Early January on Long Island

A few days of Year-Birding to start 2017

Sunday, January 1 - Montauk and Shinecock

I think by now I can categorize it as a ritual.  I have started my year list in perhaps 7 of the last 15 years with a sunrise sea-swatch at Montauk Point, and it never disappoints as a great way to start a year of birding.  This year was relatively mild, and after a quick stop en-route to add Great Horned Owl, the day started there with a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic as it got light enough to distinguish the birds.  And there were plenty of birds ... highlights including thousands of scoters of all three species, hundreds of Common Eider and a scattering of other sea-ducks, loons and grebes.  Specialty birds also put in an appearance with a couple of Black-legged Kittiwakes, a Red-Necked Grebe, nearly 75 Razorbills and a fly-by DOVEKIE (plus a Gray Seal).  Not a bad start.  23 species in all, and the year-list 2017 was officially on it's way.

After Montauk I worked my way back West, stopping at a number of local spots picking up more species at each of them.  Highlight for me was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at Further Lane Fields in East Hampton (it's hard to tell but the picture below is a mansion lawn, not a  grassy field ... it's a big lawn and a big mansion).

Greater White-fronted Goose in a Canada Goose Flock

By lunch time I'd worked my way to Shinecock Inlet where a couple of Harlequin Ducks and a Glaucous Gull were both good close views.  The local Snow Buntings were also quite confiding, but unfortunately, the only Snowy Owl of the day stayed at a very respectable distance.

Harlequin Ducks

Can you spot the Snowy Owl?

Glaucous Gull

I finished the day off back at the house in Northwest Harbor watching my feeders and drinking wine on the deck, coming out again just after dark to hear my local Eastern Screech Owl become Owl species number three for the year.  Not a bad way to start 2017.

Monday, January 2 - Robert Moses State Park and Cammann's Pond

Up early, but unfortunately I had to head back to the City with the dogs in the car, allowing me only two or three quick stops on the way back in.  Stop one was Robert Moses State Park where I managed to dip a couple of Ross's Geese that had been present for several days but had apparently moved on.  There was a nice consolation though in the form of a single Lapland Longspur, a bird I rarely see more than one or two of in New York in the average year.

Lapland Longspur

Last stop of the day was Cammann's Pond in Nassau County, where I'd dipped a BLACK-HEADED GULL a few days earlier.  No problems this time though as the bird was on the water near the parking lot and I saw it before I'd even turned off the engine.  A new species for me for Nassau County (#214) and a bird I missed altogether in New York in 2016, so I was happy to call it a day and had back to the city with a nice haul of 92 species on the year list.

Black-headed Gull

Not a bad start to the year ....

First Snow of the Season and White Birds Arriving in Suffolk County

Snowy Owls and White-winged Gulls Out East

Saturday, January 16 - Dune Road and Calverton

I had to stay in the City on Friday night but forced myself to get up early on Saturday and run out to East Hampton with a plan to drop off the dogs, fill the feeders, then double back and do some Winter birding. The temperatures had started to drop Out East, with the threat of snow later in the weekend, so it seemed like a good chance to round up some recently reported, and newly arrived, Northern birds.

The weather was not really cooperating, it was cold, windy and wet, but I stuck with the plan and forced myself over to Dune Road in Hampton Bays by mid-morning.  Shinecock Inlet was unpleasant but I did get out of the car and scanned the gulls in the rain, adding a Lesser Black-backed Gull to the year-list.  I got soaked though so decided to do some car birding along Dune Road in the hope of seeing a recently reported Snowy Owl or American Bittern.  The Owl was a no-show but I did get the Bittern near Triton Lane where it was feeding in a ditch, inches from the road, and flushed before I could get a photo.  Still, this bird isn't going anywhere, it'll be around all Winter, so I'm sure I'll see it again.

Field Sparrow - EPCAL, Suffolk County, NY

Given the weather, I decided to head inland so ran up to the Calverton area in search of sparrows for the year-list.  Got a good haul of those, with Field, American Tree and White-crowned Sparrows quickly joining the list.  I then went over to McKay Lake where I relocated a Golden-crowned Kinglet I'd seen in November and got a real bonus when the continuing, but elusive, Common Gallinule put in an appearance.  This bird showed up in the Fall, seems to have a broken wing, but somehow has managed to cling on, spending its time with a single Mallard on this shallow pond.  Have to feel a bit sorry for it, but I hope it manages to survive the Winter somehow, seems to be a plucky little chap.

