Never say Never! Yesterday and today I visited the East Pond to check on the water level. The good news is that some flats have begun opening up on the Southend. The water level is still way too high for this time of the year but with the opening up of some flats, there were shorebirds.
A few hundred Least Sandpipers mostly all juveniles, 25 Semipalmated Sandpipers mostly juveniles, a few Semipalmated Plovers, a few Stilt Sandpipers, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, a few Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers (11), and a few Short-billed Dowitchers rounded out the species list. Before people get too excited, please let me remind folks that with the water level as it is, there is not much room for the birds to feed. Please keep that in mind if you decide to try the pond and avoid pushing the birds around. If you are not familiar with the pond, I highly recommend waiting for another week or two where the water should be lower, allowing for easier navigation. The East Pond has many cuts, holes and soft spots that can make some areas quite treacherous. With the water level as it is, one could easily misstep. Between Don Riepe and his volunteers and I, we have cleared the trails on the Southend so we are ready. As always, knee high boots will be required. Remember good birding etiquete also includes, keeping your voice down (I prefer no talking) and have your mask handy. I will keep checking and letting you all know how the pond is looking by the weekend. Here is a link to a short clip taken today on the pond that I tweeted earlier. https://twitter.com/birdingdude/status/1295390840928575489?s=21 Cheers, -------- "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick Douglass 風 Swift as the wind 林 Quiet as the forest 火 Conquer like the fire 山 Steady as the mountain Sun Tzu The Art of War > (\__/) > (= '.'=) > (") _ (") > Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! Andrew Baksh www.birdingdude.blogspot.com -- 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/ --
