[nysbirds-l] Sandwich Tern Nickerson Beach

[Shaibal Mitra]

Patricia Lindsay reports that she and others just observed a breeding-plumaged 
Sandwich Tern at Nickerson Beach, Nassau County. The bird landed briefly and 
then flew off, but people are continuing to watch the loafing flocks.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

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[nysbirds-l] Southern Nassau County CBC

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted for the 84th time on 30 December 
2023, by 75 dedicated and talented participants in nine territories. December 
2023 has been one of the (if not the actual) warmest and most ice-free in 
memory, so the results of this particular count, which is held toward the end 
of the count period, and which includes a remarkably broad set of habitats, 
have been anticipated with special interest by New York area birders.

Two trends observed during this month’s preceding regional CBCs were felt very 
strongly in Southern Nassau: (1) marked local absence/low abundance of all 
species with northerly centers of winter abundance, and also of many species 
preferring forest habitats; and (2) prodigious new maxima for many species with 
southerly winter distributions. Common Goldeneye was missed, and Common 
Merganser was eked out in the form of a single individual. Bufflehead, which 
has been counted into four digits on this count, totaled 63, the lowest in more 
than two decades. Seventeen Horned Grebes were the most since 2019-2020, but 
still far below historical averages. Red-necked Grebe was missed for the third 
year in a row, after occurring each of the previous five. Landbirds with 
northerly winter ranges were also scarce: just seven American Tree Sparrows and 
63 Slate-colored Juncos were recorded (both were formerly counted in 
multi-hundreds); Snow Bunting fell below 100 for the sixth consecutive year. 
Forest birds with markedly low totals included Downy (55, 59% of ten-year 
average) and Hairy Woodpecker (8, 65% TYA), Black-capped Chickadee (64, 46% 
TYA), Tufted Titmouse (7, 31% TYA, and the lowest since 1968-1969), and 
White-breasted Nuthatch (9, 23% TYA).

Long Island happens to occupy a geographic position where winter temperatures 
trend near the freezing point of water. Because of this, relatively modest 
increases in average temperature translate into major changes in the extent and 
duration of freezing condistions, and, consequently, in the abundance of 
species sensitive to freezing conditions. Three Clapper Rails in two 
territories was a good count for this frequently missed species, as were 31 
Great Egrets (second only to 49 in 2001-2002, also a mild season). But 116 
Greater Yellowlegs and 791 Double-crested Cormorants are simply astonishing. 
The latter was routinely missed as recently as the early 1980s. Many of the 
unusual species summarized below also belong in this category. Other high 
counts deserving mention include 1550 Lesser Scaup (mostly in a mega-flock of 
more than a thousand in Five Towns) and 13 Orange-crowned Warblers, distributed 
across seven territories.

Bad misses were very very few: Common Goldeneye (cw), Red-necked Grebe, and 
Chipping Sparrow were the only species missed among those recorded on more than 
half of the past ten counts. Largely absent this year, Red-breasted Nuthatch 
was believed to have been missed at the compilation, but proved to have been 
found on count day in this very intensely birded part of the world. At the same 
time, the highlights were many and varied. Although the interior territories on 
this count often excel, and did very well this year, too, the outer beaches led 
the way in terms of excitement this year.

Tobay led all nine territories with nine saves, followed by Short with seven, 
and Atlantic with three. Baldwin (including Loop) led the interior areas with 
five saves, followed by Five Towns and Massapequa with two each and Hempstead 
and Mitchell with one each. Beginning with the species that are not truly rare 
on the Southern Nassau CBC, we note the number of individuals (if more than 
one), the territory, and the number of times it has been recorded, out of 84 
iterations. This last number vividly illustrates the disparate histories of so 
many species over the past century—for instance, Common Merganser was once 
common, with several counts over 250, whereas Cackling Goose was first recorded 
in 2004-2005.

Snow Goose (3, Five Towns, 48th record)
Cackling Goose (Baldwin, 7th record)
Wood Duck (Baldwin, 43rd record)
Eurasian Green-winged Teal (Baldwin, 17th record; not included in species total)
Redhead (Hempstead, 66th record)
King Eider (Short, 24th record)
Harlequin Duck (8, Atlantic, 45th record)
Common Merganser (Massapequa, 79th record)
Semipalmated Plover (5,* Short, 12th record)
American Woodcock (Massapequa, 50th record)
Dovekie (Short, 13th record)
Black-legged Kittiwake (Tobay, 29th record)
Laughing Gull (Atlantic, 15th record)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Tobay, 24th record)
American Bittern (3, Tobay, 73rd record)
Snowy Egret (Baldwin, 26th record)
Barn Owl (Atlantic, 58th record)
Eastern Screech-Owl (Baldwin, 32nd record)
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Short, 42nd record)
Purple Finch (Tobay, 45th record)
Pine Siskin(2, Tobay, 42nd record)
Lapland Longspur (Short, 45th record)
Eastern Meadowlark (Mitchell, 67th record)
Common Yellowthroat (Tobay, 23rd record)
Palm Warbler (3, 

[nysbirds-l] Tom Johnson

[Shaibal Mitra]

The birding world is suspended.

