A really good bird sighting always makes me think I have a really good singing voice ! Being realistic, I drop the tune, but try to work out a plan to see, and possibly hear, that avian prize ! Today was one of those days ! With the prize being the adult, male, Calliope Hummingbird, found by Darlene Massey on her property in Eastport, L.I. on 11/06/22. After making sure of her identification, she contacted a number of birders and then set up a sane way for others to share in her find ! Darlene, over many years, has turned her gardens into mega - birding attractions. I arrived at ~ 1530, hearing about some of today's earlier visits by the hummer. Approximately 35 minutes later the prize appeared, and gave a good showing of himself ! A handsome fellow, whose movements were "slow" enough when changing perches, to be able to stay up with, and get some photos ! This perfect outing was even more profound, as we were starting to leave, when Darlene pointed skyward and yelled out "2 eagles"...which all 3 of us got to see ! The gravity of the moment made me realize that we, standing on the same piece of ground, had just witnessed 2 of the largest bird species we will ever encounter on L.I., while also seeing a Calliope Hummingbird, the smallest species you can see on L.I. "Oh what a wonderful day......"
This bird marks the 2nd time I have seen this species in N.Y.S. The first was with Jim Clinton Sr. at Ft.Tryon Park, Manhattan on 12/27/01. We recorded the bird as an immature male. We then pressed our luck and headed for Lenoir Park in Yonkers, Westchester Co. to find the Rufous Hummingbird that had been recorded there recently. Once again, we found our prize, another immature male. In total I have seen this species 5 times, going back to 6/24/77 at Sequoia National Park, Ca. I will never forget meeting the park ranger in the parking lot for a bird walk. As he was describing some of the species we might see on the walk, he had just begun talking about a really small bird (the Calliope Hummingbird) when a young boy asked him if what he was talking about was the bird in the tree right above him ? It was, of course, and got everybody off to a great experience ! 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/ --
