President’s Message – Summer 2021

Hello my little birding friends!! Hope you are all well and are enjoying watching the birds. My little birds can’t wait for me to fill the feeders. They don’t even wait until I’m done before they fly over! The mallards, now about 40, come to eat the cracked corn we put on the ground, as do the squirrels and other birds. One day I saw a black squirrel pull the suet right out of the holder and run off with it! The canal has been frozen, on and off, with some ice floats. 

There has been a male long- tailed duck, formerly called an old squaw, sitting on one. I put up my scope so I could see him better and found he had a broken wing. He seemed healthy, often hopping into the water every now and then. I called some rescue centers, but they really couldn’t help unless I caught the duck and brought him in! I haven’t seen him in a few weeks now and hope he’s ok. In the 25 years I’ve lived here, I have never seen a long-tailed duck in the canal. Merganzers, scaups, and an occasional loon, visit in the winter months, but never a long-tail. 

We had a bird walk February 6th by Jones Beach. Six members showed up at the Coast Guard Station to see many ducks, including long-tails, scaups, mallards, black scoters, merganzers, Canada geese, and buffleheads. The new Nature Center had a few flocks of snow buntings. There were a lot of trails, with some leading down to the ocean, but they weren’t plowed and it was too hard and too slippery to walk them, as was the beach to find any snowy owls. Beautiful day though!

Hopefully, we will be having our annual dinner in the fall and some other happenings as more and more people get their covid -19 shots. Look for them on our news flash emails. The photo/artwork page in the newsletter is a great adage. Thanks to all who sent in their wonderful shots! If any of you have an article to add to the newsletter, including a funny birding story, please send it on in for consideration. Stay safe and happy birding!