Today's walk was at the Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Noyac. We were greeted by the usual gang of seed seeking local moochers.
We had twenty four species for the morning. We saw some early Surf Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers and Bufflehead ducks, Needless to say we saw the local Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Downy Woodpeckers and a legion of American Robins. It's always a pleasant walk and the weather was delightful.
Our walk today was at Blydenburgh County Park in Happauge. Eighteen folks showed up on an chilly morning, that got chillier as we finished our walk. The walk started out slow but at the end we had a flurry of birds. Flocks of Robins and White Throated Sparrows were near the campgrounds. We had a flock of Slate-Colored Juncos near the dog runs. One of the juncos was a rich blue colored bird, I have never seen that before. Next week our walk to finish the season is at Sunken Meadow State Park
Today oyr walk was at the Oceansied Marine Nature Study Area. This is a facility run by the Town Of Hempstead. It is an accessible marshland. The tide was hight but we still saw some very nice birds. There were plenty of Green Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Yellow Crowned Night Herons and Great Blue Herons for us to check out. This is always a great place to visit. When the tide is right we can also see migrating shorebirds at this time of year.
We had a good turnout and everyone enjoyed the morning walk. Our next Tuesday walk is at Shinnecock Inlet and Dune Rd.
Green Heron
Today was our kickoff of the fall 2025 season of Bird/Nature Walks. To start in style we had a Bald Eagle fly over the parking lot as we did our morning introduction circle. As we were leaving the parking lot a tres on the edge of the lotgave us a bunch of birds to look at, Goldfinches, Chipping Sparrows, Chickadees, and some Cedar Waxwings. There was an Eastern Phoebe hanging around allso. A good start to our walk. We had over 22 species of birds with the Cedar Waxwings providing looks throught the walk. A pair of Belted Kingfishers were flying over the lake edge. At the end of the walk an Osprey perched for us to have a raelly good look
Our walk today was at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank . The farm is run as an educational facility and is open for walks and observation. We had seventeen folks show up for our last walk of the spring 2025 season. Our fall walks will begin in September 2025. We managed to squeak out a list of 20 some species. The highlights were, Willow Flycatchers, Cedar Waxwings, and Warbling Vireos. A few raptors showed up. Red tailed Hawks and an Eagle flew over. The weather was perfect for our walk. Bob Glasser took a couple of pictures to share
Our walk to day was at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. It is a marshland that gives you opportunities to up close for good looks at waders and shorebirds. Today was not disappointing. We got good looks at a bunch of them. One of the highlights is the close looks at the Night Herons. They were very cooperative today and with the bright sunshine it was very enjoyable. The Yellow -crowned Night Herons were in close and gave good views
We had 28 species of birds, a nice walk in a nice place and everyone enjoyed it
Today our walk was at Belmont Lake Sate Park, this is our usual location the morning after our annual dinner. The dinner was a great success with everyone having a great time. The presentation by Shai Mitra about his trip to Antarctica was well received.
We had 17 folks show up for our walk despite the threatening weather conditions. The rain did hold off long enough for us to finish our walk in a slightly shortened time frame. We saw over 25 species of birds including Great Crested Flycatchers, Red Eyed Vireos, Yellow Warblers and a couple of Veerys. A sighting of note was an Eastern Box Turtle
Our walk today was the second of the spring 2025 season. Twelve hardy birders braved the chilly winds to go see some birds. We had 23 species of birds this am. Highlights were
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Tree Swallows, Eastern Phoebes, and lots of Ospreys flying around. Red tailed Hawks were being chased by Crows and a Northern Flicker was on a dead snag. The tree swallows were looking to pair up.
On the way out we saw a pair of Common Ravens fly overhead
Great South Bay Audubon 05/21/2024
Our walk today was at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. The MNSA is run by the Town of Hempstead. It is a wetland area on the south shore of Nassau County. Thera are boardwalks throught the marshland. We had 16 people show up and the weather was perfect.
We had really good looks at some of the spring visitors and a few of the regular water birds that are seen there. We saw over 24 species of birds with good looks at most of them. One bird we can count on to see there regularly is the Yellow-crowned Night Herom.
Our walk this Tuesday 04/30/2024 was at the Sisters of St. Joseph Campus in Brentwood. Fifteen folks showed participated as we walked the grounds of the facility. The campus is very environment friendly. They have waste water reclamation and solar arrays. The farm on the property is all organic, and they have planted native trees through out the property. We had 24 species of birds, we saw Goldfinches, woodpeckers, and some yellow rumped warblers.
