The Shorebirds of Long Island In 1995 I found myself – to my surprise – back in the Hamptons for a summer. And what a lovely summer it was. With neither job nor job prospect, I spent a lot of late spring and early summer down on the shore armed with a pair of binoculars and the good sense to stay quiet. Here's some of what I saw pecking around at the edge of the Atlantic: Common tern Plovers: semipalpated Dowitcher - Longbilled, short billed Yellowlegs - Greater, lesser Upland Sandpiper Sandpipers: spotted, purple, western, least, semi-palmated Great Egret Glossy Ibis Blackbellied Plover Ruddy Turnstone Piping Plover Willet Dunlin Black Skimmer Common Tern Little Tern (Least Tern) Osprey