West Meadow has a rich bird fauna and it is great fun to watch them flying, feeding, nesting, and rearing young.To do this, keep your distance and try to use a pair of good bird binoculars. This is especially true of sensitive nesting spots, such as those of the Piping Plover, located on the open beach. These areas (both sides of the SB harbor channel) are fenced off during mating and nesting season. It is also extremely useful to bring along a book on birds of eastern North America. The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America is my current favorite. Pictures are excellent and the book is a handy size.

Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus. This rather small bird, not in breeding plumage, was foraging in May along West Meadow Beach. It is endangered in this area because it breeds on the beach, and likely nesting spots are fenced off in early summer. The nests are barely discernible. Please keep your distance from fenced areas. It is all too easy to step on a nest before realizing what it might be.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Calidris pusilla. This small bird is a common wader on West Meadow Beach and similar beaches on Long Island. Birds are usually about 6 inches long and have a short and straight bill. It usually moves in groups and flocks can often be seen fleeing potential predators. These are fun to watch. They mostly wait for smaller crustaceans to be washed out of the sand.

Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus. Actually, I am not perfectly sure I have the ID correct, but this bird is often common along West Meadow Beach and it has a longish and robust beak. It feeds on small invertebrates and can be seen probing its beak in the sand.

 

 

Osprey bringing branch to nest, Stony Brook Yacht Club, June 2022

Osprey chicks, July 8, 2022

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus. These magnificent raptors dive into the water and grasp fish in their claws, which close in a remarkable manner and have barbed pads on their feet . Like owls, they have a reversible outer claw that allows them to grasp fish with two toes in front and two in the back.They were once nearly extinct and have bounced back since DDT was banned. A remarkable success story. Citizens erect posts with platforms upon which osprey pairs build nests. West Meadow has several such posts with long-occupying pairs that return each year to nest. Compare the white flecks on wings of the chicks relative to parent above, likely a male.

This one was fledged in summer of 2023. You can see white flecks on back surface, an indicator of a newly fledged individual. The “necklace” indicates that this is likely a female. Two young were born this year at the Stony Brook Yacht Club nest.

Common Tern, Sterna hirundo. One of life’s most simple pleasures is to watch these graceful birds soar over the water, only to drop to the surface, plunge, and fly away with a small fish. Common terns breed in large groups and are abundant in our area. They call in a low piercing keahh. They are large, about 14 inches in length.

Black-Crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax. These lovely birds roost in trees and can be found waterside in West Meadow creek. They reputedly feed mostly at night, but they can often be seen in mid-day feeding along the creek. You can see them stalking fish in the shallows.

Yellow-crown Nightheron, Nyctanassa violacea. These lovely birds nest in trees and can be found waterside in West Meadow creek. They feed on fiddler crabs and can often be seen at low tide, foraging along the creek.

Herring Gull, Larus argentatus. Ubiquitous, this gull is unfortunately more associated by LI folk with landfills and takeout food joints than with its natural habitat, sandy and cobbly beaches with flats and rocks rich in a variety of invertebrates. These versatile birds can be seen plucking enormous sand worms from the sand bars of West Meadow Beach but also feeding on mussels that they drop from heights of 30-50 feet on to hard surfaces, usually parking lots in our area. Juveniles and young adults are light brown in color, but by the third winter they develop a lovely white, grey, and black plumage.

Snowy Egrets, Egretta thula. These lovely water birds are about two feet long and have bright golden feet, black legs, and a black beak. They appear at low tide within West Meadow and at the beach, searching usually for small fish. These were photographed in September, so they are out of their breeding plumage.

Great Egret, Ardea alba. These magnificent egrets are about 40 inches long and have a yellow beak with black legs. They are found throughout the West Meadow marsh, although this one was found near the Stony Brook Marine Service shore.

The great blue heron overwinters at West Meadow Creek and is a magnificently large bird. It feeds on fish, stabbing its beak into the water. This is likely an immature individual.

Mute Swan Cygnus olor. This lovely bird often swims with its wings raised. It was introduced from Europe and has become overabundant and is perhaps displacing some native water birds. It nests in West Meadow and swan families are seen commonly in June.

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis. This is our common native goose, which has developed large overwintering populations in recent years and has become a major pest. Nests are common in the West Meadow area in late spring.