The highlight was as we were finishing the walk, we heard a group of crows squawking and flying into a stand of pine trees. They were mobbing an unseen threat. Eventually a great horned owl flew out of the pines and away from the crows flying right in front of the group. A great finish to a nice spring walk
Our walk was at Norman Levy Preserve in Merrick NY. We started off with perfect weather for a spring walk. Bright sunshine and little or no wind and cool temperatures. While we were doing our introductory circle we were visited by a couple of the resident Monk Parakeets
What a great morning for a walk. Twenty four people shoed up for our walk this morning at Robert Moses State Park. Mild temps and bright sunshine and moderate winds mad for a really enjoyable walk. We walked to the lighthouse and back to the parking lot. We saw 25 species of birds. there were a lot of Northern Mockingbirds.
On the way back to the parking lot we saw a lot of American Lady Butterflies on the pathway
Today our walk was at Jones Beach West End. Twelve people showed up on a spectacular spring day. Our walk started with a Tree Swallow landing close by and showing off it's colors
Our walk today was impacted by the forecasted rain. The weather in the am was a very light rain. Jack and I, Ken, showed up just in case some folks had nothing better to do and wanted to try to sneak some birding in. Some folks did show up and we then decided to try to squeeze in some birding
We did some BBC, Birding By Car, through the Hecksher SP parking lots for and hour. We did get to see some of the regulars that frequent the puddles in the parking lots. We managed to see 21 of the local birds. Making the best of a dreary morning
This was our first walk of the spring season 2024. Fourteen hardy folks showed up to brave the elements and kickoff our spring season. The temperature was slightly cold, in the low forties, but with a northerly wind it felt much colder
As we started heading to the boardwalk a Bald eagle flew overhead for our first bird of the day. Not a bad start. There was a scattering of sea ducks on the sound. Another highlight was a pair of Purple Sandpipers on the rock jetty.
Our species total was 31, not bad for a cold spring start to our season
Our walk today was at Jones Beach West End. WE had good attendance, twenty people shoed up on a fine, cool crisp fall morning.
We started by scoping the sand bar for shorebirds. We saw Oystercatchers, Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plovers and some Dunlin. In the bay were some Black Scoter, a couple of Common Loons and Double Crested Cormorants.
One of the highlights was a Dickcissel in the grass near the parking lot. On the walk down to the fisherman's lot we encountered bunches of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Golden Crowned Kinglets and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Add a couple of Hermit Thrushes and Chipping Sparrows and it added up o a good morning walk
Today was our final Tuesday walk for the fall season. It was bright, crisp and windy. A typical fall day on the north shore of Long Island. We had fifteen people show up to brave the NW winds on the boardwalk. The whitecaps on the sound hid any seabirds from view.
Later on during the walk we had our annual look at Cedar Waxwings feeding on the berries on the bushes and trees
See you in March.
We had a very unusual weather situation today. In my recollected history of fall birding at Jones Beach the temps have never been this mild. The temperature was near if not seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Not that I'm complaining but I do wonder about global warming.
The tide was high when we started. so we walked the hedge row and then went into the median. Ther were not many species of birds on that part of our walk. Although we did see enough Yellow-rumped Warblers and Red-breasted Nuthatches to fill the morning. A nice sighting of a Cooper's Hawk and a couple of lingering Ospreys helped fill that phase.
After the median we headed back to the boat basin and sand bar and as hopes the tide was lower and the bar exposed. There were hundreds of shorebirds and terns and gulls on the bar, We had Black-bellied plovers, and Sanderlings and Forster's Terns. and Dunlin. There were a pair of Royal Terns, some Ruddy Turnstones and Short-billed Dowitchers. A really nice finish to our morning.
Another great group of folks showed up today for our fall walk at the Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. The weather was good, not too hot, not too cool and plenty of sunshine and mild winds. Sixteen people showed up for the walk.
The bird of the day was the two Clapper Rails we saw near the bridge at the pond
We didn't see the usual quantity of bird we see here but the quality was high with the good looks at a Clapper Rail. The rails are normally reclusive and hard to see. Another high light was a spotted sandpiper foraging with two Short-billed Dowitchers. Plus with the usual mix of Egrets and Lesser Yellowlegs, all in all we had a good morning
GSBAS Nature walk September 13, 2022 Shinnecock inlet and Dune Rd.
A rainy forecast did not prevent seven hardy birders from making the trip out east to Shinnecock Inlet this morning. Between the rain and the high tide we had some flooded road conditions to deal with as we made our way down Dune Rd.
The bird of the day was Egrets. we had over forty egrets, a mix of Greater and Snowy. There were a couple of Great Blue Herons just to be different. The high tide kept us from seeing the usual number of shorebirds we see on this trip. We only saw a few Black-bellied Plovers and a small flock of Sanderlings plus on Greater Yellowlegs.
While viewing from the Tiana Beach Pavilion we did see some dolphins and one whale breach.
We mad the best of a challenging morning.