Feeling better about my quick haul of year-birds and now that the weather seemed to be improving, I decided to head back down to the barrier beach and this time worked my way out to Cupsogue County Park.  It's a long, slow, drive through the beach houses to get there, and the speed limits are rigorously enforced by the quaintly named 'Bay Constables' who must make a good amount of revenue off visitors breaking the 25-mile-an-hour limit (yes, they still ticket even in the Winter and I saw one poor soul contributing to the town budget as I drove out).  When you get there though, Cupsogue is a pretty neat place.  The location if famous as a Seal haul-out with up to 60 Harbor Seals and occasionally other species coming out of the water to loaf and socialize at low tide.  Now that the weather had brightened up, there were actually quite a few locals taking a Saturday walk to see the seals, but I had birds on my mind, found a high vantage point and started a big circle-scan across the whole bay area.  First up shorebirds, where I picked out 5 Red Knot among the hundreds of Dunlin and Sanderlings.  Then I checked the duck, picked up my first Belted Kingfisher of the year and, after walking a little further down the road, got what I came here for - a flock of 33 Snow Buntings.  All good stuff, but running out of time, I had to head back to the house, so reluctantly left and started to work my way back East.

As I got to my turn at the Ponquogue Bridge, on a whim I decided to go a little further and check the dunes to the East.  Finding nothing of note I turned to go home, but just as I started back, a curious lump stood out on top of a Dune.  No question what this was .... my first Snowy Owl of the season!  A couple of quick shots from the car, and back home.  Despite the cold, wet, start to the day it actually turned out to be a really nice day of birding.

Snowy Owl - Ponquogue Beach, Suffolk County, NY

Sunday, January 17 - Montauk

Up early and out to Montauk Point to meet Menachem Goldstein (another of the seemingly infinite number of Cornell University undergraduate birders) for some sea-watching.  I couldn't stay long but we covered the Point area fairly thoroughly, picking up quite a few Razorbills, several thousand assorted sea-duck, the continuing drake King Eider, and Menachem's lifer Black-legged Kittiwake.  Then on to the West Jetty at Montauk Inlet (stopping briefly for 4 Snow Geese in keeping with the snow theme) in the hope of more 'white birds', in this case White-winged Gulls.  The Inlet didn't disappoint, and we soon had good views of a 1st-cycle Glaucous Gull with a 1st-cycle Iceland Gull for a close comparison,  There were also two 'Kumlien's' Iceland Gull in the same group of birds along with some Bonaparte's Gulls and a 1st-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Eight species of gulls at Montauk ... Winter is definitely coming.

Adult 'Kumlien's' Iceland Gull (bottom left) and 1st-cycle Iceland Gull (right).  Almost all of our Iceland Gulls are 'Kumlien's' but you can't really tell with the 1st-cycle birds so we just call them 'Iceland Gulls''- Same species - Montauk Inlet, Suffolk County, NY

'Kumlien's' Iceland Gull - one of two at Montauk Inlet, Suffolk County, NY 

Glaucous Gull - Montauk Inlet, Suffolk County, NY

With time running out, and dinner plans back in the City, we decided to make one last stop to see if the Virginia Rails found during the Christmas Bird Count at Big Reed's Pond were still willing to make a little noise.  A quick hike into the pond until we found some likely habitat, and I played a couple of blasts of 'tape" (I know, I know, but in this case where multiple Rails are wintering at the pond and calling to each other anyway, I don't think there's any harm done) which started two of the rails clicking and grunting back to us, and each other, from the cat-tails.  That was enough for the year-list so we let them be and, after stopping and failing once again to see the Napeague Snowy Owl, I called it a day.

As a postscript, the snow did in fact come that afternoon and coated East Hampton and the City with a light covering.  The ride back to the City was a bit interesting too, in that I narrowly missed a multiple car collision when some oblivious driver plowed into the rear-end of another (while texting?) and started a chain reaction involving at least 5 cars in the lane next to me.  Ah the joys on Winter ....

Happy New Year (List)!

Three (half) days of birding Suffolk County to start 2016 ....

So this year I will bird more, I will take more photographs, and I will blog more.  I also plan to lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, and be a better person.  Perhaps there's a chance that some of these will stick past the first week of January ....

