Field Notes from Suffolk and Queens County 7/24/2010...

 Short-billed Dowitchers on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

I had an early start at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge on the 24th, where I ran into Brooklyn birder Shane Blodgett. Together, we birded the East Pond and had 14 species of Shorebirds. The following are conservative numbers of what we came up with.


Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus 20
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus 1
American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus 5
Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius 8
Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca 21
Willet (Eastern) - Tringa semipalmata semipalmata 1
Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes 132
Hudsonian Godwit - Limosa haemastica 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla 1400
Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri 2
Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla 132
Stilt Sandpiper - Calidris himantopus 27
Short-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus griseus 1023
Wilson's Phalarope - Phalaropus tricolor 1

 Juvenile Least Bittern digiscoped from a distance.

Friends, Shai Mitra and Patricia Lindsay arrived while we were out on the pond and in no time they picked up 2 Least Bitterns. One Adult and one juvenile. They also had a Long-billed Dowitcher. Shane and I had debated over on LBDO candidate, but let it go because we were not sold on the field marks.

 Western Sandpiper with a rather small bill.

Later in the afternoon, I joined Shai, Pat, Joan and Gerta out on Eastern Long Island where we birded Cupsogue. We tried for a Brown Pelican that was seen earlier in the day, but it was not at the said location. Out on the flats, our highlights were Royal Terns, we had 9 out on Pikes Beach earlier, a tiny billed Western Sandpiper and 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, a good shorebird to get at that location.

 Sea watching with the gang.  Good Times out at Cupsogue LI.

A seawatch after Margaritas produced Greater Shearwater, Whimbrel, Northern Gannets and lots of migrating shorebirds.

Tags: Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Hudsonian Godwit, Western Sandpiper