Yesterday in the Bronx, the highlights from my Van Cortlandt bird walk included *Orange-crowned Warbler* and *Linclon Sparrow*, both seen in the restoration area, which is located behind the Van Cortlandt Mansion and Museum. After my walk, I did a six hour ground and pound at Pelham Bay, which did not return much, but it was fun exploring new habitat. Highlights there were the resident *Monk Parakeets*, 2 *Blue-headed Vireos*and about 250 *Pine Siskins*, seen near Twin Island feeding on the seeds of *Purple Loosestrife*.
Today at Jones Beach this morning there was some spill over of the massive flight of Pine Siskins reported by Shai Mitra this morning from Robert Moses. When I finally left West End for Point Lookout, I had a count of at least 4500. *Purple Finches* and *Goldfinches* were in good numbers as well with smaller flocks of Cedar Waxwings and Yellow-rumped Warblers also in the mix as well. I should note that with the exception of some YRWA, most of these birds kept on going. There were very few Sparrows around at West End: of note was one juvenile *White-crowned Sparrow* seen in the median and one *Vesper Sparrow* that was found by Doug Futumya near the snow fence (on the east side) at Field Two. At Point Lookout, I found one *American Golden-Plover* resting with 23 Black-belied Plovers in the parking lot. Another round at Jones Beach coinciding with the high tide turned up a few notables on the bar across from the Coast Guard Station, including 58 *Black Skimmers*, 238 *American Oystercatchers* and 8 *Royal Terns*. Later this afternoon at Jamaica Bay on the East Pond. Highlights included 4 *Pectoral Sandpipers*, 2 *Stilt Sandpipers* (in basic plumage), 1 *Long-billed Dowitcher* and 2 *White-rumped Sandpipers*. One of which was a really neat looking juvenile, showing very scaly upper-parts with contrasting rufous upper scapulars. Miscellaneous - a phone call earlier in the day to Eric Miller who was covering Alley Pond revealed that he had found a *Grasshopper Sparrow* (a good one for Queens). The bird was seen near the North Western corner of the soccer field near the upper parking lot. Good October Birding! Andrew Baksh Queens, NY www.birdingdude.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/ --