Friday, January 1st - Montauk

I love starting my year list in Montauk, and I love to start it sea-watching.  I must have started year lists at the same spot, freezing behind the concession stand, peering through my scope, on at least five occasions.  It's a great way to connect with nature and the elements and, if you can ignore the crowds of Korean Christians who gather at the Point for a Sunrise service of some sort, a proper outdoors experience.

This year, the sea-watching was quite good.  Hundred of Red-throated and Common Loons and a good mix of perhaps 5,000 sea-duck of 6 species.  I even managed 65 Razorbills my "annual" Dovekie, getting good scope views of one on the water.  Just when I thought it could get any better, I saw a puff of 'smoke' over the water and, swinging my scope around quickly, saw a large back and a pointed dorsal fin arch through the water.  Too big for a Bottlenose Dolphin, plus they done't blow.  No question what this was - a Minke Whale!  Only my second ever from land at Montauk.  It really did start the year off very well.

As the temperature started to climb, gloves came off, and I really started to enjoy a very good day of birding at Montauk.  Next on the 'good bird' list was an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a scarce Western wanderer that had been found by the folks doing the Christmas Bird Count the week before and had stuck around long enough for me to see it fairly easily.

Ash-throate Flycatcher - Fort Hill Cemetery, Montauk, Suffolk County, NY

 While I was there though, I got some disquieting news - someone was reporting a Black Guillemot from the Point.  This is my nemesis bird at Montauk, despite all the hundreds of hours of sea-watching there, I have never seen one.  And they NEVER stick around!  By the time I got the email an hour had passed and so I was sure that I'd missed this one too, but while I was debating whether to backtrack and try for the Guillemot, another email came in - drake King Eider at the Point!  Oh boy, I should probably have stayed put at the point rather than running around chasing passerines.  So back in the car and over the Point for round two of sea-watching.

By the time I got there, there was of course no sign of the Guillemot (I'm cursed with this species on my local patch), so I joined up with some other birders and kept scanning, picking up a nice consolation prize when a drake Harlequin Duck came into view.  Once regular at Montauk, they've been scarce there of late so I was happy that I'd come back and found it.  Then, while the other birders were looking for the Harlequin, I finished my scan and bam - drake King Eider.  Such a spiffy bird, and another one not guaranteed at Montauk every year.  This one I did manage to get everyone onto - lots of smiles all around.

Happy with the ducks and feeling like I could head off again, some other birders told me about a nearby Lark Sparrow (another unusual Western wanderer) that I hadn't even heard about.  This bird was truly co-operative though and gave crippling views close to the road.  All in all I was very happy with my new year list and headed back to Northwest Harbor fully satisfied with a good start to the year.

Lark Sparrow - Deep Hollow Ranch, Montauk, Suffolk County, NY

Saturday, January 2nd - Montauk / East Hampton

My plan for the second had been to head back West along Long Island to look for a Tufted Duck and other waterfowl that had been reported during the week but, given how good Montauk was the day before, and still hoping to catch up with the Guillemot, I decided to go back to the point.  I met up with Isaac Grant at the Concession at 8am and started the whole sea-watch thing again.  And what a difference a day makes - no Dovekie, no King Eider, no Harlequin, no Ash-Throated Flycatcher, no Lark Sparrow, and needless to say, no Guillemot!

Razorbill and Iceland Gull - Lake Montauk Inlet, Suffolk County, NY

 We really couldn't come up with anything all that good.  All the basic birds were there but none of the goodies from the day before.  The only new species we added all morning was an Iceland Gull that I'd somehow overlooked the day before.  It wasn't a bad morning, it just paled when compared to the mega list of birds that I'd assembled on Friday.  Nothing really seemed to be cooperating very much.

To add insult injury, the gloves were definitely back on today as the temperature had dropped and the wind had increased somewhat.  Not the best weather to be looking for flycatchers and indeed passerines of any sort were few and far between.

I even tried twice to see the Snowy Owl reported at Hick's Island but couldn't find it.  The only consolations were some Tundra Swans and a Greater White-fronted Goose at Hook Pond.

In the end I gave up early and went back home feeling like I should have stuck with the original plan.

