Big Year Day 1

Wow!  That was a long day.  Up at 5:45am, out to Jones Beach to try and get the Townsend's Solitaire that's been lingering there.  Well, I got dirstracted at the Coast Guard Station and thought I might get a gull or two, and then wound up hunting for a long-eared owl, and didn't get to Oak Beach (where the Solitaire is) until 10am.  Spent some time in the freezing rain looking with no luck, and found out later it had been seen there around 8am.  This means I go out again tomorrow and try it earlier, like I had planned for today!  Rushed over to Massapequa Lake for Eurasion Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, Canvasback, Redhead, Common Merganser, and other assorted waterfowl, and then back to Park Slope to do my food co-op shift at 1pm.  Helped people with groceries until 3:45, and then flew over to Prospect Park to get the pintail that's been there for weeks.  No time for a Chat (there are two in the park right now), and no sign of the Goshawk.  Wound up with 41 species for the day, including a possible Iceland Gull at Jones Beach (I'm just making sure from the photos).  Then home to process 1200 photos (not all from today, but still...) and get everything posted.  This is a full time job!  I'm figuring it will slow down once I finish this early, frantic rarity collecting, and once I get my list for the year a little more full.  I'm posting photos of every species I see this year here, so check them out.  Tomorrow it's out to Montauk and the next day possibly upstate for a reported Hoary Redpoll.  Yikes!