[nysbirds-l] Birding on the North Fork, Suffolk Co.
Today, between a late start (9:00 AM) and an early fiinish (3:00 PM), Dick Berlanger and I had a few nice birds, with the highlight involving a Great Blue Heron and a "Great Green Eel"! We weren't in the car 5 minutes before having a Turkey Vulture in Riverhead. In another 5 min., we were at Mary Laura & Eric Lamont's "fabulous feeders", where we saw 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, White-crowned & Fox Sparrows, and 3 Snow Geese, in a fly-over flock of Canadas. At the tip of Orient at "Plum Gut", we had 20 C.Eiders, and afterward, another 24 right at the ferry slip. The state park was very quiet, but the east end of Narrow River Rd. made up for it! Because of his 4wheel drive Jeep, Dick deceided to see how far out he could get on a dirt embankment. Upon reaching that point, Dick noticed a G B H out in the marsh (in a spot we probably would not have seen from the road) shaking a fairly large object, it held in its mandibles. By use of our scopes, we realized it's prey was a plump eel, about 2 1/2' long, which finally went limp after a few minutes of this treatment. Once the fish was still, the bird tried unsuccessfully to swallow it. Possibly due to the confines of it's location, the heron then walked about 50' into a clearing, while carrying the eel, which looked to be as long as the body of the bird, with a little bit of the neck thrown in, as well. What looked to be near impossible (with the bird standing erect, the fish touched the ground) the "Great Blue" finally downed the "Great Green"... giving us a great thrill! Cheers, Bob -- 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] Birding on the North Fork, Suffolk Co.
Today, between a late start (9:00 AM) and an early fiinish (3:00 PM), Dick Berlanger and I had a few nice birds, with the highlight involving a Great Blue Heron and a Great Green Eel! We weren't in the car 5 minutes before having a Turkey Vulture in Riverhead. In another 5 min., we were at Mary Laura Eric Lamont's fabulous feeders, where we saw 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, White-crowned Fox Sparrows, and 3 Snow Geese, in a fly-over flock of Canadas. At the tip of Orient at Plum Gut, we had 20 C.Eiders, and afterward, another 24 right at the ferry slip. The state park was very quiet, but the east end of Narrow River Rd. made up for it! Because of his 4wheel drive Jeep, Dick deceided to see how far out he could get on a dirt embankment. Upon reaching that point, Dick noticed a G B H out in the marsh (in a spot we probably would not have seen from the road) shaking a fairly large object, it held in its mandibles. By use of our scopes, we realized it's prey was a plump eel, about 2 1/2' long, which finally went limp after a few minutes of this treatment. Once the fish was still, the bird tried unsuccessfully to swallow it. Possibly due to the confines of it's location, the heron then walked about 50' into a clearing, while carrying the eel, which looked to be as long as the body of the bird, with a little bit of the neck thrown in, as well. What looked to be near impossible (with the bird standing erect, the fish touched the ground) the Great Blue finally downed the Great Green... giving us a great thrill! Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