Sunday, January 3rd - Western Suffolk County

Decided to stay local this morning and so just worked the Northwest Woods and Sammy's Beach near the house.  There weren't an awful lot of birds to be seen, although first of season Common Goldeneye and Brown Creeper were welcome, but it was a very pleasant morning to walk in the woods and I enjoyed the quiet time.  I had dinner plans in the City though, so I had to make a move and decided to try to do a quick stop for some good birds that had been seen in Western Suffolk County during the week.  I had the dogs in the car with me so I couldn't stop long but I figured I had perhaps a half an hour to spare so I could maybe make one, perhaps two stops if the birds cooperated.

First stop was Capri Lake where a TUFTED DUCK had been hanging out with a mixed Scaup flock. Finding the pond was fairly easily and as I parked I met up with Joe Giunta and crew and headed over to the lake.  As we walked up to the pond though a birder who was leaving had bad news - all the scaup, and presumably the tufted duck, had just flown off the lake.  Seeing as I was there already, we decided to check the lake anyway and maybe get some year birds and it was a good job that we did because the first bird we saw, floating in the middle of the lake with six Lesser Scaup, was the TUFTED DUCK.  Nice bird, and only two minutes spent so I had time for a one more stop.

Long-billed Dowitchers - Santapogue Creek, Suffolk County, NY

Next stop was a quick hit to get a group of over-wintering Long-billed Dowitchers at Santapogue Creek.  Long-billed Dowitchers are surprisingly difficult in coastal New York, outnumbered thousands to one by Short-billed Dowitchers in migration they show up only in very limited numbers in Spring and Summer.  On the other hand they are much kore likely to show up late in the Fall and sometimes even overwinter, this flock having been present since November.  Although it took me a few minutes to find the site, the birds were easy to see and while I was there Menachim Goldstein gave me directions to a nearby Dickcissel.  Did I have time for one more stop?  Why not ...

Dickcissel - Southards Lake Park, Suffolk County, NY

That bird also surrendered quickly and was quite tame, almost oblivious to the hikers and cyclists passing quiet close to it.  Another 3 minutes on-site, and done.

So three stops in a half hour, three good species, and off back to the city.  A really good start to the new year and some nice species for my 'home' county.  On to new things ...

Eight (8!) Species of Goose on Long Island

An amazing weekend of Winter birding on Eastern Long Island ...


So February was "urban" with a lot of time in New York City and long-weekend trips to Miami and New Orleans.  Great restaurants, good company, and lots of fun, but by the end of the month I was having what I call a 'biophylia attack" and really needed to be outside a city for a few days.  Drove out to East Hampton on Thursday morning and did work conference calls from the house in Northwest Harbor so I could be totally free and unscheduled (and outside the City) by dawn on Friday morning.  The plan was to go birding all day Friday, Saturday, and perhaps part of Sunday.  I had no other plans, and I was very excited for some totally uncluttered "outdoor time" ...

FRIDAY ...

Well, Friday dawned .... cold ... and windy ... but mostly cold.  I let the dogs out for a run, re-filled the feeders in the yard, and drank coffee on the deck.  After ten minutes I was wondering if this outdoor thing was such a smart idea and whether it might not have been a lot smarter to fly down to Florida for the weekend.  But I'd made my choice, and I was already Out East, so I layered-up, jumped in the car, and headed off to Shinecock to start the weekend.

Shinecock (pronounced Shin-eh-cock, after the local Native American tribe - just thought I'd clarify that) has been very birdy this Winter and Derek Rogers had reported that there was sand-replenishment activity going on near the jetty earlier in the week; almost always a magnet for interesting gulls looking to have their lunch pumped up onto the beach for them.  I got there early and set up to scope the gulls but quickly realized that my time there would be short as I was shivering within minutes of getting out of the car.  Still, there were lots of gulls to be seen and even a quick scan turned up two Iceland Gulls, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, and a Glaucous Gull along with a good mix of commoner gulls, Brant (Goose Species #1) and sea-duck.

Glaucous Gull - Shinecock Inlet, Suffolk County, NY (March 2014) - two shots
Saw this bird on February 28th and March 1st.

Admitting that I'm basically wimp, or at least wasn't prepared for the weather, I gave up on scoping the sea and decided to do some car-birding along Dune Road.  I found two Snowy Owls fairly easily - the stragglers from this year's incredible invasion (I'd had three there earlier in the year) but couldn't turn up a Bittern or a Rough-legged Hawk from the car, and given the cold and the wind-chill, decided to head inland where I could actually do some real birding.
 

