[nysbirds-l] West End/Jones Beach and Vicinity (Nassau Co.)
It was, to say the least , an interesting day on the barrier beach. Early morning was uneventful - the Marbled Godwit was still present on Meadow Island on the north side of Jones Inlet, later seen on the bar inside the marina. A Royal Tern was calling as it flew around Jones Inlet by the boat basin. A flock of some fifty Tree Swallows were catching insects between the TR Nature Center and WE2, but no Cave Swallow. Small numbers of Pine Siskins and Goldfinch were moving down the beach as well as small numbers of accipiters. Sue and I went to Zach's Bay to see what was around. Upon entering the picnic area we quickly observed a medium sized lemon yellow bird with white wingbars that I carelessly identified as a Western Tanager. In what turned out to be a very bad identification, arriving birders quickly stated that the bird was an oriole. However, it was not a Baltimore Oriole (at least I got that right). The feeling of the group was that the bird was an Orchard Oriole (I know, I know this is extremely late for this species perhaps being a record late date). We also discussed the possibility of Hooded Oriole, but the tail seemed to short, the plumage of the bird seemed too colorful for Hooded Oriole. Unfortunately I have no experience in comparing the two orioles in this plumage. To this end I photographed the bird and pictures can be found at: www.flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/5172431979/in/photostream Feel free to weigh in on the identification. I am new to photo sharing, if you are having trouble viewing the pictures I probably did (or didn't) do something I should have done. In calling a number of birders about the "oriole" I had interrupted their visit down to West End where two Red Crossbill's had been reported. After mulling over the oriole id most of us headed down to the median west of the large poplar tree at WE and quickly came across a young male White-winged Crossbill feeding in a Japanese Black Pine just west of the poplar tree. Ken Feustel -- 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] West End/Jones Beach and Vicinity (Nassau Co.)
It was, to say the least , an interesting day on the barrier beach. Early morning was uneventful - the Marbled Godwit was still present on Meadow Island on the north side of Jones Inlet, later seen on the bar inside the marina. A Royal Tern was calling as it flew around Jones Inlet by the boat basin. A flock of some fifty Tree Swallows were catching insects between the TR Nature Center and WE2, but no Cave Swallow. Small numbers of Pine Siskins and Goldfinch were moving down the beach as well as small numbers of accipiters. Sue and I went to Zach's Bay to see what was around. Upon entering the picnic area we quickly observed a medium sized lemon yellow bird with white wingbars that I carelessly identified as a Western Tanager. In what turned out to be a very bad identification, arriving birders quickly stated that the bird was an oriole. However, it was not a Baltimore Oriole (at least I got that right). The feeling of the group was that the bird was an Orchard Oriole (I know, I know this is extremely late for this species perhaps being a record late date). We also discussed the possibility of Hooded Oriole, but the tail seemed to short, the plumage of the bird seemed too colorful for Hooded Oriole. Unfortunately I have no experience in comparing the two orioles in this plumage. To this end I photographed the bird and pictures can be found at: www.flickr.com/photos/kfeustel/5172431979/in/photostream Feel free to weigh in on the identification. I am new to photo sharing, if you are having trouble viewing the pictures I probably did (or didn't) do something I should have done. In calling a number of birders about the oriole I had interrupted their visit down to West End where two Red Crossbill's had been reported. After mulling over the oriole id most of us headed down to the median west of the large poplar tree at WE and quickly came across a young male White-winged Crossbill feeding in a Japanese Black Pine just west of the poplar tree. Ken Feustel -- 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/ --
