I was trying to catch up with some winter species in breeding plumage today, with Red-necked Grebe priority one. I wasn't sure what would still be around in the areas I hit a few weeks ago, as it isn't Center of the Universe Park and there aren't updates every ten minutes. As it was, the ones at Cold Spring Harbor were gone and none were in Huntington Harbor. It wasn't looking good, but I tried Oyster Bay for one more north shore stop. There I found 6 individuals in the vicinity of the long pier (southwest part of the bay). None were really close, but getting long distance shots with 4 individuals in the field of view was cool. I don't know if I'll ever do that again. I need to update the web page and I've been wanting to put up a Red-necked Grebe, so here's I picture I held in reserve http://www.stevewalternature.com/ .
There are still a lot of (triple digits) Long-tailed Ducks in Oyster Bay, many of them in breeding plumage. But they too only provided long range flock shots. Then it was down to Jones Beach to work on the Horned Grebes in the boat basin. Like the Red-necked Grebes, they were in varying stages. There are two or three in the area with extensive color, with one absolutely stunning individual in complete breeding plumage. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- 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/ --