Snowy Owl - Ponquogue Bridge, Suffolk County, NY (January 2014)
Took this photo in January but saw the same bird this day in February.

My next stop was the Riverhead area and particularly the fields around Roanoke Avenue where three good birds had been sighted earlier in the year (Yellow-headed Blackbird, Black Vulture, and Pink-footed Goose).  I'd looked for all three on several previous occasions and seen none, but I figured I'd give them another chance.

Arriving at the Reeve's Avenue Buffalo Farm (yes, real Buffalo, or Bison I guess) I actually found a big flock of Canada Geese (Goose species #2) and jumped out to scope it.  I quickly found a Cackling Goose (Goose species #3) but once again couldn't find the Pink-footed Goose and, given the cold, soon gave up to go and look for the blackbird at the buffalo farm.  While I was scanning the buffalo field though (blackbirds like buffalo "chips" it turns out) I heard more Canada Geese flying in and then a loud squeaky call leapt out from among the honks of the Canadas.  Spinning around I got bins on the flock and there, among them, was a Pink-footed Goose!  (Goose species #4).  Only my second ever Pink-footed Goose in the ABA Area, and so I was feeling pretty proud of myself (and cold) and gave up for the day, returning home in the early afternoon.

SATURDAY ...

My original plan for the day was to work Montauk but given the lack of interesting sightings there recently, and the fact that many New York City birders were coming out to look for geese, I decided to re-route to the same area as the day before.  First stop was to confirm that the two Tundra Swans were still present on Hook Pond (Corey Finger has asked me to scout them for him) and then I checked several of the local ponds, finding some Redheads on Cooper's Neck pond for a welcome year bird among ponds that were mostly iced-over.

Shinecock had basically the same species as the day before (but many more birders including the Brooklyn Bird Club group), although I did manage to add an Ipswich Sparrow and a (probable) Seaside Sparrow after "flogging" some sparrow habitat in the much warmer weather.   By the time I got to Reeve's Avenue I though the excitement was done or the day and I pulled up to a group of birders including Derek "Goose Man" Rogers expecting to chat rather than add more species.  We soon had some excitement though when Derek found a second Pink-footed Goose in the assembled flock of 5,000 Canada Geese (there had been rumors, but this was conformation) and re-energized we picked out two Cackling Geese, and a Greater White-fronted Goose (Goose species #5) in the minutes that followed.

Just then we got word that Ken Feustel had found a Barnacle Goose over in Sagaponack (about 45 minutes East of us) and several of us got the sense that this was shaping up as an historic goose weekend on the East End.

I decided to try for the Barnacle, even though I was nervous about leaving the main goose flock (turns out I was right to be nervous), and so I headed off East, stopping briefly to pick up a Snow Goose (Goose species #6) on the way.  Arriving at the Daniel's Lane goose field I set up to scan but it was quickly obvious that the Barnacle Goose wasn't there at the time.   I did see another Greater White-fronted Goose, and so felt optimistic, especially given that there were lots of geese flying into the field.  Opting, for once, to be patient, I set up to wait/scan, and about 20 minutes later was rewarded when the Barnacle (Goose species #7) flew in from the West in a group of Canadas.  Seven species of goose in one day, how could it get any better?  I felt pretty good when I headed home right after ... that is right up until I got home and checked my email only to find out that Shia Mitra and Pat Lindsay had just found a Ross's Goose back at the Buffalo Farm.  Oh well ....

Barnacle Goose - Sagaponack, Suffolk County, NY (March 2014)

SUNDAY ....

Now I had to get that Ross's Goose, so I headed back over to the Riverhead area at first light and started working goose flocks.  The first two flocks I saw just had Canada Geese, but as I got to the Roanoke Vineyard area I saw Ari Gilbert and Bob Adamo scoping something South of Sound Avenue and, pulling a "legal" U-turn, I was soon looking at the Ross's Goose (Goose species #8).  For a while I thought about trying to see all eight species in a day but after scanning the area for a while, and seeing both Pink-footed Geese, and a White-fronted goose, but failing to find a Cackling Goose, my time ran out and I had to run home to get back to the City for a dinner reservation.

Ross's Goose - Riverhead, Suffolk County, NY (March 2014)
Record Shot (a mile away at 70x and an iPhone with no adaptor)

Still, eight species of goose in a weekend was a really neat experience and I was very happy with my haul of waterfowl for the trip.  Twenty-eight species of waterfowl, including eight species of goose.  And maybe I will go to Florida next weekend ....

