This morning I visited Dune Road with the intention of birding from Shinnecock Inlet (SI) to Moriches Inlet (MI). On the way down to SI I observed a number of flocks of Robins feeding on berries of Red Cedar and various ornamental evergreens. At 47 Dune Road a drab Pine Warbler put in a brief appearance in the pines before disappearing on the south side of the road. As I headed past Docker’s Restaurant there were two utility poles snapped in two, presumably from the previous day’s storm. A convoy of utility trucks quickly appeared to effect repairs and the road was closed off. Oh well, back west to MI. At Cupsogue a westerly scan of the beach revealed hundreds of large gulls on the beach and in the water (there was a minor Surf Clam wash-up) - by far the most gulls I have seen this winter. Despite the numbers, the variety was nothing special. A first winter Iceland Gull was on the MI east jetty and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the sandbar in the interior of the inlet. Shorebirds included single Ruddy Turnstone and Red Knot. Harbor Seals were in good number on the sandbar as well. A trip back east on Dune Road in the early afternoon had the road still closed off. I stopped at Eastport Pond and Patchogue Lake where waterfowl numbers were down from my last visits in early January and nothing of particular interest was observed, although it was nice to see both Redhead and Canvasback together on Patchogue Lake.
Good Birding, Ken Feustel -- 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/ --
