Jones Beach was teeming with birds when I arrived just after sunrise at West End. The only problem was, they were flying overhead and most of the birds just kept on going. The flocks were made up mostly of
Pine Siskins,
Purple Finches,
American Goldfinches,
Cedar Waxwings and
Yellow-rumped Warblers. Siskins were the dominant flock and my count when I left Jones for
Point Lookout was 4500. It seems this is an unprecedented year for Siskins as none of the old time birders could recall seeing the types of flights that has been sustained over a few weeks now following cold fronts. If you think 4500 was a lot. Well, over at
Robert Moses, my friend Shai Mitra tallied over 20,000 Pine Siskins. My 4500 was very likely a spill over from Moses.
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| Vesper Sparrow |
Surprisingly with all this movement, Sparrows were non-existent on the ground with very, very few counted. The highlights were 1 juvenile
White-crowned Sparrow and 1
Vesper Sparrow.
 |
| American Golden-Plover in the background |
Leaving Jones, I made a trip to
Point Lookout hoping for some
Sparrow flocks, but that was not to be, although I did find a nice
American Golden-Plover in the parking lot.
 |
| Note the 8 Royal Terns on the sand bar at the Coast Guard Station, Jones Beach LI |
A return to Jones to coincide with the high tide did turn up a few additional birds on the sand bar across from the Coast Guard Station. Highlights were 58
Black Skimmers, 238
American Oystercatchers and 8
Royal Terns.
Tags:
Vesper Sparrow,
American Golden-Plover,
Jones Beach State Park,
Long Island
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