Registrar: Debbie Mullins
Participants: 4
Weather: 20° F with westerly winds at 15 mph
Bird Species: 21
Weather is not always our friend on January birding trips, and this year it certainly was not. The trip was rescheduled for one week later than originally planned to avoid the bad weather that was forecast for January 7, but although conditionshad improved slightly by January 14, it was still a cold and blustery day.
We started at Shinnecock Inlet, hoping to see the King Eider that had been there most of the winter. Unfortunately, the eider rafts were far out in the bay, making it difficult to distinguish a single King Eider from among the hundreds of Common Eiders there.
After battling the wind for an hour, we moved on to Swan Lake, where we saw a nice collection of ducks. Patchogue Lake, however, was almost completely frozen over, and only a few species were visible.
We ended the day at the Atlantic Point Apartments, where Iceland and Glaucous Gulls had been reported recently. We were fortunate to spot a juvenile Iceland Gull on one of the small ponds in the apartment complex, but the Glaucous Gull was not present for our visit.
Species List
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Common Eider
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Iceland Gull
Common Raven
Carolina Wren
