[nysbirds-l] Snowy Owl, Harp Seal, and others on Long Island
My wife Nobue and I and my friend Jon Hall went out to Long Island in search of Snowy Owls and the remote hope of seeing a Harp Seal (Jon is #1 or 2 in lifelist totals of world mammals and wanted to see a Harp Seal). Jon had never seen a Snowy before so really wanted to see one and I figured the most likely place other than the CT coast was to head to Jones Beach. We checked out the Coast Guard station but only had gulls, some Brant and some mergs. Next we went to West End 2 and headed out into the dunes and almost right away ran into a few people looking at a Snowy fairly close to the fence on the north side of the trail. Couldn't have asked for a nicer look. Definately the second closest one I've seen. Jon was very pleased. We continued out to the beach and followed it back towards the parking lot hoping for a sighting of the other Snowy that was reported. Only saw a bunch of Long-tailed Ducks close to shore. We then headed out to the Ponquogue Bridge to search for the other Snowy that was reported out there and hope for the remote chance a Harp seal would be there (I had one there about 4 or 5 years ago). Had lot's waterfowl and gulls, some loons, and a few Black-bellied Plovers but no owl. Incredibly though, I couldn't believe my eyes, there was a juvenile Harp Seal on one of the dunes near where I had seen the one before, amazing! Luckily I had my scope in anticipation of needing it for looking at distant seals. So Jon was doubly pleased as was I in finding our two targets. Quite a fine day. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist/Wildlife Biologist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4629 Phone: 914-963-3080; Cell: 914-319-9701 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Snowy Owl, Harp Seal, and others on Long Island
My wife Nobue and I and my friend Jon Hall went out to Long Island in search of Snowy Owls and the remote hope of seeing a Harp Seal (Jon is #1 or 2 in lifelist totals of world mammals and wanted to see a Harp Seal). Jon had never seen a Snowy before so really wanted to see one and I figured the most likely place other than the CT coast was to head to Jones Beach. We checked out the Coast Guard station but only had gulls, some Brant and some mergs. Next we went to West End 2 and headed out into the dunes and almost right away ran into a few people looking at a Snowy fairly close to the fence on the north side of the trail. Couldn't have asked for a nicer look. Definately the second closest one I've seen. Jon was very pleased. We continued out to the beach and followed it back towards the parking lot hoping for a sighting of the other Snowy that was reported. Only saw a bunch of Long-tailed Ducks close to shore. We then headed out to the Ponquogue Bridge to search for the other Snowy that was reported out there and hope for the remote chance a Harp seal would be there (I had one there about 4 or 5 years ago). Had lot's waterfowl and gulls, some loons, and a few Black-bellied Plovers but no owl. Incredibly though, I couldn't believe my eyes, there was a juvenile Harp Seal on one of the dunes near where I had seen the one before, amazing! Luckily I had my scope in anticipation of needing it for looking at distant seals. So Jon was doubly pleased as was I in finding our two targets. Quite a fine day. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist/Wildlife Biologist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4629 Phone: 914-963-3080; Cell: 914-319-9701 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
