Saturday, January 24, 2009

January 18 - Jones Beach & Orchard Beach

In a heavier than expected snowfall my friends and I did some birding from Point Lookout this morning. The anticipated species were seen, but nothing too unusual crossed our eyeballs this morning. Lots of Horned Grebes, a few Great Cormorants, Bonaparte's Gulls, Sanderling etc.
At Jones Beach we saw an incredible 19 Lapland Longspurs in one group near the Coast Guard Station. Also seen there were Horned Larks & Snow Buntings. This represents the highest numbers of Laplands I have ever seen at one time.

Afterwards we made a quick stop at Tobay Beach where we easily found the Audubon's Warbler that has been reported for several weeks now.

Finally we stopped at Pelham Bay Parks' Orchard Beach section. Here we have one White-Winged Crossbill as a surprise, and 3 Long-Eared Owls which we had hoped to see.