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| TIANA BEACH TO QUOGUE DUNE ROAD |
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| After the group of houses just west of Tiana Beach, the bay marshes begin to open up considerably on the north and can be scanned from the road, especially in the spring when the marsh grass is short and birds are relatively easy to find. If traffic is not heavy, it is possible to stop in or by your car to bird; however on heavy beach days this is probably not advisable and, in any case, local police heavily patrols Dune Road on summer weekends. |
| BIRDING THE SOUTH FORK WITH ERIC SALZMAN |
| Opposite Triton Lane and Hot Dog Beach (providing some ocean views), there is a rutted road, which goes north to the bay and there are often a few roosting shorebirds at the end. This road and the surrounding area is notable for its wire-roosting Willets, a local habit that seems to be restricted to this immediate area. A few yards to the west, there is another bayside pullout, this one not paved, with good bay views in three directions. Clapper Rails breed here and can often be heard and even seen. I have shown visitors here a nest with 13 eggs and another group recently watched adult rails guiding young black chicks swimming one by one across a wide channel! As will be obvious during the season, Willets and Killdeer also nest here. Other birds seen from this pull-out include, or have included, both night-herons, Glossy Ibis, Little Blue Heron and, on one occasion, Arctic Tern. |
| The marshes bordering Dune Road from this point east often have extensive horseshoe crab landings in May and early June and attract considerable numbers of shorebirds which feed on the horseshoe crab eggs: Red Knots, Dunlin, Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plovers and others. Clapper Rail (occasionally also King Rail) can often be seen here right from Dune Road and, in migration and winter, Short-eared Owl, American Bittern, King Rail and, on one notable occasion, Ruff. |
| At the very eastern extremity of Shinnecock Bay, where it funnels down into the Quogue Canal, there is a small refuge with a parking area for three cars and an easily unlocked gate (push down). There is a sign marking this spot that read “Wetlands Preserve” and a boardwalk stretches over a small salt marsh, a small fresh marsh, a regenerating area of spoil, a dense stretch of coastal scrub and, finally, a small marshy shore opposite the Quogue mainland. Both marsh sparrows – Seaside and Saltmarsh Sharptail – can be seen here. Other breeders include Willow Flycatcher, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Willets, Clapper Rail and various shorebirds; Northern Harrier has attempted to nest here and Sedge Wren is regular in October, often flying directly under the boardwalk before dropping back down into the marsh grass! |
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