The weather reports
and the birding reports were both looking really good, so much
anticipation was built on the Montauk trip of 12-2-12.
A nice
group of us participated. Bob and Helen met at my house, and together
with Jean we made our way out east. Our first stop was at East Moriches,
where heavy fog that was not forecast when I last checked the reports
was a bit frustrating. We met Rich Fried {Former NYS big year champion
of ~350 birds } on site, and exchanged phone numbers in the event the
bird resurfaced. We also did our best to creatively morph a Common Loon
or Red-throated Loon into our desired species: a Pacific Loon; present
through the prior day. Sadly my transformative powers are on par with my
alchemy skills, and the loons persisted as do my lumps of plumbum.
Moving
on we stopped briefly at Hook Pond, it too covered in fog, and could
not locate anything of note beyond Green-winged Teal, despite reports of
Red-necked Grebe and Snow Goose. Two fellows using their noisy RC boats
may have had a bit to do with it as well...
Next we stopped at
the farm on Further Lane where we were not disappointed by the reports
of 5 Greater White-fronted Geese in the immense Canada Goose Flock. Bob
was scored a lifer by Helen picking them out, but we could not pick out
anything else interesting, and we moved on.
A brief stop at Kirk
Park Beach parking lot {aka the lot by the IGA supermarket} in Montauk
was immediately rewarded by the location of White-winged Crossbills
cavorting in the pines. Numerous Red-breasted Nuthatches were present
continuing the trend of a banner year for this species, as were a few
Junco and Goldfinch. A single Red Crossbill was amongst the White-winged
Crossbills, and Helen scored a lifer. We then scrambled to meet the
others at the point.
We joined the others behind the snack bar
overlooking the ocean, and started raking up the birds. At first it
seemed a bit sparse, but the birds were there minus the frigid temps,
blustery winds, and shivering usually accompanying this trip.
Pleasantly, the fog producing low pressure also meant that there were
virtually no waves; those liquid things that make a lot of goodies so
hard to find in the first place.
Some Scoters of one flavor
here, another flavor there, and the last one out there was good to find.
Rafts of Common Eider were about in suitable numbers, as were Oldsquaw.
Both loons and Red-breasted Merganser were represented well too.
Scanning the water, up to four Razorbills at a time were seen, but
frequent diving made getting others on them a bit challenging.
But
by far the best find of the day was by Bob who pointed out a Dovekie as
it flew right in front of us, and allowed all of us to get on the bird
and get terrific views. As he pointed out, sometimes it pays to look
with your eyes rather than have an eyeball glued to the scope.
Moving
on to Camp Hero, we found much the same seabirds and then searched for
land birds in the pathetically quiet woods, then consumed comestibles.
Moving on to other locations we found it relatively quiet as well.
Moving
on to the east jetty of Montauk Lake, we scanned for birds. Though not
absent, again, not in great concentrations either. Ian found Purple
Sandpipers on the jetty, and Bob found a Great Cormorant on a buoy.
Helen spied the reported Brown Pelican as it flew into the back of the
‘lake’ but before the rest of us could get on it.
We walked back
to look for it and found it on a sand bar near the docks. After
finishing perusing the beach which yielded no unusual gulls, we drove
down the road to relocate the Pelican. I snapped a few photos, and Stu
commented it was “his kind of birding” as he did not have to get out of
the car to see the bird.
We stopped back at the Crossbill site
for Stu and Ronnie, but as we approached I saw a flock of finch type
devices wafting westward. As feared, the x-bills were not in the lot,
but were in a patch of pines a bit west of there. Helen and I relocated
them, but it was unfortunately too far for Stu to walk.
Back at
the lot we walked across the street to the lake and found lots of coots
and scored Ring-necked Duck. On our earlier visit Jean and Helen had
seen a Towhee there.
With daylight fading we decided for a
penultimate try at Moritches for the Loon. At mid-day, a report had come
through that it had been seen. I was a bit concerned as I presumed that
Rich would have located this bird and called me...
With more
inauspiciousness, the fog suddenly began to appear again! WTF!! Helen
and Bob tried to assuage my concern by saying that it would most
probably not be at our destination, and was most probably only a local
phenomenon.
Thankfully they were correct. But arriving on site
and conferring with the still present Rich Fried, we learned that the
earlier report was spurious; many people were looking all day and no one
else has seen it either before or afterwards.
We ended the day
at the end of Atlantic avenue, where our disappointment was not relieved
by finding the loon in the waters around us. But the Water’s Edge
restaurant opened for dinner and Ian suggested we try it as it was that
time of day. We availed ourselves of their selections and all were
pleased. Tasty!
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