January 19, 1995 - Winter Bird Watch, Springlike Weather6A • The Suffolk Times • January 19, 1995
Winter Bird Watch, Springlike Weather
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Saturday, Jan. 14. Montauk Point.
Temperature, mild 50 degrees. Can you
believe that at this time of the year? A
group of young and old alike headed for
a day's outing to take advantage of the
unheard -of warm spell we were having.
Of course, binoculars and scopes were
the order of the day. It was overcast,
foggy and still dark when I left my dri-
veway to pick up my other two com-
panions. We
Focus on and rendezvous
Nature with a much larger
group at the Point
and spend the
morning scanning the vast Atlantic for
some of the more unusual sea birds that
occasionally come in close enough this
time of the year to be seen.
Headlights pierced out of a heavy fog
as we traveled along and I felt a bit of
apprehension from my fellow passen-
gers. (If it's foggy here what must it be
like in Montauk ?) Familiar towns
slipped by — Riverhead, Southampton,
Water Mill, Bridgehampton, East
Hampton. Things seemed to be bright-
ening up and as we now passed through
sleepy Amagansett, the fog seemed to
thin out and our world and attitude
changed. We were going to be given one
of those rare days at Montauk that only
once or twice in a lifetime breaks all
records for warmth at this time of the
year.
As we pulled into the big parking lot
at the end of our journey there were Art
and his crew already out of their cars.
Some were putting on coats or sweaters
just in case Montauk's weather changed.
Scopes, those necessary accessories that
bring in birds far off, came clattering
out, their metal legs extended and set up.
Some people sheepishly were eating a
sandwich or sipping coffee. Evidently
their breakfast had been cut short.
Scanning the Ocean
Our first stop was the overlook along-
side the restaurant. Anxious eyes scanned
northward through both binoculars and
scopes. Voices spoke out quietly.
" Goldeneye." "Horned Grebes." Then a
more excited voice called out, "Gannets!
Far off along the horizon." All glasses
swung in that direction. Sure enough,
white flashes of birds came into view.
Gannets, for sure. Here is one of the
great ocean birds that even the novice
can quickly identify. A big, white bird
with long, pointed wings dipped in black
make it easy to recognize. It's also a bird
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,call 298 -3268 details
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RAZOR - BILLED AUK —These northern visitors are occasionally seen
through the winter off Montauk for those who are willing to spend time
searching the ocean through binoculars or scopes.
that occasionally can be found fairly
close to land even though it's more com-
fortable out at sea. Just last week these
dive bombers from on high were seen in
the Sound diving for fish, probably her-
ring, one of their favorite pursuits.
Another voice spoke out, "White -
winged scoters. Red - breasted mergans-
ers." These were ducks we see in our
own inland Sound and bays but for the
beginners they were eagerly sought out
and viewed. "Bonaparte gulls" was the
next cry and all observed a small, almost
ternlike white gull darting over the sur-
face, occasionally dropping down to pick
up a morsel of nourishment.
It wasn't long before Art r�
called out, "Alcid." This is a
term applied to a bird that
frequents the open sea
around rocks more to the
north of us. This is a bird
that is the closest thing to a
penguin we have in our
hemisphere. They stand
upright like a penguin but
are more like a duck in
appearance with short necks
and thick bills. Their color
is black above and white
below.
Now there was a frenzy of
excitement! All interest was
focused on the moving sea
before us but for most it was
a lost cause for the now
identified razor - billed auk
was more interested in feed-
ing in the vast ocean below
than he was in staying
above for us to see him.
"He's up now." All glasses
would home in on the
•-deseril�e�-are$- strelz�s•- � -'
the group of three gulls off to the left."
Some would say "I see it! I see it" with
excitement. Others kept searching.
By now more birders had gathered
about the overlook like some great fra-
ternity meeting, hands outstretched; hugs
were given and greetings exchanged and
the news of what was being seen was
passed around. Soon it was time to move
and so with scopes over our shoulders
and binoculars swinging from our necks,
we set off for the badly eroded bluffs
below. Here, atop the highest spot, fac-
ing east, we set up our scopes and
scanned the ever - moving sea. Again the
cries went out, "Razor- billed auk!" This
time the bird was in close and most had
a good look at it. Red - throated loons
were spotted which were rather unusual
for the common loon of our bays and
Sound is the one usually seen. Here we
actually saw more red - throated loons.
A Seal Sighting
We even had good views of harbor
seals that would pop up every once in a
while, stare at us with those big eyes and
then slip below the water without mak-
ing a ripple. These seals seemed to be
more common this year than usual and I
had one report of someone seeing one in
Greenport Harbor just last week.
