Virginia Rail at Little Reed Pond, Montauk - 19 April 2009

The birding was pretty slow today on the South Fork of Long Island (Suffolk Co.) - lovely weather but the wind was from the east shift to the south in the afternoon. The three major ponds (Mecox, Sagaponack and Georgica) are full to the brim and essentially birdless. Anyone good with a shovel? An adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWK on Daniel's Lane and an AMERICAN KESTREL nearby were the only birds of note in that area.

Out at Montauk, a confiding GLOSSY IBIS was on the small ponds at Teddy Roosevelt County Park (aka Third House). There have been a few sightings this month from the Montauk area, including four ibis seen yesterday evening by Vicki Bustamante alongside Rt 27 at the eastern end of the Napeague stretch. Three WILSON'S SNIPE were also at TRCP. At Little Reed Pond off East Lake Drive there was no sign of the Little Blue Heron seen as recently as Saturday, but I did get fabulous views of a VIRGINIA RAIL which flew across a ditch in front of me and then proceeded to walk around in fairly open vegetation. Three female-type HOODED MERGANSER continue on Little Reed. A couple of PALM WARBLERS were mixed in with a flock of 40 or so YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS.

Along the ocean beach there was a modest flight of seaduck and loons (see 1 hour count below). As is typical at this time of year, Green-winged Teal and other non-ocean duck were mixed in with the scoter. For the record, I've also included a seawatch count from Saturday evening. It is interesting that Laughing Gulls are still passing offshore, I raise this because I haven't seen that many reports from further west.

**Hither Hills State Park (19 April 09, 12:55-13:55)**
American Black Duck - 6
Green-winged Teal - 34
Greater Scaup - 1
Surf Scoter - 610
White-winged Scoter - 20
Black Scoter - 195
scoter sp. - 320
Long-tailed Duck - 8
Red-throated Loon - 54
Common Loon - 49
loon sp. - 2
Horned Grebe - 1
Northern Gannet - 30
Double-crested Cormorant- 49
Black-bellied Plover - 6
Laughing Gull - 2
Ring-billed Gull - 5
Herring Gull - 20
Great Black-backed Gull - 10

**Atlantic Avenue Beach, Amagansett (18 April 09, 17:20-18:20)**
Anas duck sp. - 2
Surf Scoter - 385
White-winged Scoter - 3
Black Scoter - 585
scoter sp. - 590
Long-tailed Duck - 8
Red-throated Loon - 12
Common Loon - 9
Northern Gannet - 132
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Laughing Gull - 3
Ring-billed Gull -15
Great Black-backed Gull - 9
gull sp. - 50