There was a report of a fairly well described possible female-type Yellow-headed Blackbird from a couple of days ago along Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn. It was hanging out in the large mixed Cowbird/Starling aggregation that is often seen along the Belt Parkway adjacent to Gravesend Bay during the winter months. The flock is not always easily viewable, but it is sometimes ranging around the grass on either side of the "middle" parking lot along the eastbound Belt Parkway, just east of the Verrazano Bridge. Attempts to find the whole flock along the waterfront by several birders over the last two days have failed, and they could well be inside Fort Hamilton itself, though the streets just inland from that area, around the VA Hospital, Dyker Beach Golf Course, and Poly Prep High School would all be good places to check.
While hanging around the parking area yesterday morning, Shane Blodgett and I observed a RED-NECKED GREBE out in the bay, not very far off shore. This is annually one of the more reliable places in the area for this species. Unfortunately Bonaparte's Gulls have been very scarce around the Brooklyn waterfront recently, though Ring-billed Gull numbers have just shot up in a very noticeable way (There were over 1000 at the Floyd Bennett Field boat launch at dusk on Sunday, while there were barely 200 there the day before Thanksgiving). Photos of the Le Conte's Sparrow from two days ago (the bird was not seen today, despite coverage starting at sunrise, though with the wind and cold, it could have been hunkered down in a slightly less exposed location.) can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29840397@N08/ The Cassin's Kingbird wasn't seen either, despite some searching, and was also undoubtedly sheltering itself from the unfavorable conditions. -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- 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/ --