The sudden death of Tom Johnson rends the veil of ordinary life. We are bereft. 
I had hoped to win some and lose many debates with him in our future decades of 
life, over identification, taxonomy, or anything. It is so easy to be wrong, 
but I would never have guessed that our innocently anticipated future, shared 
with his sonorous voice and masterful birding touch, was ever in doubt.

Among so many impressions, I remember his enthusiasm at a talk I gave at the 
NYSOA meeting in Rochester, in September 2008. He and our own Long Island 
phenom, Shawn Billerman, were undergrads at Cornell then, recipients of the 
Lillian Stoner Award—our trusted guardians of the future. The next day, they 
found a Magnificent Frigatebird on Cayuga Lake, which Pat and I and Alex Wilson 
chased breathlessly and ultimately saw.

Tom was a giant in our world, one we needed and still need.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

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Re: [nysbirds-l] Croton Point Park warblers

[Shaibal Mitra]

One might expect that the Canadian wildfires would be likely to displace birds 
and other wildlife, and observations like these are potentially very valuable. 
Many readers of this list are intimately familiar with their local sites and in 
position to detect similar kinds of unusual occurrences involving forest birds 
this summer. The Kingbird Regional Editors would appreciate reports of this 
kind from thoughtful observers willing to provide some context from their local 
perspectives.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-127553555-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Joseph Wallace 

Sent: Friday, July 7, 2023 11:44 AM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu 
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Croton Point Park warblers


* This email originates from a sender outside of CUNY. Verify the sender before 
replying or clicking on links and attachments. *

This park has become quite a magnet for unexpected warbler species the last 
couple of weeks, especially singing males in lovely plumage. So far I've seen 
Magnolia, Northern Parula, Black-and-White, and Ovenbird...and though they 
don't all flag as rare, I bird this park a lot, and this seems very unusual 
here in this season. (They don't look or act like early migrants--is the 
consensus that these are birds displaced by the Canadian wildfires, or some 
other cause?) Seems worth keeping an eye out in the park for others as well
--Joe Wallace
P.S. Andrew Baksh's heartening report from Jamaica Bay reminded me of the 
Father's Day essay I wrote for Saw Mill River Audubon--and posted here--a few 
years back, about my Dad and that wonderful preserve. As it happens, he and it 
also appear in my latest piece, which is more about the 
places--landscapes--that speak most deeply to us. Dad had his, I have mine, and 
I always wonder if you all have one, too. Apologies if this is too o/t, but if 
you're interested: 
https://www.blog.sawmillriveraudubon.org/our-inner-landscapes/.
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Re: [nysbirds-l] Captree June Count, 3 June 2023

[Shaibal Mitra]

Addendum:


Several locally rare breeding species were recorded, including a pair of 
Roseate Terns (both unbanded, as is generally true of the birds we see in 
southwestern Suffolk, which are suspected to be connected demographically to 
the old Cedar Beach colony), the now venerable Yellow-throated Warbler(s) along 
the lower Connetquot River, and several species in the Farmingdale 
“grasslands.” It has been many years since Horned Larks have nested on our 
portion of the barrier beach, but a few persist in fragments of habitat on the 
mainland, and one was detected this year, along with one Grasshopper and six 
Savannah Sparrows. All of these species are at least scarce and local more 
generally on Long Island, so their rarity is easy to perceive. In contrast, 
many generally common and widespread species are concerningly rare within our 
circle: Whip-poor-will (1), Wood Thrush (1, just the fourth record in nine 
years), Field Sparrow (2), Black-and-white Warbler (2), Prairie Warbler (1), 
and Scarlet Tanager (0).


From: bounce-127458170-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Patricia Lindsay 

Sent: Monday, June 5, 2023 5:05 PM
To: NYS Birds 
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Captree June Count, 3 June 2023


* This email originates from a sender outside of CUNY. Verify the sender before 
replying or clicking on links and attachments. *

On Saturday 3 Jun 2023, thirty-one observers conducted the Captree June Count 
in southwestern Suffolk County, LI. It was the first cloudy day in many days, 
but without rain. A north-northeast breeze contributed to productive 
seawatching without unduly impeding the detection of marshbirds and landbirds. 
The early date of this year’s count fortuitously coincided with a definite 
flight of Neotropical migrant passerines, and the resulting total of 142 
species easily bested the previous record of 138 (2021) and greatly exceeded 
the nine-year average of 129.



