By Mike Busch

Despite a lot of wet and dreary weather, the Long Island Wildlife Photography group found some windows of opportunity and a few great finds.

One highlight this week was the Hudsonian Godwit.  While not considered rare on Long Island it is certainly uncommon.  Godwits breed in the Arctic and are known to travel nonstop thousands of miles to their wintering grounds in South America.  Luckily a few stopped on Long Island this week and were captured well on the last page.

The other highlight and definitely rare sighting was a Corn Crake, a bird that apparently veered thousands of miles off course to end up near Ocean Parkway.  In fact the Corn Crake is so rare it isn’t even listed in most North American Field Guides, breeding in Asia and Europe and wintering in South Africa!  The last known sighting Long Island was before many of us were born, 1963.  Birders from all over the country dropped everything to get a look.

More on the Corn Crake sightings here.

The story does not have a good ending however, Newsday covered the bird’s demise here.

See page 4 for all the Godwit and Crake images.

Beyond that the winter ducks continue to arrive, and you will see Gadwall, Hooded Merganser, Northern Shoveler, and Pintails in the photos below.

This week’s cover goes to Kathleen Desiderio with Hudsonian Godwit eating a worm.

Stay warm this weekend!

 

Charlie Spinnato | Great Blue Heron

Jackie Connelly Fornuff | Coot

Jackie Connelly Fornuff | Pied Billed Grebe

Jason Frank | Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Jennifer Russo | Greater Yellowlegs

Dan Fiore Northern Harrier

LIsa Nadler-Reischer | Humpback Whale

Asia Lee | Mute Swan