Turtles and Snowy Owls, walking the beaches in Winter.

I haven't really done a lot of birding of late.  It's been cold out here with a fair bit of snow and an almost constant freezing wind that makes seawatching seem pretty unappealing at the moment.  There also just hasn't been that much around, with very little turnover in the birds on the East End and nothing very exciting reported for a while.

By far the biggest Natural History highlight of late was a rather sad one and had nothing to do with birds at all.  We were walking the dogs on Sammy's Beach in East Hampton last week and noticed that the dogs were very focussed on a dark object up ahead in the tide line.  As we got closer we could see that the object was a turtle (!), not something you expect to see on a beach in New York in February.

Kemp's Ridley Sea-Turtle in East Hampton.

The turtle certainly looked dead but I know enough to know that it's really hard to tell if an apparently dead sea-turtle is really dead or just 'mostly dead'.  Apparently turtles stunned by cold water go into some kind of torpor which allows them to shut down non-essential functions and survive in a coma-like state for some time.  The only way to tell for sure is to take an internal temperature reading and needless to say I was in no position to do that out there on the beach.  So I called the folks at the Riverhead Foundation, the experts who do know how to handle situations like these.

The Riverhead Foundation runs a marine animal rescue operation and sends teams out to help stranded whales and dolphins.  In the late fall they also end up rescuing quite a few 'cold-stunned' Sea-turtles that have stayed in the North Atlantic too long and been caught out by the rapidly falling water temperatures.  Quickly warming a stunned turtle will kill it, so they've developed a process to gently bring the animal back to temperature and seem to have a good success rate with saving them.  After getting a description from me, and asking me to send them photos, the Riverhead folks identified our turtle as a Kemp's Ridley Sea-Turtle, a critically endangered species that has been reduced to just a handful of breeding colonies world-wide.  They also unfortunately said that the turtle looked dead from the pictures but they asked us to mark the spot by standing up a stick in the sand and they dispatched a team to collect the turtle to make sure.  At the very least the specimen might yield some useful data and this was a very late date for a turtle to be this far North.

On the bird front, not much has changed.  I did manage to spend some time with the Hick's Island Snowy Owl today.  Of all Long Island's wintering Snowy Owls this one has been the most regular but perhaps the least reliable.  It winters on an island but still gets pushed around a bit by clammers, duck hunters, and the like so tends to stay away from the roads and other areas where birders could see it.  A lot of birders look for this individual over the average weekend but it's almost never reported on a Saturday or Sunday.  Today, it was sitting out in the open, although it was a long way away and my photos were 'record shots' rather than wildlife art.

Snowy Owl, Hick's Island.

I also did a circuit of the gulls and ducks today.  We've had 2 Barrow's Goldeneye at Montauk and some good gulls including 2 Iceland Gulls and 2 Black-headed Gulls.  Today there were still quite a few scoter and eider around and even a few razorbills out at the point.   Gull-wise I managed only a Lesser Black-backed Gull and an Iceland Gull, but I did enjoy spending some time with a close flock of Bonaparte's Gulls.  I've watched this flock a few times as it's the one which the Black-headed Gulls tend to join when they're feeding in Lake Montauk.  When I've seen the Black-headed Gulls on previous occasions the flock has always been distant.  So when I saw the flock was close to shore today I was excited at maybe getting some better Black-headed Gull shots, but unfortunately today the flock was 100% Bonaparte's.  Still, they're a spiffy gull and they'll be gone soon enough so it was fun to watch them while they were there.

Bonparte's Gulls (2 shots)

 So onwards, and looking forward to next week's Pelagic Trip (fingers crossed that it goes) and dreaming of finally getting Atlantic Puffin for my New York State List.  Not a bird I'm likely to get seawatching so, as unappealing as an early March trip offshore sounds, sometimes you just have to go for it.

OK, just one more Kumlien's (Iceland) Gull, this one from Iron Pier on the
North Fork.  I really like this species.

