Last night we tallied 69 nighthawks at the Watch with the highlight being a kettle of 51 birds passing over at about 7:30 p.m. There must have been a large insect hatch off the two ponds because for over an hour several dozen laughing gulls fed actively over the area, acting very "nighthawkish" with a group of several dozen chimney swifts joining them. At the end three bats, presumably little brown bats, joined the feeding frenzy.
John Turner *Directions to Stone Bridge Nighthawk Watch: *Take the Long Island Expressway to Exit 62 (Nicolls Road). Take Nicolls Road north to the end where it joins State Route 25A in a T-intersection (you'll go past signs to Stony Brook University and go under the LIRR trestle right before the intersection). Make a right on SR 25A heading east for just a few hundred yards. Make a left at the next light, heading north on Main Street. Take this to the end passing through three stop signs) At the fourth stop sign look left and you'll see the stone bridge, in front of you is a post office. Make a right and park in one of the many parking spots lining the south side of the road. -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
