a brilliant morning

The weather changed last night and the mugginess of recent days melted away into a brilliant morning. A morning in which birds were on the move. The first indication was being awakened by a Great Horned Owl hooting away before dawn (HOO-hoohoo-hooo HOOOO HOOOO); they don't turn up on our place very often. Down at the shore after dawn, there were Royal Terns in numbers and, at the edge of the marsh, a busy empid, probably an Alder Flycatcher (brownish with a narrow but distinct eyering) and a House Wren that looked like it had come from away (dark reddish-brown unlike our local birds that are on the gray side).

But the main focus of the morning's birding was, once again, Cupsogue where Eileen Schwinn was a last-minute replacement for John McNeil as leader for an ELIAS walk: The Isles of Moriches. There were many good birds on this walk but the most unexpected was virtually the first bird of the event. As we gathered at the trail head in the dunes high above the marsh, a large raptor with extremely broad, straight-edged, rectangular wings came soaring, with just a bit of flapping, low over the marsh and actually below us. From behind and above this bird showed only dark brown coloration. Size and the lack of a white rump ruled out a Harrier. Only when the bird banked did it reveal white in places where only a Bald Eagle would show white. It was a 2nd or 3rd year Haliaeetus leucocephalus and the first I have ever seen from above!

The large crowd that assembled for this walk was there, not for the unlikely sight of a Bald Eagle (exciting as that was), but for the reported Marbled Godwits. And indeed there were two birds of this species -- possibly juveniles but seen against the morning light -- working the shoreline of the marsh directly opposite the main island and in company with several Black Skimmers, many Common Terns (adults and offspring), at least one Forster's Tern and a variety of other shore birds (Short-billed Dowitchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Sanderlings).

As we worked out way along the shore, the bulk of the birds remained in view right in front of us. By wading out into the water and looking back we could scan the flocks on our side and, surprisingly, the birds did not flush. Instead of pushing ahead and trying to wade across to the island (which would have flushed the lot) we decided to return to our cars and drive to the county overlook in Westhampton Dunes. This is a recently erected wooden deck with a view of a large sand flat island just off the bay shore. Said island was packed with birds including -- wait for it! -- two Marbled Godwits! Were these the same birds we had just seen at Cupsogue (the plumages looked similar) or are there multiple numbers of this species in the area (previous observers had reported three)? The flat was also full of Royal Terns, (even outnumbering the Common Terns) and there was a Common Eider paddling around in the bay just to the east.

It's worth mentioning that "Moriches Inlet" is a classic site for godwits, one of the best in the New York area. All four species have been reported here over the years and a Hudsonian was here this year in mid-July.

The unifying theme of the day was not shorebirds but the endless stream of Barn and Tree Swallows heading west and south across the dunes, the vanguard of even bigger flight yet to come. Other birds seen included Osprey (bringing fish to a fledging still in the nest), Eastern Kingbird, Yellow Warbler, American Goldfinch and Boat-tailed Grackle (all local breeders).

Eric Salzman