[nysbirds-l] Belmont Lake S.P. Barnacle, White-fronted, and Cackling geese-All YES
I spent 2 hours this morning (from 8-10) at Belmont Lake State Park observing the large flocks of geese roosting on the water. Among the hundreds of Canada Geese were the recently reported BARNACLE GOOSE, 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, and 2 CACKLING GEESE. The latter 2 species were seen from a vantage point on the east shore of the lake. But the Barnacle Goose was not seen until I and 2 out-of-state birders decided to move over to the west side of the lake in a final attempt at finding it. We drove over to the parks administration building lot and walked down to the shoreline, from where one of the other birders (James from Iowa) was first to spot the BRNG. The bird was on the ice hugging the western side of the larger of 2 islands, which had completely obscured it from view at our earlier location. Anyone looking for the bird in the future might want to start here: 40.734383, -73.343812 Contrary to previous reports to the list, the bulk of the geese were still on the lake when I left at 10, with only a few small groups having flown out by that time. Other waterfowl present included 1 Wood Duck, 1 N. Pintail, 4-5 Common Mergansers, and a few Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, and Coots, among the expected large numbers of Mallards. >From Belmont I headed southeast to Capri Lake in Babylon. It was at least 75% covered by ice, and the remaining open water held only a fair number of waterfowl, but that did include ~20 REDHEAD. The rest of my day afield was spent continuing to cover my Waterfowl Count territory farther east in Suffolk County. Again there was much ice, on both fresh and salt water bodies, which reduced overall numbers relative to past counts. But it concentrated the birds present, making my work a bit easier. Notable counts included 145 American Wigeon on the West Sayville Golf Course, 385 Bufflehead on Great South Bay off Green Creek, and 21 Pintails and 74 Ring-necked Ducks on Mill Pond. Another nice find were 2 WILSON'S SNIPE and a Killdeer on Sans Souci Lakes, where the water that wasn't frozen was at the lowest level I've seen it compared to past winters. The muddy margins attracted several Robins in addition to the Snipe. Access to this spot is here: 40.754922, -73.063375 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Belmont Lake S.P. Barnacle, White-fronted, and Cackling geese-All YES
I spent 2 hours this morning (from 8-10) at Belmont Lake State Park observing the large flocks of geese roosting on the water. Among the hundreds of Canada Geese were the recently reported BARNACLE GOOSE, 4 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, and 2 CACKLING GEESE. The latter 2 species were seen from a vantage point on the east shore of the lake. But the Barnacle Goose was not seen until I and 2 out-of-state birders decided to move over to the west side of the lake in a final attempt at finding it. We drove over to the parks administration building lot and walked down to the shoreline, from where one of the other birders (James from Iowa) was first to spot the BRNG. The bird was on the ice hugging the western side of the larger of 2 islands, which had completely obscured it from view at our earlier location. Anyone looking for the bird in the future might want to start here: 40.734383, -73.343812 Contrary to previous reports to the list, the bulk of the geese were still on the lake when I left at 10, with only a few small groups having flown out by that time. Other waterfowl present included 1 Wood Duck, 1 N. Pintail, 4-5 Common Mergansers, and a few Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, and Coots, among the expected large numbers of Mallards. From Belmont I headed southeast to Capri Lake in Babylon. It was at least 75% covered by ice, and the remaining open water held only a fair number of waterfowl, but that did include ~20 REDHEAD. The rest of my day afield was spent continuing to cover my Waterfowl Count territory farther east in Suffolk County. Again there was much ice, on both fresh and salt water bodies, which reduced overall numbers relative to past counts. But it concentrated the birds present, making my work a bit easier. Notable counts included 145 American Wigeon on the West Sayville Golf Course, 385 Bufflehead on Great South Bay off Green Creek, and 21 Pintails and 74 Ring-necked Ducks on Mill Pond. Another nice find were 2 WILSON'S SNIPE and a Killdeer on Sans Souci Lakes, where the water that wasn't frozen was at the lowest level I've seen it compared to past winters. The muddy margins attracted several Robins in addition to the Snipe. Access to this spot is here: 40.754922, -73.063375 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
