Hoping that the rain both grounded some migrating shorebirds, as well as creating lots of habitat, I birded a couple of spots in Brooklyn this morning amid the intermittent drizzle. Floyd Bennett Field held possibly more shorebirds than I've ever seen there, although they were scattered all over the place with the plethora of habitat from which to chose. They also started re-shuffling once human activity picked up around 7:00 AM. Possibly the most interesting shorebird there was one that got away (as is usually the case), a bird flying with 2 Black-bellied Plovers that was long-winged, but obviously smaller and slimmer than those two, and not as small as a Semipalmated Plover. Of course it flew all the way to the southwest gaining altitude until it disappeared from view. Other than that a Pectoral Sandpiper at Calvert Vaux (nee Dreier Offerman) Park was probably the species highlight.
Totals/Highlights follow: Floyd Bennett Field: Semipalmated Plover- 427 Black-bellied Plover- 31 Least Sandpiper- 18 Semipalmated Sandpiper- 44 Sanderling- 5 (my first ever at this location) Killdeer- 7 Bobolink- 4 flyovers Brooklyn Golf Driving Range: Black-bellied Plover- 12 Short-billed Dowitcher- 2 Killdeer- 2 Dreier-Offerman/Calvert Vaux Park: Pectoral Sandpiper- 1 (apparent dull juvenile, it flew off to the north shortly after I arrived) Semipalmated Plover- 31 Least Sandpiper- 4 Semipalmated Sandpiper- 2 Killdeer- 9 Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- 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/ --
