Happy New Year

2018 was a good year even though it's becoming increasingly difficult to get life birds.  I only had 11 new birds this past year but many of them were on my "wish list" especially the Barred Owl.  Other notable lifers were Scissortailed Flycatcher, Evening Grosbeak, Broadwing Hawk, Black Bellied Whistling Duck and Roseate Spoonbill.  One of the highlights was a southeast wind that brought in Shearwaters close to shore during the summer.  I did miss additional lifers including a Wood Sandpiper that was at Timber Point and Red Crossbills at Jones Beach West End. 

My total USA life list is now 364, New York State 348 and Long Island 336.  I don't expect much for the new year since I don't have much time to go birding but hopefully I get some chances.  To start the new year I brought my son to Point Lookout to look for Snowy Owls.  (he likes them because of Hedwig from Harry Potter)  We got extremely lucky with a male right near the parking lot.  My son got good looks at him and hopefully remembers his wonderful birding adventure.

Snowy Owl

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