We have completed our birding trip along the southern Long Island shore and a few other spots on Long Island, and I'm pleased to report that we did indeed see and photograph RED KNOTS at Jones Beach West End on Friday, 6/10. We saw 15 individuals, 13 in full breeding plumage and two more that had salmon-colored spots on their otherwise grayish breasts. I'm guessing that these were immature birds.
We returned at low tide on Saturday morning, 6/11, in hopes that the birds would be closer or that we could walk out to wherever they were at that point, but the Red Knots were gone. However, we did find the shrubs along the trails in this area to be loaded with BROWN THRASHERS—they were as common as the robins. Just FYI, we also visited the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area on Saturday morning, where we had excellent, close views of a singing SEASIDE SPARROW, a life bird for both of us. I don't know if this is already well known, but a conservationist onsite told us that these sparrows like to sit up on bare snags along the trail on the east side of the refuge (the side nearest the golf course). We found one right where she said they would be—if you line up with the red flag on the golf course, you're in the right place. Thank you all for your thoughts and advice in helping us find the birds we needed. Your assistance was invaluable! Just a note to all the people who offered us their own photos of the birds: Thanks so much for your generous offers! As Nic's name as photographer is on the cover of all of our books and other work, we need to make certain that at least 98% of what we use is his—and, ideally, 100%. Should we really not be able to take a decent photo of our own, however, it's good to know that there are local sources to whom we can turn. As you know, shorebird photography can be dicey because of distance, even with a camera and lens combination that can shoot 1000mm. We'll be back in the fall to shoot winter loons, scoters and eider. All the best until then. Good birding, Randi and Nic Minetor Author and photographer 585-737-3449 mobile [email protected] www.minetor.com See my Author Page on Amazon -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
