New Year's Eve Special from Eric's Bird Blog

I went out yesterday morning to meet Eileen Schwinn and locate the Mountain Bluebird that has been hanging out on the edge of grassy fields on Route 25A just north of EPCAL (ex-Grumman). Mountain Bluebirds are a western species that breeds in open grasslands in the western mountains. They are migratory and, like many migratory birds, their navigational systems occasionally misfire. The bird was discovered by Dianne Teta at the beginning of the week when she was scouting her territory for the Central Suffolk Christmas Count. Eileen, who had already seen the bird on Wednesday, explained that it shows up at 10:30 am and works its way west by hopping up and down from the snow fencing bordering the field facing 25A just east of Hulse Landing Road. Oh sure, thought I; this is a well-trained bird. Nevertheless at 10:30 am I found myself facing the snow fencing at the eastern edge of the field when and whereupon a sleek grayish bluebird popped up on the fence post right in front of me! Not an Eastern Bluebird but a very distinctive female Mountain Bluebird with an eye ring, a tinge of rusty on its breast and a beautiful pale blue (almost turquoise) on the wings and tail -- best seen when the bird was flying up to perch on a fence post. As predicted, the bird would dive regularly into the grass in front of the snow fence to feed on insects and then fly back up to the fence post, moving west on each move. It was easy to follow along until the fence line ended at Hulse Landing Road upon which it flew up and away to another spot on the far side of a farm complex still further west.

There were other birds in these fields -- Horned Larks, Savannah Sparrows and a few Lapland Longspurs -- mostly hidden in the grass until they flushed (generally spooked by raptors flying over). A parade of raptors included Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier. American Kestrel, and a couple of accipiters. Afterwards we found a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker in the Baiting Hollow Boy Scout Camp along with a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers and many Flickers. From the Iron Pier in Northville, we saw both loons, White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks and a diving Gannet.

The Central Suffolk Christmas Census, curated by Eileen, was on Tuesday. We didn't get to see the Mountain Bluebird that day but it was seen by others within the count circle so it counted as a new bird for the Central Suffolk CBC. Another new bird for the count was a Black Vulture, seen by Eileen, myself and Jim Clinton, Jr., on a house chimney in the Eastport area. Black Vulture was a rarity on Long Island at any season in the past but the recent proliferation of Turkey Vultures has also been accompanied by the appearance of Blacks. If this species is now wintering on the island can breeding be far behind? Also seen was a distant Red-necked Grebe on Moriches Bay and some numbers of what used to be called "half-hardies": Catbirds, Towhees, and Brown Thrasher plus Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, a few Pine Siskins and some numbers of Fox Sparrows.

I did two Christmas Counts this year: Central Suffolk on December 27 and Brooklyn ten days earlier. The Brooklyn shore, from the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge area to Red Hook and the Erie Basin had only a few ducks (Black, Mallard, Gadwall, Widgeon and Bufflehead) but a close-up of a feeding Red Phalarope was a new find for this venerable count which had an overall total of no less than 132 species on that day.

Eric Salzman