The exceptionally calm conditions on Sunday made for excellent viewing of waterbirds on Gardiner's Bay, the outer portion of the Peconic Estuary and situated between the south and north forks of Long Island (Suffolk Co). Scanning from various vantage points between Hog Creek in Springs and Montauk Inlet (<20 miles of bay front), I tallied close to 6,000 waterbirds including 724 RED-THROATED, 489 COMMON LOONS, 128 HORNED GREBES, 58 GANNETS and 125 RAZORBILLS. The rest were predominantly scoter (white-winged and Surf) and Long-tailed Duck.
It would be interesting to know how far up into the Peconic Bay the Razorbills have percolated (Riverhead birders could perhaps address this) and unless the conditions change, I'd predict hefty cumulative tallies from the upcoming LI and coastal CT CBCs. In addition to OK numbers of Razorbills at Montauk Point, small numbers were noted on the ocean side of the peninsula on Saturday and thus seem widespread. The influx of Horned Grebes in the past few days was noticeable, having seen fewer than 20 at these same sites the week before. At two spots I witnessed an usual flocking behavior (also noted by Hugh McGuinness and Peter Polshek in Fort Pond Bay, Montauk) of tight flocks of more than 20 grebes fishing in unison, much like miniature cormorants. When seen from a distance, the identity of these fast diving birds may not be immediately clear. Among the commoner species I noted 5 RED-NECKED GREBES, three on Fort Pond Bay, one off Culloden Point and another at Montauk Inlet, where an adult ICELAND GULL has been frequenting the jetties. Three BALD EAGLES continue to frolic over Gardiner's Island (present since 19 Nov). On Sunday the adult was relentlessly chasing the two immature birds up and down the Cartwright [sand] Shoals. I'm not aware of any Brown Pelican sightings from this weekend. Interestingly, despite counting close to 5,000 waterbirds on Sunday (and many more in the preceding couple of weeks) I've yet to see a single Common Goldeneye in my wandering around the South Fork this season. They always seem to be among the last arrivals of the commoner waterfowl, usually close to or just after the arrival of Horned Grebes. I'm aware of a handful of reports from the North Fork already and from western Long Island. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- 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/ --
