2 States, 2 Life Birds, All Before Lunch

We twitched today.

We were up early and on the road before 7, heading up to Stamford, CT, hoping that the Fork-tailed Flycatcher that had been there since Wednesday was still around. It was. We, along with about 20 other birders got fantastic looks at this extreme rarity. Anytime this bird lands in North America it is news, since it is native to Central and South America. Always a mystery how a bird like this so far away from "home" winds up where it does. Why did the Western Reef-Heron decide to land in Coney Island Creek among the abandoned barges and industrial detritus a few years back? Who knows, but it was worth tramping through a homeless encampment to see it.

Cove Island Park where we went this morning has perfect habitat for this bird a grassy field with scattered bushes, but so do hundreds of other places along the east coast. Well, as Myron Cohen used to say, "Everybody's got to be someplace."

We arrived at 7:45 and by 7:46 we were "on" the bird thanks to a one of the park stewards who had set up a scope at the entrance of the field. Hundreds of birders since Wednesday have made the trip to see this bird; I asked the steward what was the farthest anyone had come and he said he wasn't sure but it was probably Las Vegas. He said they'd had birders from 17 states. That made coming from Brooklyn seem like not such a schlep.

We walked around a looping path that took us farther into the field where there were about 10 other birds with their scopes and high-powered cameras. Shari was able to get some pretty good shots of this very active bird.
It looks like an Eastern Kingbird with a very long tail

Displaying forked tail
Photos by Shari Zirlin

The "bonus" bird of the trip was a flock of about 20 Monk Parakeets flying around. I heard them screeching then saw them land in a distant tree. Later, as we leaving they were all line up a telephone wire.

Feeders are also set up, so some of the usual seed-eating birds were present, along with gulls, geese, and cormorants around the water of Long Island sound.
Cove Island Park
Number of species:    15

Canada Goose    20    F/O 2 flocks
Double-crested Cormorant    20    On rock in water
Ring-billed Gull    20    Parking lot
Herring Gull    20    Parking lot
Mourning Dove    4
Monk Parakeet    20    Sitting on wires at entrance
Fork-tailed Flycatcher    1     
Black-capped Chickadee    3   Feeders
White-breasted Nuthatch    1    Feeders
European Starling    50    Flock at entrance
Song Sparrow    1    Feeders
Northern Cardinal    3    Feeders. Female chased FTFC at one point. 
House Finch    2    Feeders
American Goldfinch    5    Feeders
House Sparrow    5   

After about an hour we were satisfied with our looks we decided to go to Jones Beach on Long Island. A Northern Shrike had been reported there for a while and we needed that bird too. No traffic to speak of and we got there around 9:45. Problem: I had read that the bird was seen at the Roosevelt Nature Center, but that's a pretty big area so after stopping at the parking lot and looking on the swale, we decided to look elsewhere for birds and return later. We birded the median, hoping for some of the crossbills that had been reported, but I knew that was a mug's game. We stopped by the boat basin near the Coast Guard Station and were rewarded with great looks at a  White-winged Scoter and a Black Scoter, both hens. Unusual to see them so close and in relatively calm water. Usually you have to snatch looks at these ducks on the swells of waves.  Shari's favorite, another catcher, American Oystercatcher, was out on a distant sandbar.


Then we returned to the nature center, planning to walk on the boardwalk that extends into the dunes. As we were walking in the parking lot another birder did a sing-songy, "I saw a shri-i-ke."  Bad form I thought, but he did tell us where to look on the boardwalk. When we got there we saw another birder who told us that, of course, the bird had flown off about 15 minutes before. 


We decided to walk the loop that boardwalk makes, figuring the bird had been around for so long that it was unlikely that it had said its farewells 15 minutes ago. Halfway around the loop I spotted a white figure sitting on a boardwalk post. Miraculously, I was able to immediately get the scope on the bird and there it was, Northern Shrike, like a bulky, masked mockingbird. I got Shari on the bird and then it flew down into the grass. We walked back to where it had dived down and found the bird again, this time for long periods where were able to study it. Another birder came by after we had lost it again and pointed out that now it was behind us, so we were able to check it out further. So, second life bird for the morning. This is like being in Texas or Arizona. 
Then, we ate lunch.
Jones Beach

Number of species:    25
Brant    50    West End Boat Basin
Canada Goose    30    Feeding on median
White-winged Scoter    1    WEBB
Black Scoter    1    WEBB
Red-breasted Merganser    8    WEBB
Double-crested Cormorant    50    WEBB
Great Blue Heron    4    WEBB
Northern Harrier    3    Roosevelt Nature Center
American Oystercatcher    2    WEBB
Ring-billed Gull    100
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    20
Rock Pigeon    50
Mourning Dove    1    Roosevelt Nature Center
Downy Woodpecker    2    Median
Northern Shrike    1    Boardwalk of Roosevelt Nature Center
American Crow    3
Tree Swallow    6    F/O Roosevelt Nature Center
White-breasted Nuthatch    1    Median
Northern Mockingbird    1    Roosevelt Nature Center
Yellow-rumped Warbler    2    Median
Dark-eyed Junco    2    Median
Red-winged Blackbird    3    Median
House Finch    4    Roosevelt Nature Center

American Goldfinch 11

House Sparrow    7    WEBB

A quick stop at Point Lookout yielded about 110 Common Eiders and nothing else we hadn't seen before.