GSBAS Tuesday Nature Walk 09/24/2019

What a beautiful day for a walk. An overnight cold front and a brief shower cleared the humidity and lowered the temperatures.Eight people showed up for the walk at The Suffolk County farm in Yaphank. We spent the first half hour watching Merlins and Kestrels patrolling the fields and interacting with each other. There were three Merlins and two Kestrels. They put on a fine show.

We continued our walk past fields of corn and potatoes and passed a large field of sunflowers, which was lit up by the bright sun. We the headed into the barnyard past the livestock and headed to the butterfly garden. It was a nice day with some wonderful nature to absorb and enjoy

GSBAS Tuesday Nature Walk 09/17/2019

Today our walk was at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. The weather was spectacular. Brilliant sunshine and mild winds across the spartina gave a  beautiful waving color to marsh. The area has boardwalks through the marsh which lets you get up close to the wildlife.

We were initially greeted by a Little Green Heron, viewable from the parking lot. We had 16 species of birds for our efforts for the morning. We had both Great and Snowy egrets, Glossy Ibis and lots of Yellowlegs. Oystercatchers and Black-bellied Plovers added to the morning.

A couple of us stopped at The Jones beach Coast Guard Station and found a Caspian Tern. Another good morning with some good birds

GSBAS Tuesday Nature Walk September 10, 2019

Today's walk was at Shinnecock Inlet and Dune Rd. We mat at the inlet and then drove Dune rd stopping at different pullouts. The shorebirds were scattered on the distant islands. There were Common Eider hanging around still. Of note were over 50 Royal Terns scattered at each of the stops we made. We managed to see 22 species of birds on the walk. That is slow for that location at this time of the year.

Along Dune Rd at multiple locations were large flocks of migrating Tree Swallows. At this time of the year they gather in large flocks and migrate along the barrier beaches. The flocks contain thousands of swallows and create a spectacular shoe as the sweep and swirl along the beaches staying low to feed on the insects. It is spectacular to see the masses of bird moving in unison

GSBAS Tuesday Nature Walk 09/03/2019

Today our walk was at Connetquot State Park Preserve. The weather was spectacular, I take full credit for that. Temperatures in the 70's  and light wind made for a nice walk in a great park. Birding was a little slow. We did manage to see an Eastern Kingbird sitting over the lake. On the green Trail we had good looks at an Eastern Phoebe as it was flycatching along the edge of the trail. After the walk was over we went to Heckscher SP  to try to see a reported rarity. There has bee a Baird's Sandpiper there for the last couple of days and it was still here for our visit. A really nice finish to a nice day.

Eastern Phoebe