A wet Sunday in January - 18th Jan

With terrible weather forecast for the day I set off with a list of sites and birds I hoped to find there, but not much hope that I'd have any luck. The first site was the roosting geese flock at Belmont Lake State Park. In amongst the thousand or so Canada Geese that have been spending nights here was the Barnacle Goose that has been in the area since late December. I was very fortunate in finding it on almost my first sweep of the flock, standing on the edge of the ice. Next up were the 4 Greater White-fronted Geese which were only slightly harder to spot, tucked in at the back of the Canadas. Other birds there included some great looking Common Mergansers, which are decidedly uncommon in these parts.

Buoyed by this unexpectedly good start I headed off to Massapequa with a little more optimism. In this park an Eastern Screech Owl has been spending its winters for a couple of years, and the roost site was relatively easy to find. The bird was well chamouflaged, and the light was rubbish, so the photographs aren't up to much, but I'll be back in better conditions. Also at this site a couple of warblers have been over-wintering. Amazingly, soon after I got to the designated spot there was movement in the cat-tails. Orange-crowned Warbler and Nashville Warbler, in the bag! Boom!

Feeling slightly light-headed at my extraordinary good fortune in really quite poor conditions I decided to try my luck at Point Lookout, where a female King Eider and at least one Eared Grebe (Black-necked for those non-Americans reading this) have been hanging around. By the time I got there the weather had gone past dreadful and was heading towards atrocious. Despite this I staggered onto the beach. There weren't many birds about, the best being 8 Bonaparte's Gulls and 2 Harlequin Duck. I couldn't turn any of the Common Eiders into something more regal, so I called it a day and headed home for home-made soup, well satisfied. To top the day off I was back in time to see Arsenal beat Man City 2-0. The perfect end to a unexpectedly good days birding.

The same Barnacle Goose I saw a couple of weeks ago, this time at its overnight roost.

3 of 4 Greater White-fronted Goose.

Eastern Screech Owl, peering out at  the grotty weather from a very snug spot. I'll be back to get a better shot in nicer weather!