a disappointment followed by a hot appointment

A disappointing run down to Cupsogue on a beastly hot morning with John Leo and Eileen Schwinn produced only a few birds of interest (see below). On the way back, we got a call from Vincent Gagno (I think I have this right) who is a local policeman and also a birder (he is the one that found the Red-headed Woodpecker on Pleasure Drive a couple of months ago). This time, on his day off, he was taking a beach day at Squires Pond Beach with his family when he saw (without binoculars) a small flock of what he thought were avocets! We immediately made an appointment to hightail it over to East Landing Road where, in the midday heat, five AMERICAN AVOCETS -- adults in breeding plumage and juveniles -- were wading at low tide near the mouth of Squire's Pond (see attached photo by Eileen Schwinn). This is not a bird we see very often, and still more rarely in what is probably a family group. It certainly made our day!

In sheer numbers, the bird of the day was the Short-billed Dowitcher. There was a flock of at least two dozen that came into Squires Pond to join the Avocets and they were the only numerous shore bird that we saw on Moriches Bay. On the Cupsogue flats there were two large, well-colored dowitchers with noticeably long bills that might well have been Long-billed Dowitchers; unfortunately, I didn't hear the calls (the only 100% means of separating these two closely related species).

There was a big roost of terns on a sand bar but we never made it across the water to check it out. We did see several Forster's Terns which are almost certainly breeding in the area. Also 8-10 Royal Terns which are probably not (yet) breeding in the area (these are southern terns whose ranges are expanding to the north)  Plus the common Common and Least Terns. Also worthy of note: several Ring-billed Gulls, the first I have noticed this summer.

Besides the dowitchers, the shorebirds were thin on the ground (or in the air): Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, a few Black-bellied Plovers (in non-breeding plumage), a few Piping Plovers (adults and young), Greater Yellowlegs, a possible Western Sandpiper, and the usual American Oystercatchers and Willets complete our meagre shorebird roster. Maybe not so meagre if you count the Avocets and the possible (even likely) Long-billed Dowitcher.

Eric Salzman