Tripper Paul, Doug Gochfeld and I spent the morning seawatching from Riis Park Beach in Queens. The wind was 25mph+ from the ENE and even the light rain was stinging. Eventually the wind started to shift more northerly and the avian diversity diminished. The sea was intense and as soon as it was light enough to see clearly it was evident there were large numbers of Double-crested Cormorants and Northern Gannets moving. Gulls picked up quickly and the Jaegers weren't far behind. We didn't have the rain that sites further east had and our visibility was good for the first few hours.
Highlights included: 3 Common Eider 1 Harlequin Duck (flying east inside the breakers) 6 Long-tailed Duck All 3 scoter sp 15 Greater Scaup 8 Parasitic Jaeger 3 Black-legged Kittiwake (1 adult, 2 juv.) 14 Bonaparte's Gull 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 Caspian Tern 2 Black Tern 110 Forster's Tern 44 Royal Tern 642 Northern Gannet 3 Great Cormorant 2958 Double-crested Cormorant (huge groups moving west) Viewing conditions grew more difficult as the day progressed. The swell size grew considerably and as the tide came in water was coming over the boardwalk and washing up to our feet. An eBird checklist with some images can be viewed at this link: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49493137 Good birding, Sean Sime Brooklyn, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
