Caspian Tern, Mecox - 17 April 2010

This morning a single CASPIAN TERN and three adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were on the sand flats at Mecox Inlet (Watermill, Suffolk Co) along with a 1000+ Sanderling and usual mix of winter shorebirds. 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS were on muddy extension of Georgica Pond and another was on a rain pool in Springs. The adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL ('Larry') continues at Lazy Point in Napeague and is now fully white headed. Generally there were few signs of landbird migration, however, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS (local FoS's) at Long Pond in Sag Harbor and Bendigo Road in Amagansett were of note. Two SNOWY EGRETS were on Fresh Pond in Amagansett - egrets are still scarce out here and female AMERICAN KESTREL continues off Town Lane.

There was a decent waterfowl flight along the ocean throughout the morning. Unfortunately things were winding down when I stopped to do an hour seawatch from Amagansett (12:58-1:58 pm) but I still tallied the following (2,343 individuals of 12 species) heading east:

Northern Gannet - 118
Common Loon - 107
Red-throated Loon - 74
loon sp. - 14
dark-winged scoter sp. - 890
Black Scoter - 240
Surf Scoter - 260
White-winged Scoter - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 11
Green-winged Teal - 2
duck sp. - 150
Double-crested Cormorant - 463
Great Cormorant - 1 (in with the Dc Corms)
Laughing Gull - 8
RAZORBILL - 3 (2 and then 1 half hour later)

I was seeing skeins of cormorants all morning, most traveling over land rather than water. Out here most flocks cut across the peninsula making a bee-line for New England.

Least Sandpiper and Boat-tailed Grackle on Sag Pond - 4 Apr 2010

There were some nice birds on the exposed sand flats at Sagg Mains in Sagaponack (Suffolk Co.) this morning including 2 LEAST SANDPIPERS, a Piping Plover, a 1st-yr ICELAND GULL, 2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS (a basic-adult and a 3rd yr) and 3 Great Egret.

After a while I was joined by Hugh McGuinness and we soon found a LESSER YELLOWLEGS with 2 Greater Yellowlegs. Among the ducks, a male Lesser Scaup was in company of a female Greater Scaup and a male COMMON MERGANSER lingers. As we continued scanning, the nasal squawking of a male BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE caught our attention. It was striding around on the wet mud singing for attention. The species is very irregular east of Shinnecock Inlet, where they have been fairly scarce this winter. Seeming to sense that it was out of place, the grackle promptly took flight and headed west!

At Mecox Inlet, a different 1st-yr ICELAND GULL (paler wing tips than Sag bird) was on the flat along with 6 Piping Plover. I noticed a number of Red-winged Blackbirds and cowbirds flying west along beach and 2 Horned Larks also went low over the end of the inlet without stopping.

Offshore, the lifting fog revealed a steady push of eastbound waterbirds headlined by skeins of scoter (estim. 2500/hr) and Red-throated Loons (estim. 200/hr). Unfortunately the fog quickly gave way to dazzling sunshine making it difficult to identify anything but the closest birds.

Lastly, Vicki Bustamante reports that the CATTLE EGRET was still present on the south side of Montauk Hwy (Rt. 27) at the western (not eastern as I incorrectly stated yesterday) boundary of Hither Hill State Park. I searched again for the Sandhill Cranes in Sagaponack without success. I've still not seen any Snowy Egrets this far east, nor heard of any Rough-winged Swallow reports.

Eastern Kingbird, Cattle Egret and a fistful of offshore goodies - 3 Apr 2010

There were a scattering of migrants on the South Fork of Long Island today but generally it was typical early April birding, albeit in delightful weather. Bruce Horwith probably tops the billing on land, with an EASTERN KINGBIRD in Shadmoor State Park. The snazzy CATTLE EGRET spent the entire day on the side of Montauk Hwy and was enjoyed by many - a drive by bird if ever there was one! Vicki and Chris Bustamante saw it as late as 5 pm this evening.

In the morning Vicki had an immature WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW on the east side of the Deep Hollow Ranch pond, one of the first reports this far east. I marched several of the trails that cut across Montauk Point finding very little except a lone TURKEY VULTURE and 2 HARLEQUIN DUCKS (ad. and imm. males) off the rocks at the end of the Seal Haul Out Trail. These birds were discovered by Luke Ormand yesterday. Three WILSON’S SNIPE were on the pools at Teddy Roosevelt State Park. Also in Montauk, the LITTLE BLUE HERON continues on Little Reed Pond. Cooper's Hawks seem to be in an amorous mood at the moment with display flights being noted in Camp Hero SP (me), Long Pond (Hugh McGuinness) and along Cranberry Hollow Road (Jorn Ake), where there were also some singing PINE WARBLERS.

