A few stops around Brooklyn this morning during the heaviest rain/wind turned up some decent birds. Floyd Bennett Field's runways were heavily flooded and as expected, hundreds of gulls and some shorebirds were roosting. The flocks held 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 23 Black-bellied Plover, 11 Sanderling, 4 American Oystercatchers and a few Killdeer calling from the grasslands. An Eastern Meadowlark was vocal between the rain squalls as well.
Stops around Gravesend Bay turned up surprising numbers of Bonaparte's Gulls. 163 at the Middle Lot off the eastbound Belt Parkway and 940 roosting on the southernmost ballfields at Drier Offerman. After about 30 minutes of scoping the flock the sun came out and the birds departed into Gravesend Bay. No rarer small gulls were located during that time. 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/ --
