Registrar: Mary Beth Kooper
Participants: 15
Weather: Sunny, 79 degrees, light breeze
Bird Species: 43
Patrice Domeischel and Luci Betti-Nash, both Board members of the Four Harbors Audubon Society on Long Island’s North Shore, led our group on a very pleasant morning walk at the former Chandler Estate, now the Chandler Preserve, in Mount Sinai, Long Island. Back in the 1920s, the land was a girl’s camp called Camp Sewanhaka. After it became the Chandler Estate, cottages were erected and notable people, including Marilyn Monroe spent time there. When the heyday of summer residents ended, the buildings fell into disrepair, and in 2001, Suffolk County acquired the property. After the last structure burned to the ground in 2004 the county razed any remaining structures. Any structural debris has long been cleared and only beautiful trails with some interesting vegetation remain.
During our walk we heard and saw many of the breeding birds of the area, although some were more elusive than others; a Great Crested Flycatcher remained hidden from view, while the Northern Mockingbirds couldn’t seem to get enough attention. As we wended our way down and back to the beautiful Mount Sinai Harbor we also encountered numerous mammals and butterflies (see lists below).
Species Lists
Birds
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Blue-winged Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Butterflies
Spicebush Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Question Mark
Silver-spotted Skipper
Zabulon Skipper
Insects
Large Milkweed Bug
Mammals
Eastern Chipmunk
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern Cottontail
White-tailed Deer
