Today we drove out to Long Island to bird with our good friend Rick. We originally planned to hit Robert Moses (and who wouldn't want to hit Robert Moses?) State Park, but when a Common Ground Dove plus a Western Kingbird were still being reported in nearby Captree State Park, we headed there first.
The latest posts on line had the dove on the northern part of the southern parking lot. After a wrong turn in what turned out to be the north parking lot where a classic car show was going full throttle, we found a relatively empty parking lot. We really weren't sure if that was the right place until a local birder drove up. He confirmed that we were in the north part of the south parking lot but to paraphrase Dr John, "We were in the right place, but it was the wrong time." After hearing that the bird could be anyplace in the expansive dunes and that finding it required patience (a quality of which I am in very short supply) we decided to move along.
I had read that someone had counted 750 Pine Siskins at Robert Moses a few days ago. We saw one. On the other hand, you only need to see one. We walked along the boardwalk, past the lighthouse and into the federal part of Fire Island and along the way picked up a few birds, the most notable of which, besides the lone siskin, were Northern Gannets dive plunging over the ocean, a small flock of Sanderlings (always amusing, like little wind-up toys) and while we were on the hawkwatch platform, 1 Northern Harrier, which, much to the dismay of the official counter he couldn't count because it didn't fly over his head. While we were thinking about how dumb that rule seemed, Rick checked his Blackberry and saw on NYS Birds that at the Jones Beach Coast Guard station lots of interesting birds were being reported. To which I responded, "Then what the *%#!! are we doing here?"
Robert Moses State Park
Number of species: 16
Brant 50
Northern Gannet 5
Double-crested Cormorant 30
Northern Harrier 1
Sanderling 15
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Northern Flicker 2
American Crow 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 1
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 1
We drove the length of Jones Beach Island lickety-split and arrived and the west end in time to find (all in one scope view) a Marbled Godwit surrounded by a flock of American Oystercatchers with 2 Willets off to the side and a Royal Tern in the foreground. Now that's birding! A Common Loon was diving just off the sandbar on which all these birds stood. And it was a good thing we got there when we did, because about 15 minutes later some total moron let his big black dog off the leash on that sandbar and scattered all the birds every which way. Goodbye godwit, goodbye tern, goodbye oystercatchers. What a schmuck!
Also, at the top of an antenna at the Coast Guard station was a Peregrine Falcon, presumably waiting for everyone to leave so he could lunch on one of the many pigeons grazing obliviously on the lawn.
Jones Beach State Park
Number of species: 18
Brant 500
Canada Goose 100
Common Loon 1
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Peregrine Falcon 1
American Oystercatcher 50
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Willet 2
Marbled Godwit 1
Laughing Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Royal Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 5
Another birder there told us that an American Golden Plover had been reported at Point Lookout just across the inlet. Now I was pretty certain that we'd never find one little bird in the dunes and even if we did find it I wouldn't be confident enough to call it a AMGP instead of the extremely similar (especially in autumn) and very common Black-bellied Plover, but Point Lookout is a pretty cool place to find ducks so we drove over there and weren't disappointed when, right off the shore we espied a large flock of Common Eiders. Four Common Loons and one Red-throated Loon rounded out the day.
Point Lookout
Number of species: 14
Brant X
Common Eider 50
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 4
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Sanderling 3
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Pine Siskin 1
With the Common Grackles and Mourning Doves we saw around the feeders at his house, I counted 33 species for the days, 3 of which, loon, godwit, and tern, were for me new species for the year.
Thanks Rick!
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