Registrar: Debbie Mullins
Participants: 17
Weather: Low to high 70s F, clear skies, NNE winds at 5-10 mph
Bird Species: 43
It was a perfect day for birding on the mudflats at Cupsogue County Park in Suffolk County—clear skies, cool breezes, and an expert leader, Eileen Schwinn. We started walking out to the mudflats at 8:30, about two hours before low tide, encountering several species of passerines, including warblers, in the pine trees along the road. Just before reaching the campground, we turned toward the bay and saw that the sandbars and shoreline were loaded with gulls, terns, and shorebirds. We saw all five expected species of gulls, as well as four species of terns, including nineteen Royal Terns. Eleven species of shorebirds were observed, as well as many Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and Black Skimmers. It was a real treat to see two Seaside Sparrows and a Saltmarsh Sparrow in the marsh, as well as a Clapper Rail. When the tide started to come in, we started walking back to the parking lot and enjoyed lunch together before returning to the city.
On the way home, part of the group stopped at Heckscher State Park, Field 7, where we saw a Stilt Sandpiper in a parking lot puddle.
Species List
Clapper Rail
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Short-billed Dowitcher
Willet (Western)
Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black Skimmer
Least Tern
Forster’s Tern
Common Tern
Royal Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
American Goldfinch
Seaside Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Prairie Warbler
Northern Cardinal
