Birding the East End

The migration calendar

• Apr · May · Jun

  Spring songbird migration

  Warblers, vireos, and flycatchers stream up the coast. Peak wave is the second week of May; Mashomack, Napeague, and Cedar Point are the reliable migrant traps.

• May · Jun · Jul

  Shorebird breeding

  Piping Plovers, Least Terns, and American Oystercatchers hold the protected beach corridors. Stay behind every fence; the roped areas are active nests, not closed parks.

• Jul · Aug · Sep · happening now

  Fall shorebird passage

  Juvenile sandpipers and yellowlegs move south along the pond mudflats. Sagg Pond and Mecox Bay drain at the right tide and host the densest concentrations on the East End.

• Sep · Oct · Nov · happening now

  Fall hawk migration

  Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, Merlins, and Peregrines funnel down the South Fork toward Montauk Point. Early October at the lighthouse cliffs is the canonical vantage.

• Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar

  Winter waterfowl

  Sea duck rafts — Common Eider, Long-tailed Duck, all three scoters — settle off Montauk Point and Shinnecock Inlet. Brant crowd the bay flats from November through March.

2 migration bands active this month. Chips at the top of the page filter the site list by season.