Yesterday I had a rare chance to come to Long Island for work. I didn't have much time but for an hour before sunset I walked the very windy, rainy and chilly beach from Parking lot 3 at Robert Moses.
Immediately one can see many NORTHERN GANNETS flying around high and low and many were dive bombing the rough surf. Some were close and some far, most birds were adults. For an upstater, like me this was really cool. I estimated at least 60 Gannets from my view but there were undoubtedly more. Since it was so windy, and the seas were very rough, with large waves, and rain visibility wasn't that great. I was able to ID one flock of BLACK SCOTERS which flew by pretty close. I saw a few others distant but could not distinguish between black or surf. There were also several COMMON LOONS riding the waves. In the parking lot there was a nice adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. https://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/26176182941/in/dateposted-public/ Dave Nicosia -- 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/ --