birder" in the field (along with his "wheels" - his Mom) however, was the highlight of today's outing ! Cheers, Bob -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
