Barred Owl, NYC

....it's a relief to finally post this one....Barred Owl lifer...continuing in Central Park southwest of the tree by this pond, etc but I was lucky a couple pointed it out for me..

Barred Owl

Scissortail Flycatcher, Purple Gallinule, Evening Grosbeak

It's been quite an interesting Fall so far,,,I was lucky to see these birds recently: Scissortail Flycatcher at Deep Hollow Ranch, Purple Gallinule at Prospect Park, and Evening Grosbeak at Sunken Meadow.  The Flycatcher and Grosbeak have been on my wish list for some time so it's extra nice that I got to see them.

Fall Migration

I haven't posted in a while so I'll summarize some of the highlights.  I tried chasing a couple of potential lifer Philadelphia Vireos at Southard's Pond and Jones Beach but missed them.  I saw 2 Soras well at Jamaica Bay East Pond with Snouty mid September.  The fall migration seemed late but seemed to erupt about a week ago.  I saw 5 Marbled Godwits on the Jones Beach Coast Guard sandbar - there's been a group of them for several weeks.  White Crowned Sparrows seem unusually abundant this year by the beaches - vast majority are juveniles.
There was a recent report last week of a drab Evening Grosbeak at Sunken Meadow - I tried to refind it without any luck but did see lots (~30) of Purple Finches and a likely Lincoln's Sparrow.

Robert Moses: Cory's Shearwater

There had been a continuous southeast wind recently and a good amount of shearwaters were seen off the south shore of Long Island.  I got up late and later reluctantly decided to try anyway because of a post Tim Healy made.  I'm glad I followed the advice he gave everybody because I was treated to about 15 Cory's Shearwaters - some right past the breakers.  I may have seen other Shearwaters including a Great and a couple of Wilson's Storm Petrels but I'm not an experienced sea watcher so can't be positive.  I went back the next day and saw just a handful of Cory's/

New Jersey: Roseate Spoonbill, Great Shearwater

Snouty and I took a trip to Edwin Forsythe because I wanted to see a continuing Roseate Spoonbill and there was a report of a Red Necked Stint the previous day.  We dipped on both but my consolation bird was a Great Shearwater clearly seen by the marsh.  Sadly, we heard the bird died later that day.  We also saw Clapper Rails, Whimbrels, Gull Billed Terns, a Caspian Tern, Purple Martins, Seaside or Saltwater Sparrows to name a few.  We traveled south to Nimmy Island to try for a continuing Pacific Loon but came up empty handed.  Also tried for continuing Mississippi Kites in Ocean County.  After some debate we went to Wallkill Refuge and saw another but juvenile Roseate Spoonbill so I got another good lifer that day.

Updates from Spring into Summer: including Alder Flycatcher and Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

I haven't posted in a while but writing this post with as many notes as I can remember.  I tried to include dates when possible.  There are a lot of other birds that I've seen that are not listed.  I saw a Bald Eagle fly over my house recently as well as seeing/ hearing Blackpoll Warblers across the street from my house during migration.  I missed some good sightings as well - there was a Wood Sandpiper at Timer Point that I missed by 2 minutes, Kirtland's Warbler in Central Park, Mississippi Kite seen a couple times over Hempstead Lake State Park and a group of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks in Brooklyn but I saw the ones that later appeared at Nissequogue.

Hempstead Lake State Park: Rusty Blackbird, Solitary Sandpiper
Bayard Cutting Arboretum: Yellow Throated Warbler

Southaven County Park: Blue Grosbeak, female
Jones Beach West End: Red Headed Woodpeckers, 3 were reported, I saw 1
Massapequa Preserve: Solitary Sandpiper
Private Residence in Brookhaven: Western Tanager
May 6 - Hempstead Lake State Park: Cerulean Warbler
Forest Park: Blackburnian Warbler, Veery
May 14 - Fuchs Pond Preserve: Alder Flycatcher *LIFER
May 21 - Heckscher State Park: Ruff
Nickerson Beach (parking lot): Nighthawk
June 4th? - Heckscher State Park: Wilson's Phalarope
June 7 - Massapequa Preserve: Black Vulture very high up heading northeast
Nickerson Beach (several visits): Arctic Terns (2 adults), Arctic Tern (continuing juv), 2 Pelicans
Nickerson Beach: Sandwich Tern
June 18 - Timber Point: Cattle Egret
Oceanside Marine Nature Study: Tricolored Heron, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Clapper Rail (1st I saw here)
June 21 - Nissequogue River State Park: 2 Black Bellied Whistling Ducks *LIFER
Centerport Pond: nesting Bald Eagles including juvenile, Rough Winged Swallows (perched)
July 1 - Robert Moses State Park: 4 Brown Pelicans (landed briefly on the ocean)

