on the Peconic River

I had the pleasure of eating dinner last night at the back of an excellent small Greek restaurant next to the Atlantis Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead. The outdoor tables here overlook the Peconic River which was teeming with fish and fisherfolk, both human and avian. The fish were the Blue Snappers which were good sized and biting vigorously. The birds, feeding on the snappers or (more likely) the bait fish fleeing the snappers, included both Yellow- and Black-crowned Night Herons, adults and immatures, Great Blue Heron, lots of Double-crested Cormorants, lots of Forster's Terns, various gulls, Forster's Terns, Belted Kingfisher, Mute Swans (probably not feeding on the fish), many ducks (all Mallards as far as I could see and also probably not feeding on the fish) and a number of other birds that I couldn't identify (I didn't have my binoculars). All in all, quite a show.

On the drive home, I registered my second Blue Moon of the day (the first one was early in the morning).

This morning's round-up included Great Crested Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher (big eye-ring; first of the season), Veery (first of the season; feeding on Tupelo fruits with Robins and Catbirds), Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, many Common Yellowthroats in various plumages, Am Goldfinches in various plumages, Royal Terns on the creek, House and Carolina Wrens, Green Herons and a small flock of Bank Swallows overhead.

Eric Salzman

Linnaean Field Trip

The hot weather broke just in time for yesterday's Linnaean Field Trip. The Linnaean Society is an old natural history society (the second oldest in the country) which meets at the Museum of Natural History and sponsors talks, field trips, etc. I've been doing this trip (or something like it) for many years now; it's usually billed as "Eastern Long Island specialties" and it usually starts at Shinnecock Inlet. This year, partly because of the Curlew Sandpiper, I decided to start at Cupsogue County Park just off Moriches Inlet and continuing at nearby Pike's Beach, two locations where there are many lingering shorebirds, a good collection of local breeders and various visitors including a variety of terns and possible pelagics.

The area only partly lived up its promise. The Curlew Sandpiper, a distinguished Eurasian visitor, was nowhere to be seen. The Common Terns were active but there were few Least Terns (a species that seems to be doing very badly this year) and we saw just a single Roseate Tern, apparently nesting in the Common Tern colony at the edge of the big spoil island. No other terns were seen unless you count Black Skimmer as a sort of honorary tern. And there were no pelagics unless you count a large unidentified white-winged bird flying away over the bay (possibly a Northern Gannet) and/or a Common Loon in breeding plumage lying dead on the ocean beach. Even without a Curlew Sandpiper, the shorebird collection was a lot more varied than one might expect at this time of the year: Piping Plover, Semipalmated Plover, many Black-bellied Plovers, American Oystercatcher, yellowlegs (calling; I think Lesser), Willets (including at least one Western Willet), Ruddy Turnstone, a few Red Knots (mostly on the island in front of the Pike's Beach overlook), Sanderling, one Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpipers, a possible White-rumped Sandpiper, and quite a few Short-billed Dowitchers. The dowitchers are usually considered the first fall migrants appearing in the last week of June but, with the obvious exception of local breeders, it seems to me impossible to say where these birds are headed. In my opinion, most of the lingering migrant shore birds are immatures or sub-adults who never reach the breeding grounds in the first place but spend at least part of the summer with us before turning around and heading south.

Did I forget anything? Black-crowned Night-Hernon the marsh; a single Glossy Ibis flying overhead. The usual egrets and cormorants and lots of Barn and Tree Swallows. Osprey here, as elsewhere, seem to be doing well with young birds approaching the age of flight. Willow Flycatcher breeds here and is easily seen and heard; also Eastern Kingbird and Yellow Warbler. There are two birds that should be here but I don't know where to find them; they are the marsh sparrows: Saltmarsh and Seaside. I know where to go on Shinnecock but I still have to figure out the Cupsogue marshes.

