You are browsing the archives of Nassau County.

Seth Ausubel is one of the best birders in Queens, New York, and Corey is ever-so-thankful that Seth does not use eBird because that way Corey can pretend that he is the top lister in the borough.  Seth is generous with his knowledge, and, knowing this, Corey cajoled him into providing this post about one [...]

Though Jones Beach State Park on the south shore of Long Island is rightfully famous for its beaches there is far more than the junction of sand and salt water to entice visitors from Long Island, New York City, and further afield.  Fishermen ply their craft on both the bay side of the state park [...]

On a recent outing across coastal Nassau County on Long Island on a rainy, windy, dreary day, Stella Miller and I spent several minutes watching a Great Egret Ardea alba with an odd foraging strategy at the Marine Nature Study Area in the town of Oceanside.  As the bird slowly walked through the wind-whipped water, [...]

The Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside, New York, is, as I have repeatedly stated, a great place to see birds.  The boardwalks through the saltmarsh get you into the habitat in a way that is usually difficult to do without wearing boots and trampling plants, and the constant presence of people there means that [...]

On one of those gloomy, gray, and gross days last week I met up with Doug and Shane, those two irrepressible Brooklyn birders, and we made our way to Nassau County, just east of New York City on Long Island, for some birding along the coast.  The cloud-filled sky occasionally drizzled on us, sometimes rained [...]

When last I birded with Patrick Belardo he was still cursed so I was really looking forward to birding with him again to determine if whatever evil had a hold on him had let go or if he was doomed to never again see a rarity.  Our plan this past Monday was to take a [...]

On Tuesday, my last day of my leave of absence before my return to work (sigh) Daisy was kind enough to to let me out of the house and Danny, one of my Queens birding pals, was kind enough to agree on an expedition to two of the best birding spots on the south shore [...]

Yesterday, Sunday, three days before I was scheduled to be a dad (still not yet!) I was out and about in Nassau County with five other birders on the Queens County Bird Club‘s “South Shore Potpourri” trip, a yearly search for waterfowl both rare and common in the assorted small parks and ponds that are [...]

After having fully explored the trail around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay, we four bird bloggers agreed to load up Patrick’s car and head over to Jones Beach to see what kind of birds we could find there and some other locations in Nassau County.  Carrie had been at Jones Beach pretty recently, but [...]

Late yesterday morning I was in the home stretch of my favorite birding routine in Queens, which is taking two buses to Kissena Park and then walking through various and sundry parks back to Queens Boulevard where the subway takes me home.  It had been a good morning’s birding, with an out-of-season Chipping Sparrow as [...]

Last Sunday was a very weird day of birding that went in completely unexpected directions.  I slept in late, and by late I mean the sun was well up and the world was well lit by the time I left my apartment and walked to Forest Park for some digiscoping.  While at the park I [...]

This Sunday I spent a delightful morning in the company of seven other birders, all members of the Queens County Bird Club, on a field trip exploring the ponds and parks along the south shore of Nassau County (the county immediately to the east of Queens).  Of course, Nassau County is heavily developed, with housing, [...]

After my visit to Jones Beach this past Saturday I decided to work my way away back to Queens by hopping from park to park.  Cow Meadow Park, a Nassau County park, is just north and west of Jones Beach, and is well-known as a good spot to see some shorebirds.  This time of year, [...]

When I found out Daisy’s younger sister Steph was staying overnight at our house on Saturday after taking their father to the airport I was happy.  Not just to see Steph, though she is fun to hang out with, but because I figured that she tends to sleep late, which meant that I might have [...]

So, if you aren’t already sick of the birds of the Marine Nature Study Area after over imbibing on Black Skimmers and Great Egrets, there is one more bird that Daisy and Kerry and I spotted there that I would like to share with you: a Clapper Rail!  After we had been at the preserve [...]

In my last post, about the Great Egrets at the Marine Nature Study Area, I said that I would be doing a full post about the birding adventure that we had.  Well, I guess I’m a liar.  Going through the pictures I took (and I managed to fill up my camera) I realized that almost [...]

The Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area in Hempstead, NY, a marvelous saltmarsh preserve on the south side of Lond Island, is well known for its nesting Seaside and Saltmarsh Sparrows, to say nothing of the video camera-monitored Osprey nest and breeding Clapper Rails (which this year also had a camera on the nest which allowed [...]

Yesterday in New York was hot.  Way too hot.  Fortunately for Daisy and me our friends Kerry and Becky were heading to the beach and offered a ride.  And it wasn’t just any beach either, but the birding Mecca of Nassau County, Jones Beach.  The south wind was strong, the waves were huge, and we [...]

Yes, it is time once again for the bad rhymes and horrific meter of a birding adventure described in verse. To set the stage I will say that Charlie flew in last Friday night and had to be back to his hotel to get ready to fly back to England by mid-afternoon on Saturday. This [...]

Saturday the 29th was the last day of my New York State Big Year seeing as Sunday saw me on a plane bound for sunny southern California. Because we were flying out of LaGuardia Airport Daisy and I were in Queens, the perfect base of operations for finding the vagrant and reliable Townsend’s Solitaire that [...]