An unusual bird at Jone's Beach

Jone's Inlet


The channel and bay where the shearwater has been feeding

I've been trying to write up a detailed report from my notes but the computer gods have conspired against me. I'll get to it eventually this weekend. Shane and I drove out to the Jones Beach Coast Guard Station in search of a reported shearwater. We ran into Tom, Gail, Shai and Pat just after we arrived. Standing on the dunes overlooking the water we quickly found a bird that has alternately been identified as a Manx Shearwater or Audubon's Shearwater. Both seabird species are rarely seen around NYC and vicinity and they are very similar in appearance.

As the morning wore on a sizable group of birders gathered and we all observed the shearwater for a long period of time. By the time Shane and I left it appeared that the general consensus was that the bird was an Audubon's Shearwater.

-Click to learn more about Audubon's Shearwater-

Other highlights at Jone's Beach were King Eider, Caspian Tern, Dickcissel and Clay-colored Sparrow!

-Photos of an Audubon's Shearwater-
-Photos of a Manx Shearwater-

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Jone’s Beach Coast Guard Station, 9/21/2005
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Common Loon
Audubon's Shearwater (Just north of Jone's Inlet channel.)
Great Egret
American Wigeon
Green-winged Teal
King Eider (Near CGS.)
Osprey
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover (Heard only on flyover.)
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern (2, sandbar opposite the CGS.)
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Dickcissel (Near CGS.)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow (Weedy stretch adjacent the CGS fence.)
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow (Juvenile.)
Boat-tailed Grackle
Baltimore Oriole

Other common species seen (or heard):
Double-crested Cormorant, Canada Goose, American Black Duck, Mallard, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, American Crow, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow, House Finch, House Sparrow

Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) at Jone's Inlet


(Photo credit - Rob J)

Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) napping on the rocks

(Photo credit - Rob J)