Birding Dude: Arctic Terns and Western Sandpipers at Cupsogue County Park LI NY

Monday, July 18, 2016

Arctic Terns and Western Sandpipers at Cupsogue County Park LI NY

On Sunday July 10th, for the most part, I had the flats at Cupsogue LI, all to myself. This was like reaching moksha for me as I tend to do my best work when I am alone, at peace and not inundated with incessant chatting. It is one of the reasons why I often bird alone.

2nd Summer Arctic Tern (can you see it)

I birded both tide cycles and was lucky enough to find a couple of good birds on that day. It started with a 2nd Summer Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). This bird was not easy to keep track of and I quickly lost it after picking it up on one of the far bars. After working the Tern flock over for about 30 mins, I refound it again quite a ways from where I had originally found it. It appeared that I had a stealthy one on my hands. I subsequently lost it again and it was not until the afternoon falling tide (my second tide cycle of the day) that I was able to refind and this time I was lucky to keep track of its movements thus getting good study time with it.

1st Summer Arctic Tern

During the earlier tide cycle while trying to relocate the 2nd summer Arctic Tern, I found another Arctic Tern, this one a 1st Summer Arctic Tern. This bird was easier to keep track of since there were only 2 other 1st Summer Common Terns in the flock and I was able to study and document it to my satisfaction.

Western Sandpiper.

The other good birds I found that day were two Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri). One of them was in very nice breeding plumage and I was excited to be able to document and study this bird at length. Western Sandpipers molt very quickly and often we get them when the rufous is pretty much gone in the plumage. I have included several photos for review, enjoy!