Calverton and North Fork Preserve

Over the weekend I visited a site I'd never been to before in Calverton. Despite it's close proximity to EPCAL which I have gone to regularly for years, I'd never noticed it before. It's just off the road and contains several small, shallow wetlands. My guess is that in the late spring and early summer it will be teeming with interesting wetland plants, frogs, tadpoles and dragonflies. On Friday morning during my brief visit, there was a good flock of Ruby Crowned Kinglets, plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds (who certainly will be nesting there) and a handful of colorful Pine Warblers as seen below.

EPCAL featured lots of the good stuff - Northern Harriers, a couple dozen American Kestrels, Wild Turkeys, herds of White-tailed Deer and plenty of Eastern Meadowlarks who were actively calling. A lone groundhog was seen looking around on the North side of the property (across Route 25).

A trip to North Fork Preserve didn't yield many photos but showed how much potential the site has. I saw Green-winged Teal, 7 Snipe, a Great Blue Heron, 2 red fox, lots of Wild Turkey, several hawk species and heard some warblers and kinglets. I'm really looking forward to the full migration push when Warblers will be coming through as the small pockets of wetlands at the North Fork Preserve are prime habitat for many of these species.

Tree Swallows taking up residence in a Wood Duck box

Nice lighting on "home pond"

I visited another East End location where I'd heard about an Owl nest and sure enough there it was... I stayed for a couple of minutes and then was on my way. I'd like to get back in the early morning for better lighting - but I'm headed on vacation later this week to Florida so not sure when I'll have the opportunity.

This nest has produced at least 1 Owlet

For more on birds that can be found around Long Island - check out this book by John Turner: Exploring the Other Island: A seasonal guide to nature on Long Island

Pink-footed Goose

Yesterday evening Derek Rogers whom I've known since College was driving home and saw a large flock of geese on the North side of the LIE and figured he would give it a scan since there was some light left. Before long he had plucked out a Pink-footed Goose, a proverbial needle in a haystack (or stack of goose down anyway). The Pink-footed Goose is the holy grail of Geese in the Northeast and there it was right in Holtsville. This morning a report of the bird being at Medford Athletic Complex was great news for me since my office is right down the road from there but by the time my lunch break came around the birds were gone - replaced by Soccer Players enjoying the warm February weather. So I rolled the dice that the bird would head to the Soccer fields in Holtsville again around dusk and sure enough - within 5 minutes of my arrival I watched the bird fly in from the North through my binoculars and land at the far north end of the field.

So while I'm happy to get this difficult bird in a place so close to home I'm woefully disappointed in the image quality (no thanks to the light and distance). Maybe I'll get lucky in the next few days.


If you are interested in Birds that can be found around Long Island - check out this book by John Turner: Exploring the Other Island: A seasonal guide to nature on Long Island

Snowy Owl and Snow Goose

This afternoon I had a little time to look for birds so I headed out east and started on Dune Rd. where a Snowy Owl has repeatedly been reported stationed on Warner Island just east of the Shinnecock Bridge and just West of the Shinnecock Fishing Station.  Sure enough, the bird was there - though it was probably the most underwhelming Snowy Owl experience given the significant distance and the average optics I had (Nikon Action Ex Extreme 8 X 40 mm All Terrain Binoculars).  Still, it's always nice to locate and see this powerful and beautiful bird and below is the best image I was able to ascertain with my camera at a distance of ~ 1/3 of a mile.

The Shinnecock Inlet held nothing of interest aside from a couple seals who popped their heads up and some loons.  Here's a photo of a Red-throated loon I took last weekend at Cupsogue Beach:

Hoping to get lucky and find some wood ducks or other bird of interest I stopped in at Quogue Wildlife Refuge where the first bird I noticed was a Snow Goose (that seems to have a broken wing).  The bird was able to get around ok and swim (and of course there's plenty of food at the refuge) but certainly won't be able to fly when the time comes.  I'm assuming that the staff there is aware of this and that it will be captured by the Hamptons rescue group soon enough and rehabbed.  This was my first encounter with this species - so it's too bad that the bird is injured but still nice to see it and glad to see it at a safe haven like Quogue Wildlife Refuge.

If you are interested in the binoculars I use - check out the link below: