Around 2:00 this afternoon I found a male HOODED WARBLER along the Suffolk
Greenbelt trail just north of Veteran's Highway, across from Connetquot
River State Park. Coordinates are: 40.794673, -73.163547. I'd started my
hike from Lakeland County Park (40.804345, -73.156237) and there hadn't
been much migrant activity to that point. But having reached the planned
end of the outward leg of my hike I stopped to listen, if to nothing else
but the sound of the rushing Connetquot headwaters. But soon, two partial,
Hooded-like song snippets focused my attention to the south of where the
river flows through a double concrete culvert. The Hooded soon appeared
atop a fallen tree about 75 ft. away, proving my ears hadn't been mistaken.
It stayed in view for less than 30 seconds before moving out of sight into
the dense vegetation. Ten minutes of trying to pish it back into view
failed. The quickest way to access this spot would be to pull to the side
of Veteran's Highway and enter through the gate in the chain link fence,
but there is little shoulder there and the road is very busy, so I'd suggest
that anyone trying for the bird start at Lakeland Park as I did. It's not
that long a walk and passes through good habitat. You need to use the
passage under the railroad tracks at the southern end of the park and
then follow the white trail blazes.
Other migrants - either local breeders or transients included: Ovenbird
(great looks at one as it strutted on a branch and sang), N. Parula,
B&W Warbler (a female, same spot as the Hooded), Pine Warbler (a female
down at ankle level with fur in her bill for nesting), Common Yellowthroat,
Wood Thrush, Chimney Swift, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
An earlier bout of birding this morning (7:30-8:45, cut short by the
downpours) at Robert Moses State Park and Gardiner County park yielded
E. Kingbird at RMSP, and at GCP Green Heron (a pair perched in the reeds
bordering the pond near the parking lot), White-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, and Willet.
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