Our next stop was Westhampton (Gabreski) Airport where, on arrival, we got a brief glimpse of a Vesper Sparrow plus a pair of Savannah Sparrows, one of which appeared to be very agitated suggesting a nearby nest. My guess is that the nervous bird that hung in close on the airport fence was the female while the second bird, keeping its distance, was its mate. Oddly enough, Savannah Sparrows are the most difficult of the grassland sparrows to locate west of Easthampton! A soaring Turkey Vulture (in the past few years a common summer sight in these parts), a soaring Red-tailed Hawk, a singing sub-adult Eastern Bluebird, Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Kingbirds, an Eastern Phoebe, Brown-headed Cowbirds and a Killdeer more or less completed the local roster at this site.

After a stop at the airport restaurant for lunch, we moved on to ex-Grumman in Calverton and its iconic grassland birds. The middle of the afternoon is not the best time to look for these birds but we did find a couple of Horned Larks, many Grasshopper Sparrows perched on mullein stalks, and many Eastern Meadowlarks, perched and flying (easy to recognize in flight with its characteristic mode of flight, short tail with white outer tail feathers). Singing at the edge of the grasslands were Field Sparrow and Prairie Warbler.

Our last stop was north of the Grumman fence on Route 25a just opposite where the Mountain Bluebird had appeared last winter. The VOR field between Rute 25 and 25a has been mowed and is no longer a propos for savannah species (although it may now be good for grassland species) which have moved one field north to a lot full of emergent Red Cedars. The star bird here is Blue Grosbeak, a species that essentially appeared as nesters in New York in Calverton and is still largely restricted to this area. The bird pictured here was photographed by Michael Lotito and is almost certainly the identical male that we saw yesterday! It made a nice finish to the day.

Eric Salzman

Sumer Is Icumen In

The first day of summer came in like, well, a summer's day: sunny, blue sky, high humidity and a sense of moist warmth hanging over the landscape. The tide was still fairly low and the Black-crowned Night-Heron was still poking around the edges of the pond -- at least until I arrived and spooked him. The Purple Martin colony seems to have sprung back to life and there were Martins as well as Barn Swallows working the air over the marsh which had the promise of considerable insect nourishment. A rather tuneful and colorful male Baltimore Oriole was busy in the oak tops and a White-breasted Nuthatch, perhaps our first summer wandering visitor, was moving with a Chickadee family flock that also included a Downy Woodpecker.

On the flower scene, I noticed a stand of native rose -- is it Virginia, Carolina, Pasture or Swamp Rose? I'm never quite sure -- at the head of the marsh and also along the right of way that runs parallel to the head of the marsh. The Wild Rose by our pond as well as a big stand of Germander or Wood Sage (and a lot of Poison Ivy as well) was wiped out by Hurricane Irene so I was glad to see that the rose at least has survived (I'm not worried about the Poison Ivy and as to the Germander, we'll see). These Wild Roses, unlike the cultivars, have a simple single halo of petals with a large rosette of yellow stamens in the center; the usual color of the petals is a deep rose (rather than pink). These beautiful flowers are a kind of poem to welcome summer in. As Edward McDowell put it, To a Wild Rose!

Eric Salzman

Mecox

I was in Southampton today and took the opportunity to visit Mecox. There was a stiff northeast breeze blowing across the wide open bay -- not the best viewing conditions. But there were open sand flats and a variety of birds including a couple of phalaropes, always great favorites: a handsome Red-necked in the water and a Wilson's running around on the sand flats, both breeding plumage females (in the phalaropes, the females have the showy plumage). The attached photos of the Red-necked -- almost certainly the same bird seen today -- were taken on Sunday at Mecox by Frank Quevedo.

There were modest numbers of other shore birds including at least one calling White-rumped Sandpiper (the scratchy call is unmistakable), a Dunlin, a couple of Dowitchers, several Piping Plovers, several Black-bellied Plovers, some numbers of Semipalmated Plovers and quite a few Sanderlings and Semipalmated Sandpipers. There were 15 or 16 Black Skimmers roosting on a sand bar, several very active Osprey (a couple of them with fresh fish in their grasp) plus the usual collection of gulls.

There were also many Bank Swallows flying hither and thither and also roosting on the sand flats. Are these local birds or migrants? There were also quite a few Bank Swallows on our East Quogue marsh this morning but, alas, no Bald Eagles.

Eric Salzman