Pat and I birded various of our haunts in Rhode Island today and eventually found two Indigo Buntings, as well newly arrived Gray Catbirds at multiple outer coastal sites (and one Common Yellowthroat)--the earliest I can ever recall in RI for these most strongly stereotyped of spring arrivals.
People have been inquiring about what we mean by a "slingshot event"--it's not the same as a regular spring fallout. I found this note from two years ago that explains the idea a little bit and includes a link to a more detailed explanation. We haven't had time to look into things yet, but it appears that this most recent event extended from the Canadian Maritimes to RI, at least. Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________________ From: bounce-121480864-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-121480864-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra [shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu] Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2017 8:47 PM To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu) Subject: [nysbirds-l] Hooded Warblers and the Slingshot An unusual number of Hooded Warblers were found on Long Island and vicinity today, in conjunction with Blue Grosbeaks and Summer Tanagers--and also seasonally early examples of female Indigo Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. In contrast, the migrant species typically most abundant at this date--Myrtle & Palm Warblers, Savannah & White-throated Sparrows, etc.--were present in at best modest numbers at Long Island's migrant traps today. This disparity is the signature of a slingshot event, set in motion days ago and hundreds of miles away, with the displacement of trans-Gulf migrants over the Atlantic. Please be sure to report or eBird all Hooded Warblers seen in coastal New York, so that an accurate total can be tabulated. Whereas most rare-scarce warblers in southeastern NYS tend to occur during the biggest spring flights of common warblers, Hooded and Prothonotary tend to occur here in association with grosbeaks and tanagers, on otherwise slow days. For a discussion of slingshots and different kinds of spring flights, see: http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y2005v55n3/y2005v55n3p213-227mitra.pdf# Shai Mitra Bay Shore -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
