Three of the four 2012 Christmas Counts I participated in were done in the rain, so being able to spend a full day (7:45-4:20) birding in good weather was a pleasure. I began at Belmont Lake State Park Park, where the Barnacle Goose was a no-show. But a CACKLING GOOSE and a few COMMON MERGANSERS were present, as were an additional 8 FOY species for me, including Coot, Brown Creeper, and Belted Kingfisher.
Brief searches for the Barnacle Goose at St. Charles Cemetery and for a useful view of Colonial Springs Golf Course through the trees at the north edge of Wellwood Cemetery were both unsuccessful, but a MERLIN at Wellwood eased the pain a bit. I next drove up to Huntington for the Tufted Duck. I searched the south end of the harbor from both east and west sides for over an hour, hitting all of the bird's reported haunts, but it was MIA. Then I headed out to Calverton. Heading east on the Long Island Expressway a TURKEY VULTURE soared overhead between exits 68 and 69. Once in Calverton I spent 2 hours searching for the 3 rarer sparrow species recently reported as seen along the power line cut toward the north end of Hulse Landing Road. The Clay-colored eluded me, but I eventually saw 3 VESPER SPARROWS and 1-2 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. All 3 Vespers flew up out of the Brussels sprout patch closest to the road, perched for a while together in the adjacent hedgerow, then flew up to the treetops and eventually off to the north. A few small groups of Horned Larks flew over during the 2 hours. A check of the nearby radar field on the north side of Route 25 did not turn up any hoped-for Meadowlarks, but there were 3 N. Harriers--1 adult male, 1 adult female, and 1 immature. There were 7 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS along the EPCAL southern boundary fence across from Line Road. I finished up at Eastport Pond. The southern 3/4 of the pond was frozen, but there was enough open water at the north end to harbor several hundred Lesser Scaup, among which were 4 CANVASBACKS (2 males, 2 females), and at least 3 REDHEADS (2 males, 1 female). The most interesting (and unexpected) bird present though was a first-winter (full black tail band) LAUGHING GULL. It was first seen standing on the ice near a Ring-billed Gull half way out on the pond, then eventually flew out toward the edge of the ice. -- 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/ --