Slowly we walked our way around
below the great lighthouse that belched
its fog horn drearily above us. There was
a new rock jetty around the base that
made malking rel-
atively easy. The `aleid' is
By 11 o'clock 11
we were all back the closest
at the parking lot
enjoying sand- thing to a
wiches and drinks.
All had taken off penguin we
their heavy cloth-
ing and were have in our
standing about in hemisphere.
shirt sleeves p
enjoying the
unusually warm and sunny weather. One
of the last stops on our way home was at
East Hampton at Hook Pond where we
saw geese and pin - tailed ducks. Then to
the little nature walk with its hoards of
mallards that were being fed by excited
children and parents. And there amongst
them we spotted a colorful, dazzling
wood duck and its brownish -gray mate.
What a sight it is to see it in the sunshine
with its rainbow colors aglow.
Our last stop was at Shinnecock Inlet
where we could find nothing but a few
mergansers and gulls. A real disap-
pointment. We searched and searched
but saw nothing and then just as we were
about to leave, someone called out,
"Harlequin! Sitting on a rock!" Sure
enough, there it was. The clown in all its
splendor, almost rivaling the wood duck
in color. Our eyes feasted on this hand-
some male as it sat on a throne of green
algae. Our day was complete. We could
now go home, leaving the world of sea-
bird spectaculars to themselves.
Orient Christmas
Bird Count Tally
Here are the results of the 1994 Orient
13; Belted Kingfisher, 27; Red - bellied
Woodpecker, 86; Yellow- bellied Sapsucker, 4;
Christmas Bird Count.
Downy Woodpecker, 132.
Red - throated Loon, 9; Common Loon, 294;
Hairy Woodpecker, 17; Northern Flicker, 164;
Pied - billed Grebe, 1; Horned Grebe, 225; Great
Horned Lark, 35; Blue Jay, 728; American
Cormorant, 5; Double- crested Cormorant, 7;
Crow, 717; Fish Crow, 2; Black- capped
Great Blue Heron, 42; Black- crowned Night-
Chickadee, 674; Tufted Titmouse, 250; White -
Heron, 1; Mute Swan, 68; Snow Goose, 2;
breasted Nuthatch, 113; Brown Creerper, 1;
Brant, 49; Canada Goose, 1365; American
Carolina Wren, 66; Golden- crowned Kinglet, 3;
Black Duck, 1726.
Ruby- crowned Kinglet, 7; Eastern Bluebird, 57.
Mallard, 664; Northern Pintail, 6; Gadwall, 24;
Hermit Thrush, 25; American Robin, 411;
American Wigeon, 4; Canvasback, 5; Greater
Gray Catbird, 9; Northern Mockingbird, 226;
Scaup, 435; Oldsquaw, 2072; Black Scoter, 83;
Brown Thrasher, 1; European Starling, 3208;
Surf Scoter, 622; White - winged Scoter, 7943;
Yellow - rumped Warbler, 409; Northern
Common Scoter, sp., 6900; Common
Cardinal, 303; Rufous -sided Towhee, 44;
Goldeneye, 1575; Bufflehead, 1379; Red-
American Tree Sparrow, 24; Field Sparrow, 14;
breasted Merganser, 1159; Ruddy Duck, 1.
Savannah Sparrow, 10.
Northern Harrier, 8; Sharp- shinned Hawk, 9;
Sharp - tailed Sparrow, 6; Fox Sparrow, 7;
Cooper's Hawk, 2; Red - tailed Hawk, 32;
Song Sparrow, 398; Swamp Sparrow, 15;
American Kestrel, 13; Merlin, 2; Ring- necked
White- throated Sparrow, 1078; White- crowned
Pheasant, 15; Northern Bobwhite, 45; Clapper
Sparrow, 1; Dark -eyed Junco, 178; Snow
Rail, 1; American Coot, 13; Killdeer, 3; Greater
Bunting, 27; Red - winged Blackbird, 488;
Yellowlegs, 5; Sanderling, 23; American
Eastern Meadowlark, 59; Rusty Blackbird, 2;
Woodcock, 6.
Common Grackle, 436; Brown- headed
Bonaparte's Gull, 6; Ring - billed Gull, 612;
Cowbird, 33; House Finch, 1435; American
Herring Gull, 3396; Great Black- backed Gull,
Goldfinch, 84; House Sparrow, 502.
263; Rock Dove, 159; Mourning Dove, 1196;
Total Species: 955. Total Individuals: 45,029.
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