After spending the morning helping out at the joint QWR/ELIAS Annual Seed Sale, I decided to spend part of this beautiful afternoon looking for the beautiful drake Harlequin Duck which had been reported previously from Orient Point.
Passing through the Northville part of Riverhead, I had 4 Turkey Vultures, and single Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks flying over the same field. Re: T.V's., for the last month or so, I have seen singular birds on 4-5 occasions, while driving the North Fork...with one notable for circling over the lower Traffic Circle in Riverhead. A while back we had a lone T.V. working the North Fork, which hung around so long that someone named it "Lonesome George" - could this be the sequel ? Arriving at the point, the harlequin was not to be found, however, I did get FOS Great Cormorant and C. Eider. I then tried looking for the duck at nearby Orient State Park, but with the same results. I must admit to feeling a certain amount of chagrin and embarrassment, when I read on this list-serve that Hank Bohne and Jody Levin had seen the bird at this location, this afternoon ! This past Thursday, at mid-afternoon, I found a "funny" goose among a flock of canadas on the s/s of Northville Turnpike, between Doctor's Path & Route 105, Riverhead. At first blush it looked like a Greater White-fronted Goose, but it was too big...the size of a large Canada. At no time did I see it's leg color. It had a brown head & neck, not much white at base of bill, with a light colored bill. I believe I did see the appropriate colors & markings on it's underside, wings, and tail. Heavy rain then caused me to suspend further observations until the next day. Returning Friday morning, I found most of the flock still there, with the "funny" goose among them. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything new before the flock was spooked and scattered. I tried again in the afternoon, in addition to this morning, but no flock/bird. After checking a number of field guides, the bird I saw is best illustrated in National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fourth Edition, and labeled as Anser albifrons elgasi, the larger race of Greater White-fronted Goose. I realize the odds lean toward "funny" being a hybrid, but I'm hoping that somebody can catch up with it this season and solve the mystery...at least to leg color ! 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/ --