Western Tanager

Ruff

Wilson's Phalarope

Cattle Egret

Arctic Tern adult

Common Tern possible Siberian

Arctic Tern juvenile

Clapper Rail from Oceanside

Tricolored Heron

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

Northern Rough Winged Swallow

Common Eiders

Brown Pelicans

Sandwich Tern

Alder Flycatcher

Hook Mountain: Broad Winged Hawks

I went with Snouty to Hook Mountain with the hopes of seeing a lifer Broad Winged Hawk - we finally found the spot to park and climb up the mountain where we had a 360 degree view around us.  A nice couple who were already up there told us they had seen about 10 already so I became optimistic even though I had doubts we would see any because of north winds.  We soon were treated to 15-20 Broad Winged Hawks in the approx 90 minutes we were there. I might have seen a Broad Winged up in the Adirondacks briefly but this trip assured me I got them as lifers.

Notes from the last few weeks

Highlights were:

a Turkey Vulture flying down my block chased by Blue Jays, landed on Parkside picking on something small in the road

Jamaica Bay/ Robert Moses St Park - I went to Jamaica Bay West Pond hoping to see "lifer" Blue morph Snow Geese - I saw at least 5 among the hundreds/ thousand? white Snow Geese.  The next day I chased a Facebook posted pair of blue morphs at Robert Moses - got much better views.

Once again, I tried for the continuing 3 Black Vultures at Riverhead,,,didn't see them at first but then tried after 3pm and finally got lucky.  I saw 2 of them with Snouty on top of the Roanoke Elementary School.  I've seen Black Vultures before but only in flight so I was happy to get better looks.

Black Vultures (2 on left)

Snow Geese, blue morph

Snow Geese

Hicksville - Tundra Swans!

Was in my hometown today and looked up and happened to see 4 Tundra Swans flying northeast.  There has been lots of reports of Tundra Swans flying over...apparently a bit off course from their normal migration route.

Delayed report - went for and saw the Little Gull (lifer) by Montauk Point..almost gave up, glad I tried again.  Also saw a continuing Iceland Gull at Gosman's.

Riverhead, Dune Road EPCAL

Very unproductive - highlights were Turkey Vultures at Riverhead and a Bonaparte Gull and Snowy Owl at Dune Road.

Riverhead, Oak Beach

I've been seeing reports of 3 Black Vultures in Riverhead so took a chance to go and try finding them but didn't see any - guess they left.  I did see lots of Turkey Vultures and 2 overhead Bald Eagles, one mature, one immature.

There were reports of a continuing female Barrow's Goldeneye and Eared Grebe at Oak Beach - fairly confident I saw the Eared Grebe but was far away.

Point Lookout King Eiders

King Eiders were reported between Point Lookout and Jones Beach...several other reports including males popped up around Long Island including Setauket? and Brooklyn.  At one point, there were 6 King Eiders reported at Jones West End off the jetty (1 almost mature male, 1 immature male, 4 females)  I went one day to Point Lookout and found the mostly mature male, 1 female.  Other birds included a Horned Grebe, Common Eider, Snow Buntings, 8 Purple Sandpipers, 2 Ruddy Turnstones, Black and Surf Scoters, and lots of Scaup, predominately Greater.

I went back with Snouty and struck out on the King Eiders, but did see 3 Harlequins.  Went back another day and had a good King Eider day - mostly mature male, immature male (seen through the scope of another birder who found it for us) and good views of a female King Eider.  Also saw 20? Bonaparte Gulls, a Common Goldeneye.  I will always remember the close up King Eider we saw in Massachusetts, but I'm not complaining about a 3 King Eider day on Long Island.

King Eider

King Eider female (wings out)

Massapequa, Jones Beach, TOBAY

I don't have the exact dates of these sightings, so I'll lump them together.  They were seen during the first half of January:

Massapequa Preserve: Wilson's Snipe (1, then saw 2 on another day), Hermit Thrush, Wood Duck pair (not "Woody")

JFK Sanctuary: Snowy Owl, 2 Harriers including a Grey Ghost, Rough Legged Hawk, likely Red Shouldered on a return visit

TOBAY Beach: 13 Bonaparte Gulls, female Goldeneye

Happy New Year

2017 was a good year - started off with a Trumpeter Swan on the Hudson, a pelagic ride thanks to Snouty, finally finding Gray Jays and some unexpected lifers and getting better looks at birds I've seen before.  Without doubt, the best sighting was Crakie...a Corn Crake that appeared on Ocean Parkway.  I ended the year with 22 new lifers, making my USA continental life list up to 353, 338 in New York State, 328 on Long Island.  Here's to a good 2018, hoping for some new lifers.  I won't set any goals about how many or what species...I'll just hope for the best.  I started the year chasing a reported Red Necked Grebe at the Jones Beach Coast Guard - not a bad sighting to start the new year.

Red Necked Grebe