Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, 08/30/2009: Both the East and West ponds were rather quiet this morning, especially the latter with nothing of interest save a few Blue-winged Teal and a very large Cooper's Hawk.
The East pond was dominated by Lesser Yellowlegs but the overall quantity of individual shorebirds was disappointingly low. The highlight of the trip, however, were extremely close views of both American Avocets feeding together towards the middle of the pond. (I won't say how close we were to the (undisturbed) Avocets, lest we get scolded by the Distance Police). Other notables on the East pond were 2 White-rumped Sandpipers, a single Short-billed Dowitcher, several Stilt Sandpipers, a Black Tern roosting on the island, and an adult Little Blue Heron. Try as we might, the Sora did NOT make an appearance for us. >From 9AM to 1PM, we only came across about 4 other birders. Glenn Quinn Antonio Quinn Hauppauge, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Temporary archive: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
