Registrar: Regina Ryan
Bird Species: 62
The aim is to find Eastern Long Island specialties and the trip usually begins at the Shinnecock Inlet, works its way all the way west on Dune Road and then goes upland in the afternoon. This year followed the traditional pattern although the Dune Road part of the trip ended up at Pike’s Beach and the nearby bay overlook. Cupsogue Beach Park was omitted for many reasons — one of them being that the Shinnecock part of the run took a lot of time and another reason being that someone’s car had to be pulled out of soft sand; luckily a young Coast Garder who was passing by in his truck came to the rescue. The upland part of the trip was a visit to the EPCAL (ex-Grumman) grasslands, still one of the most beautiful areas out here and one of the most outstanding sites for birdwatching but severely threatened by Riverhead Town’s ambitions to develop and expand its commercial operations there.
Species Lists
Birds
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Clapper Rail
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Willet
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Least Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Black Skimmer
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
Grasshopper Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Meadowlark
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Prairie Warbler
