MTK

Woken up by a text from Ella on Sunday morning, I wasn't planning on coming birding, but I'm SO GLAD I CAME. Besides muffins and coffee, here are my favorite birds from the Montauk trip:
Surf Scoter: This crazy "skunk head" has a black body, with a white patch on its forehead and back of neck. Its beak is red, orange, and white with a big black spot in the middle, and it can only be found down around here in the winter.
Long-tailed Duck: This is the most excited I've ever seen April about anything. This black and white duck has a fantastic, get this, long tail. Insane, I know, but the spiky black tail on this bird is a sight to behold. I apologize to Gaby for doubting her naming skills, and to humanity for the slightly off color jokes Hughbert and P.P. made about the bird's former name, Oldsquaw.
BROWN PELICAN: That's right, a pelican in Montauk. It's basically the only thing I've talked about since birding. A PELICAN IN MONTAUK. IN NOVEMBER. WHAT? I'm glad the rest of the birders shared in my excitement for this find too, or else this would be seriously embarrassing. It was so surprising to peer through the scope on Gosman's deck and see, nestled in with some boring old gulls, the iconic head of a pelican. AND NOT JUST ONE, BUT TWO. Their dark, gray-brown coloring means the blended into the sand and the flock of gulls, but nothing can escape Doc and Peter's sharp eyes.
Greater White-fronted Goose: Okay, so this may sound like nothing after a pelican, but I'm really quite fond of this silly bird. We spotted this medium sized, dull brown goose in a flock of Canada Geese, where it's plumage, orange beak and legs, and white patch on its head made it stick out like a sore thumb.
Not-my-favorite birds: Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, Common Loon, American Coot, Black-bellied Plovers, like a million Red-tailed Hawks from the car, Brant, and American Wigeon.