To Andrew's good news from Jamaica Bay, where we may now realistically hope for better habitat this season, I am pleased to add that shorebirds are moving well on Long Island at present.
Today, at the Moriches Bay flats north of Cupsogue County Park, Suffolk County, Patricia Lindsay and I enjoyed the sights and sounds of hundreds of Short-billed Dowitchers (including several well-marked prairie-breeding hendersoni) and smaller but good numbers of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers--many in active migration from east to west. Highlights included a Whimbrel (also seen earlier in the day by Doug Futuyma), eight Western Sandpipers in bright alternate plumage (a large count of adults at this site, where such birds are usually scarce and detected as singles), and flocks of migrating Lesser Yellowlegs totaling 46 (again, a good number for this sort of habitat, where this species seldom lingers long). The adult Eastern Willets are ganging up (we counted 84) and have been joined by 2-3 rather worn-out looking Western Willets. Doug reported six Royal Terns and 16 Piping Plovers, of which we connected with four and 11, respectively. This is a reminder that Long Island's still-extensive marshes and flats will be hosting thousands of shorebirds over the next several months. Most of the best habitat is relatively inaccessible, but our regional birders are constantly discovering and re-discovering the many little seams and puddles around and near the big marshes, where we can still glimpse small fractions of the large and exhilarating shorebird flux, under the appropriate circumstances. The East Pond is, or can be, the greatest of these; but as we wait for it to come into shape there are lots of other places to look. Shai Mitra Bay Shore -- 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/ --
