SOFO/ELIAS walks

Two ELIAS walks in two days!

Today's 'walk' was along Dune Road starting at Shinnecock Inlet where the bird of the day was a large shearwater just off the Inlet jetties fishing with gulls and terns; bowed wings, white underwings outlined in black and a mottled brownish upper side without outstanding white indicated a Cory's Shearwater. There was also a distant Northern Gannet in juvenile plumage and two Black Scoters right by the near jetty.

Stops at the old Ponquogue Bridge, Tiana Beach, Pike's Beach and the Pike's Beach overlook produced pretty much the same birds seen all week: many Common Terns, a very few Forster's Terns, good numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Sanderlings, a few Black-bellied Plovers, a few Ruddy Turnstones, lots of Willets and Am Oystercatchers, several Piping Plovers and a single Semipalmated Plover, the regular gulls (including Laughing Gulls), Glossy Ibis, many egrets of both flavors, two or three Great Blue Herons and a flying Little Blue Heron, the latter being the first one I've seen this year. The day's list also included Yellow Warbler and Common Yellowthroat, Boat-tailed Grackle and a continuing movement of swallows along the barrier beach.

One bird of note that I forgot to mention the other day was a Bobwhite, calling persistently at Tiana Beach as it worked its way through the dune vegetation. This once-common species has become a rarity on Long Island, its last stronghold in New York. It was great to hear one calling even if we never actually saw it.

Saturday morning was the 2nd annual joint walk by SOFO (South Fork Natural History Museum) and ELIAS (Eastern LI Audubon Society) in SOFO's back yard -- the big meadow adjoining the Greenbelt between Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor. This meadow, which has a checkered history as farmland and a vineyard, is being restored to pristine condition under the auspices of the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt. This is the second year that I have led this walk and, with both SOFO and ELIAS people signed up, it had almost two dozen participants. Once again, the star performer was the Indigo Bunting, a beautiful bird which continues to sing well into the summer; there is no better spot on LI for this species. There were at least three or four birds on territory, spread all around the meadow and singing persistently. At least one female and a young bird was also seen.

There was also a nice list of familiar woodland edge and meadow birds including all three mimids (Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird), three warblers (Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler), both wrens (Carolina and House, both singing vigorously), three swallows (Barn, Bank and Purple Martin), Cedar Waxwings, one flycatcher (Eastern Phoebe), three icterids (Red-winged Blackbird, Baltimore Oriole and Brown-headed Cowbird), two raptors (Osprey and Red-tailed Hawk), a couple of over-flying gulls, at least two Chimney Swifts, several overflying Double-crested Cormorants, Mourning Dove, Song Sparrow, Cardinal, Am Robin, Am Crow, and Blue Jays.

Eric Salzman