Runnin' the North Shore Route

Hooray for the Great Backyard Bird Count, another excuse to go birding!

I was more than happy for such an excuse. However, it was not good weather, unless you define good weather as snowing and in the 20s, plus being dark and overcast. Nonetheless I checked my patches up on the Hempstead Harbor in Nassau County, NY.

First up was Tappen Beach, a place I've written about many times before on this blog. Between the snow and the dreary conditions, it was somewhat hard to pick out much, especially since most of the harbor was frozen over, providing a neat resting spot for the Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls. It being Valentine's Day, there were numerous lovebirds hanging around, but I was more interested in studying the greater wing coverts of a juvenile Herring Gull. A scope scan on the western side of the harbor revealed some Red-breasted Mergansers and Bufflehead. 

Someone had dumped birdseed in some bushes and they were now full of sparrows, specifically, White-throated, Song and Dark-eyed Juncos. A little further up the beach was a crew of American Tree Sparrows hiding from me as best they could until they gave up and showed themselves. A Killdeer alerted me to it's presence by voice and then ran around on the sand.

American Tree Sparrow

A diligent count of the Mallards in the water revealed that there were 90 present, but said count had to be redone when it was discovered that there were actually five Gadwalls mixing with the Mallards. See the video here.

Mallards Departing

Gadwall

The next stop was Sea Cliff Beach. Here, there was a grand total of 17 Red-breasted Merganser, hanging around all over the water. Also present were 14 American Black Duck, three more Gadwall, three Bufflehead, and three Common Goldeneye, one of which came in very close and offered great photo opportunities, if only the light would have cooperated.

Common Goldeneye

The final stop was by accident. As we whizzed by a tiny pond with no real name, I spotted a Canada Goose with an orange neck collar. We pulled over and read the collar, coded F5A6, with binoculars. I have found numerous tagged Canada Geese in this area before.

Here's the banded goose...

And here's the info I sent to the Bird Banding Labratory.

I would have liked to bird more, but it was dark, cold and snowing, and so the day was done. Not wasted, however!