Blasts from the Past: Great Gray Owls near Ottawa, Ontario

Given that Great Gray Owls seem to be in Southern Canada in some numbers this year, we've been waiting for one to show up in New York State.  Yesterday we got word of one near Massena (a spot I birded last week) and, while I won't be able to chase this one this week, it's hopefully a good sign of more to come.  In the meantime, here are some photos from a great Owl-oriented trip to Ontario in 2009.  We saw 7 species of owls in 4 days (Snowy Owl, Great Gray Owl, Long-eared Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Boreal Owl, Northern Hawk Owl).  Dream birds in New York but a little more regular up there in Canada.

Great Gray Owl (2 birds, 4 shots)

Finishing with a sunset photo -  think we had three individual Great Grey Owls
in view at the same time in this one area.  A really neat trip, and great birds.

Urban Birding: A Morning in Queens, New York

Had to be in the City this week for a couple of dinners so took advantage of the free morning to visit some parks in Queens.  I have some friends who are Queens residents and absolute zealots about the borough (county) and it's birds.  Despite that bias, I have to admit that Queens has treated me well over the past year or so with goodies like Virginia's Warbler, Painted Bunting and LeConte's Sparrow in 2012.  For some reason, the parks of Queens seem to get good stuff, and perhaps more importantly, a battalion of good birders tend to find it.

First stop was Kissena Park, a spot I've visited before, and in particular to search for it's Winter resident Slate-colored Junco flock that often seems to host a rarity or two.  I walked the trails quietly until I heard the sound of juncos off in the grass and and then worked my way around to position myself ahead of them as they moved around.  After a few minutes the first Juncos started to pop up nearby and, as I stood very still, passed by me at close range.  There were a few other birds in the mix; some Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows and a few Tufted Titmice seemed to be loosely associated with the flock.  Then I saw a small greenish-gray bird and got bins on it, catching a gray head, yellow breast, and a little bit of an eye-stripe ... Orange-crowned Warbler.  Almost simultaneously a few American Goldfinches came by and among them was a small khaki-colored bird feeding on grass seeds ... Indigo Bunting.  The flock was past me pretty quickly and I didn't see anything else odd in it, but still, nice birds for January in New York City.

Indigo Bunting

After Kissena my next stop was meant to be a quick drop-in to look for Barn Owl at Jamaica Bay but pulling into the parking lot I checked the 'Book of Lies', I mean the 'sightings log', and saw a recent Snowy Owl report from the West Pond.  Wandering down to there I saw Doug Gochfeld and a ranger on the trail and, not 30 yards in front of them, was a Snowy Owl sitting quietly in the marsh.

Snowy Owl (2 shots)

Well that was easy, so I stuck around for a bit, took a few record shots and checked out the storm damage to the West Pond.  Hurricane Sandy has breached the walkway and turned what was a freshwater pond into a brackish tidal lagoon.  What that means for the birds remains to be seen but there doesn't seem to be an immediate plan to put things back the way they were.  Still, nice to see a Snowy Owl in Queens and I left Doug there hoping for the bird to fly over into Brooklyn (the border is only about 30 yards away at that point) so he could list it for his home county too.

Inevitably, when some excited birder posted this particular owl on the State-wide Listserve later in the day, the administrators posted a reminder not to share the location of owls, and then the "owl e-mails" started flying again.  This seems to be an annual event in New York and one that generates emotions out of all proportion to the actual issue.  Photographers and birders sometimes get too close to owls and a few have behaved poorly in the search for a the perfect shot.  This in turn leads for calls to suppress information on the location of owls, which of course offends the vast majority of birders and photographers who want to see the birds and who generally behave responsibly in the presence of rare birds.  Last year it even led to allegations of elitism in the birding community and to levels of invective more normally associated with divisive social issues at the national level.   In fact, last year's debate got so out of hand that many of us now cringe when owls of any sort are mentioned on the Listserve but mercifully the sparks seem not to have ignited a blaze so far this year.  And, for what it's worth,  this bird seems like a good candidate for people to actually be able to go and see without disturbing it.  This Snowy Owl sat quite contentedly about 30-yards South of the main trail and was not in the least bothered by our presence, at least that day.  As long as folks stay on the trail I'd imagine this could be a bird safely seen by many, and who knows, maybe the bird that hatches a few more birders.

Unfortunately the Barn Owls weren't as cooperative and didn't show themselves for me that day so I went off and put a couple of hours into searching Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn for a recently reported Thick-billed Murre.  No luck on that front for me but I did get back to Manhattan in time for lunch and was pretty happy with my Queens County birds for the day, and starting two more county year-lists.  A pretty civilized morning of birding in New York City.