This note is actually about "other stuff" again--specifically spring movements of Barn and other swallows on Long Island. Since Steve Walter and I last digressed to this topic a few weeks ago, I've noticed very few reports concerning visible migration of landbirds, two exceptions being reports from Michael McBrien and Angus Wilson of small numbers of Barn Swallows moving west to east at Patchogue and Amagansett.
On this past Sunday, 12 May, Patricia Lindsay and I observed a moderately paced but apparently long-sustained Barn Swallow flight. The tempo and mode of the flight was similar at Mecox Bay in the morning (when the morning was still gray and greasy) and at Shinnecock Inlet in the afternoon (after the front had cleared and the westerly wind had whipped up): in both cases, birds were moving determinedly from east to west, as seems to be the case for most moderate to large spring movements on the outer coast of Long Island. It seems very likely that Barn Swallows were moving at a rate of about one bird per two minutes over a period of more than eight hours. We only stayed at Mecox for 20 minutes (ending 8:00 am) during which we tallied 8 migrating Barn Swallows. Their behavior was quite striking, and any lingering doubts that they might have been local residents cycling around in some fashion were further allayed by the presence among them of a Cliff Swallow moving westward in just the same fashion. (Some readers of this list will recall the Cliff Swallow that Rich Guthrie called out on the beach at Mecox on 29 May 2004, because it was arguably the fourth most memorable bird there during a very memorable Memorial Day weekend--and because a lot of people were standing with him on the beach, contemplating the aftermath of Ken and Sue Fuestel's Bar-tailed Godwit. Sadly, my notes do not record for certain which way that swallow was moving (though I think it was east to west), nor how many Barn Swallows we saw. Pat and I were at Shinnecock Inlet 1:35-3:50 on Sunday, during which we counted 61 Barn Swallows crossing the Inlet and continuing westward, again with one Cliff Swallow among them. (We undoubtedly missed many because we witnessed a shipwreck and spent a lot of time speaking with the Coast Guard and the police.) I offer these observations because there is obviously still a lot for us to learn about even our most common species. For instance, are Barn Swallow movements on the barrier beach possibly different from those on the "mainland" shores of LI's bays (as at Patchogue), or on the easternmost "mainland" of the island (as at Amagansett)? Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ From: Shaibal Mitra Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 8:36 AM To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu) Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Hooded W. at Oakland Lake and other stuff >In my experience, visible spring migration of Barn Swallows along the central >ocean coast of Long Island (Jones Inlet to Shinnecock Inlet) is almost >invariably from east to west (the only exceptions seem to involve rare >occasions when very small numbers of birds are observed bucking easterly >headwinds during poor weather). Shai Mitra ________________________________ From: bounce-83899896-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-83899896-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Steve Walter [swalte...@verizon.net] Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2013 9:47 PM To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu Subject: [nysbirds-l] Hooded W. at Oakland Lake and other stuff > Of interest was a modest westward movement of Barn Swallows, perhaps a cold > triggered reverse migration (as has been observed before). ________________________________ Washington Monthly<http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2012/features/americas_bestbangforthebuck_co039461.php> magazine ranks the College of Staten Island as one of "America's Best-Bang-for-the-Buck Colleges" -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
