August 22:  Today Nancy and I took the 8 AM New London to Orient Point ferry for a trip over to Long Island to look for the Curlew Sandpiper that had been seen for several days at Mecox Inlet in Bridgehampton.  Once in Greenport on the north fork you then take the north ferry over to Shelter Island, and then the south ferry onto the south fork mainland. From there, through Sag Harbor, it is less than ten miles to the inlet.

I expected to see other birders there, but it had just stopped raining and so I literally had the place to myself. After a quarter mile walk across the beach, up a dune, and across the expansive flats, I began scanning with the scope, and after about ten minutes of all manner of gulls, cormorants, plovers, and peeps, I finally spotted the one noticeably darker colored shorebird with the longer decurved bill.  A life bird and ABA photograph No. 676.

After spending some 35 minutes photographing the Curlew Sandpiper, I spent some additional time enjoying the antics of a flock of 33 Black Skimmers, getting some nice aerial shots and some of birds with comically wide open mouths.

On the trip back we enjoyed some seafood on the outdoor patio of Claudio’s on the waterfront in Greeenport, before catching the 7 PM ferry back to New London. All in all a rewarding outing and a fine day.