Sorry for the very late post. Yesterday, I started on the late side in Riverhead, by covering Merritt Pond for John McNeil's section of the Water Fowl Census. The highlight being 7 Snow Geese, 3 of which were blue morphs, I adult & 2 juveniles. I then headed to the Buffalo Farm and missed again on the Yellow-headed Blackbird. I did however find an adult Iceland Gull (w/dark wing tips) at Iron Pier Beach in Jamesport.
Next up was Dune Rd., east to Shinnicock Inlet and then west to the Beach Rd. Bridge. After reading about Ken Feustel's bountiful A.M. down there, all I can say is that my much leaner P.M. (including the fierce winds) could only come up with1 of the species he found, King Eider. I had 2 females in the inlet, which was where most of all the other ducks were congregated. The area, just w/o the inlet (where they normally have been for weeks) was just to rough, even by their hardy standards. It was here that the above "saga" occurred, but please indulge me, for leaving it till last. I then drove to the Calverton Grasslands, where I saw the following: an adult male N. Harrier; an adult male Merlin; a pair of E. Bluebirds; 14 E. Meadowlarks and 16 Savannah Sparrows. Ending the day at nearby Hulse Landing Rd., Wading River, I found the harvested field on the e/s, between Rt. 25A and the electric transmission lines, loaded with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. The time was ~ 4 to 4:45 P.M., it was snowing, getting dark and the birds were constantly feeding/ moving. A rough count would be 50 + for both species, with a few Savannahs thrown in. I couldn't come up with a longspur, but the prospect of earlier on a future day, looks promising ! Getting back to Shinnicock Inlet, after checking the birds in the inlet, I noticed something moving in the yellow-green "sea foam' that covered at least 50' of the sand, from the roiling water inward. What I saw blew my mind ! A male Long-tailed Duck, had, I assume, been in the water very close to shore (along with a few other Long-tails still there) and had been blown in with the foam, to a spot where the only part of it's body sticking out of the "goo" was it's head. When I first saw the bird it was heading n/e toward the w/breakwater, and after a huge effort, finally got itself out from under the foam, and by the time it reached the rocks, most of the foam had been blown off. It then went out of sight for a good 2 minutes, and fearing for it's successful breeching of the rocks (either by hopping or flying) I asked another observer (Mike Banner from Bellport and his friend, whose name I didn't get) to join me, in checking on the status of the bird. We found it wedged between 2 crevices and hopelessly flailing it's wings. Mike, a much younger man than myself, volunteered, by jumping into the void and wiggling the Long-tail free. After it calmed down, Mike walked closer to the water and tossed it into the air, whereupon the bird flew down to the water and proceeded to swim away toward the flock. Mike & I felt good about our rolls in this saga, and also in the possibility of Mike (and maybe his friend ) checking out ELIAS' next Audubon meeting ! Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
