North Fork

One area of Eastern Long Island where I have not done much birding is the North Fork so I was happy to take up Eileen Schwinn's invitation yesterday to explore. Our first stops were the sod fields from Riverhead east. Whatever the social, environmental and agricultural merits of sod farming (at least one commentator has called it "agricultural strip mining"), the fields -- which I have visited often in the past -- are attractive to certain shore birds which are difficult to see anywhere else: Golden Plover and the so-called 'grasspipers' (notably Buff-breasted, Pectoral, and Baird's Sandpipers). Also, these fields can attract thousands of swallows in migration. Well yesterday was not the day. Aside from some pockets of Killdeer (who undoubtedly nest in the area), a starling or two, and a couple of gull roosts, there were no sod birds.
Our next stop was Arshamomaque, a little-known (to me; although I had been there once before) wooded preserve near Greenport where a Mourning Warbler had recently been reported. No Morning Warblers and no other warblers either although there were more goldenrods in bloom than I have ever seen in one place (also cattails and Rose Mallows in the more open wet areas).
Our final stop was Inlet Pond whose Red House is also home to North Fork Audubon (the other East End Audubon besides Eastern Long Island Audubon or ELIAS). This is a county park perched in the Harbor Hills Moraine with trails overlooking LI Sound and neighboring wetlands. The so-called Inlet Pond is not an inlet at all (although historically it may have been connected with the Sound at times) but a good-sized fresh water pond (with cattails and Rose Mallows) set just back of the Sound and featuring, on Wednesday at least, Mute Swans, Mallards and their offspring. The adjacent woods were a bit livelier and included, besides, the usual Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, American Robins and Northern Cardinals, a few warblers: Yellow, Prairie, Parula and American Redstart. A small bouquet of colorful small birds but gratefully received nonetheless.
Oh, and en route there was a Red-tailed Hawk and at least two Turkey Vultures soaring above the road home.

Eric Salzman