Having struck out on the Jamaica Bay Barrow's Goldeneye 2 weekends ago, I decided to venture a little less far from home, and instead took a chance on the annual visitor up in Bayville, despite a total lack of reports over the last several weeks regarding its whereabouts. The trip up to the north shore paid off with nice scope views of the drake Barrow's within 100 yards of shore off Centre Island. It took some patience and effort to spot though. It was not among the Common Goldeneyes visible from the sandy beach west of the entrance to Centre Island. But luckily the tide was dropping, allowing me to walk east along the rocky beach at the base of the seawall. This vantage point offered views farther east on the Sound which is where the Barrow's was swimming, accompanied by a single female COGO. The pair, initially farther offshore than the rafts of COGOs, eventually joined up with them. I spent at least 45 minutes watching the BAGO dive for food, preen for an extended period, and just swim about. There was little else of note on the Sound other than scattered small flocks of Greater Scaup.
A short visit to nearby Shu Swamp Preserve yielded 2 Rusty Blackbirds perched high in a Tulip poplar, a Winter Wren, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Jones Beach west end was generally quiet, with no Lapland Longspurs or extraordinary gulls found. But I was treated to the spectacle of a flock containing over 1000 Dunlin (and several Sanderling) as it alternatively carpeted the beach and jetty near Jones Inlet, or wheeled in unison through the sky whenever the birds were spooked by people walking the beach. I captured some video I'll be uploading later here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgluth_brb/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
