Linnaean

I've been doing walks for the Linnaean Society (the second oldest natural history society in the US' it meets at the Museum of Natural History in NYC) for many years now. Today's walk (really a drive) followed a familiar pattern, starting at the Shinnecock Inlet, proceeding west along Dune Road all the way to Pike's Beach (just a bit short of Cupsogue and Moriches Inlet) with a windup on the periphery of Westhampton or Gabreski or Suffolk County Airport.

There were a few laggard Gannets at Shinnecock as well as a single Common Eider (a bird that has increased in recent years but was still a surprise to see in June). On the Shinnecock marshes, we had good views of several Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows as well as pairs of American Oystercatchers, Boat-tailed Grackles and a single Clapper Rail hustling along the muddy flat at the edge of the marsh green. Along Dune Road and some of the side pullouts there were Willets galore, several Brown Thrashers, lots of Barn Swallows, a few Tree Swallows and at least one Bank Swallow. From the boardwalk of the little Quogue Refuge on Dune Road: Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Towhee and, once again, the two marsh sparrows: Saltmarsh and Seaside. Pike's Beach, the scene of thousands of migrating shorebirds not very long ago, was almost empty; we only had the local breeders: a half a dozen Piping Plovers, a few Common and Least Terns (the latter in very short supply this year), a couple of Black Skimmers (seen only by a couple of participants), some gulls including a couple of Laughing Gulls, a handful of Semipalmated Sandpipers, many Willets and a few Oystercatchers. Egrets were everywhere along with the ultracommon Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles. And, of course, an Osprey or two.

The most notable sighting at the airport was a group of seven Turkey Vultures. This did not impress the Linnaean crowd but it impresses me. Let me remind everyone that Turkey Vulture 'invaded' Long island a couple of years ago and there is, to my knowledge, just a single recorded Turkey Vulture nesting on Long Island. Before the past two years, TVs were an uncommon migrant and were never seen in the summer months!

Vesper Sparrows made their by-now usual appearance on the airport fence but were seen with difficulty by most of the group; they were well seen before flushing only by the first car or two in the procession working along the north peripheral road of the airport. Only a few other birds seen or heard in this area: House Wren, Chipping Sparrow, N. Mockingbird, Am Robin and a distant singing E. Meadowlark.

Eric Salzman