However, John Shemilt steals the show with some great pelagic birds seen whilst fishing at the Coimbra wreck, which is 28 nautical due south of Shinnecock Inlet. During the trip they found 1-2 LITTLE GULLS (photographed) mixed in with Boneparte's Gulls, 100 RAZORBILLS, 5+ DOVEKIES (photos), 3 MURRES (likely Common's), and a stunning 25+ ATLANTIC PUFFINS (photos). Clearly there is still plenty of activity off shore!

I've not heard any reports of the Sandhill Cranes from today but apparently two birds were just found on Block Island (fide Shai Mitra via Hugh McGuinness), so perhaps 'our' birds have moved on. Any news that refutes this would be most welcome.

Cattle Egret on Montauk Hwy near Hither Hills State Park - 2 Apr 2010

Luke Ormand just emailed to say that he'd found a CATTLE EGRET feeding in the marshy area on the south side of Montauk Hwy (Route 27), just west of the fork that splits the new Montauk Hwy from Old Montauk Hwy. This is along the stretch of road between the villages of Amagansett and Montauk in Suffolk Co. To my knowledge, there have been no additional sightings of the three Cattle Egret reported by Bob Adamo and Dick Belanger on the eastern shore of Shinnecock Bay near Southampton.

Gannet flight, Little Blue Heron and King Eider - 29 Mar 2010

Although the undoubted stars of the weekend were the confiding SANDHILL CRANES in Sagponack, there were interesting birds to be found elsewhere. The brisk SE winds brought a good inshore flight of NORTHERN GANNETS and scoter heading eastwards throughout the day. The gannets were almost exclusively adults or near-adults, presumably intent on returning to their breeding colonies on Bonaventure Island in Quebec and beyond. I did two, 1-hr seawatches during the day, finding a similar mix of birds in each, but with a slight drop in the flow of gannets and uptick in the numbers of scoter as the day wore on. The first and coldest count was from Amagansett (8:23-9:23 am) and the second from Ditch Plains (1:55-2:55 pm).

Red-throated Loon - 37/54
Common Loon - 2/8
Horned Grebe - 3/4
Northern Gannet - 665/482
Black Scoter - 180/1002
Surf Scoter - 195/770
White-winged Scoter - 22/10
dark-winged scoter - 160/25
Common Eider - 7/36
Long-tailed Duck - 6/2
Red-breasted Merganser - 2/22
RAZORBILL - 2/0
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - 1 (ad.)/0

Other birds of note were an adult LITTLE BLUE HERON at Little Reed Pond in Montauk, a female KING EIDER off Gin Beach in Montauk, 8 PURPLE SANDPIPERS on the jetties at Montauk Inlet, a TURKEY VULTURE over the south end of Accabonac Harbor in Springs and the adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at Lazy Point in Napeague, which I thought had departed (not seen over previous 2+ weeks) until Anthony Collerton's reported it again on Saturday.

Sandhill Crane, Little Blue Heron, Red-necked Grebe - 27 Mar 2010

The 2 SANDHILL CRANES (seemingly a male and female pair) were in the cornfield off Daniel's Lane in Sagapoback, just SE of Bridgehampton. This field is between Fairfield Pond Ln and Gibson Ln.

I took a quick look at a few East Hampton (Suffolk Co.) spots this chilly afternoon. Highlights were a splendid adult LITTLE BLUE HERON on the marsh at Landing Lane in Accabonac Harbor (could this be Vicki Bustamante's Montauk bird?) plus a Great Egret and a Greater Yellowlegs. A male PIPING PLOVER was hunkered down on the outer beach at Gerard Point. The wintering shorebird flock around the inlet included 8 Black-bellied Plover, 45+ Ruddy Turnstone, 20+ Dunlin and a few Sanderlings. A good number of oystercatcher (16+) and Osprey (7+) seem settled into the harbor area.

A quick seawatch from Atlantic Ave in Amagansett produced a RED-NECKED GREBE, growing numbers of Red-throated Loons (76++) and small numbers of the usual winter stuff.

Sandhill Cranes in Sagaponack - 27 Mar 2010

This morning Peter Matthiessen (fide Hugh McGuinness) found two SANDHILL CRANES on a corn field along Daniel's Lane in Sagaponack. This field is between Fairfield Pond Rd and Gibson Lane. They had disappeared within an hour or two but some searching we refound them roosting on the narrow spit at the south end of Sagg Pond. This is visible from the town beach parking lot at the south end of the pond. Between naps, the cranes were actively chasing Great Black-backed Gulls. These are presumably the pair that were seen and photographed last weekend by Evan Marks.

Also on the pond are the two adult TUNDRA SWANS (getting late) and an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Some 27 teal (presumably all Green-winged Teal) were in the cove near the cranes. An adult BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON was working the edge of the pond. Five COMMON MERGANSERS were on the pond, north of Bridge Lane.

No PIPING PLOVERS were evident at Sagg (just 10+ Killdeer) but 5 were at Mecox Inlet.