As far as birding went, this past weekend was a total bust. My niece got married, so I spent much of the weekend down on Long Island to attend. But, tonight’s outing definitely took some of the sting out of it. I went to Skinner’s Lane after work, and after a slow start with just a single shorebird (a Black-bellied Plover), things heated up a little bit. First a flock of American Golden-Plovers flew in – twenty birds. They circled around several times before putting down in a distant field. Then a small group of Killdeer flew over; I noticed one bird appeared to be different, so I stayed on it until it landed… and it was a beautiful BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.
I put the word out, but it was getting dark. Linda Scrima joined me and we enjoyed watching all the birds work their way closer to the road until they were quite close. At that point there was barely any light left, and normally I would have abandoned taking pics, but I really wanted to try for the Buff-breasted. They are all super grainy, but I’ve included my best shot of the BBSA below. It’s always nice to have an unexpectedly nice Monday night after spending the day getting back into the swing of things at work.