Five new species and one new supra-specific taxon were added to the cumulative 
list of the “modern era,” 2015-present: Eurasian Collared-Dove, Lesser 
Yellowlegs (5), Red-necked Phalarope (377), Least Flycatcher, and Magnolia 
Warbler (4). The flight of Red-necked Phalaropes observed from Robert Moses 
State Park on 3 Jun followed several days of much higher than usual occurrence 
along Long Island’s ocean shore and was an astonishing highlight for those who 
witnessed it.



Among 26 new maxima, the most notable were 30 Wood Duck, 17 Black Duck, 33 Wild 
Turkey, 83 Chimney Swifts (perhaps reflecting at least in part a late push of 
migrants, as swifts and several species of swallows have been seen migrating 
along the outer beaches 2-4 Jun), 129 Black Skimmer (observed within the newly 
expanding Common Tern colony at Democrat Point, where it is hoped they will 
nest), 275 Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, 461 Common Grackle, 14 Blackpoll Warbler, and 
15 American Redstart. Both of the possible explanations for the high count of 
the last species are likely not obvious to most observers and deserve some 
explanation. One possibility is that this species is following the examples of 
Warbling Vireo and Northern Rough-winged Swallow in expanding its breeding 
distribution into the coastal plain of south-central Long Island, where all 
three were previously (and somewhat inexplicably) absent or nearly absent as 
breeders. The second is that the total reflects mostly migrants, as American 
Redstart occurs in the latest spring flights on Long Island, along with more 
familiar late passage-migrants like several recorded on this year’s CJC (e.g., 
Least and Acadian flycatchers, Magnolia and Blackpoll Warblers)--but also like 
several other common breeding species whose late-migrating populations are less 
obvious and familiar (e.g., Red-eyed Vireo and Common Yellowthroat).



One late migrant species that was decidedly not augmented much by birds in 
passage was Eastern Wood-Pewee, which was among nine regularly recorded species 
tallied at a new minimum for the modern period of the count. Others in this 
category that deserve watching include Clapper Rail, Downy Woodpecker, 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown Thrasher (completely absent from the mainland and 
represented by just four individuals on the barrier beaches), Eastern Towhee, 
Baltimore Oriole, and Prairie Warbler. All of these were among the 18 species 
whose totals were 70% or less than their nine-year averages. Others in this 
category included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Whip-poor-will, Field Sparrow, 
Brown-headed Cowbird, and Indigo Bunting. The similarity in the habitats 
favored by many of these species makes their coincident low abundances 
concerning.



No fewer than 19 regularly occurring species were tallied at 150% or more of 
their nine-year averages. Besides the new maxima noted above, it is worth 
drawing attention to 46 Common Loon (still migrating heavily along the ocean 
shore), 583 Common Tern, 113 Forster’s Tern, and 116 Purple 

[nysbirds-l] Curlew Sandpiper Jones Beach West End--Update

[Shaibal Mitra]

The flock of Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Dunlin, and Red Knots with 
which the Curlew Sandpiper was associating took off and broke into multiple 
parts around 3:35. We tracked the CUSA as long as we could, but ultimately lost 
track of it. A number of searchers are on site and will likely post up-dates, 
especially if positive.

The spectacularly intensely colored bird was found by Damon Brundage.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

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RE: [nysbirds-l] White-winged Juncos

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Andrew and all,

Banding birds at the Fire Island Lighthouse, I encountered a few juncos with 
white wingbars. Invariably they were like Slate-colored hyemalis in other 
respects, whereas genuine aikeni White-winged Juncos are much larger and with 
significantly more white in the rectrices. In other words, it's a rare but 
regular variation among Slate-colored Juncos.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-127064654-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-127064654-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Andrew Block 
[ablock22...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 5:00 PM
To: NYS Birds
Subject: [nysbirds-l] White-winged Juncos

Hi all,

Does anyone know how common Slate-colored Juncos with white wing bars are?  
Over the years I've seen a few in NY that have them but otherwise look like 
Slate-coloreds.  Today I had another I observered for awhile at Ward Acres Park 
in New Rochelle that sure looked good for White-winged Juco, but I always have 
Slate-coloreds with wing bars in the back of my mind.  Any ideas?

Andrew

Andrew Block
Consulting Naturalist
Yonkers, New York
www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums
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RE: [nysbirds-l] White-winged Juncos

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Andrew and all,

Banding birds at the Fire Island Lighthouse, I encountered a few juncos with 
white wingbars. Invariably they were like Slate-colored hyemalis in other 
respects, whereas genuine aikeni White-winged Juncos are much larger and with 
significantly more white in the rectrices. In other words, it's a rare but 
regular variation among Slate-colored Juncos.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-127064654-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-127064654-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Andrew Block 
[ablock22...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 5:00 PM
To: NYS Birds
Subject: [nysbirds-l] White-winged Juncos

Hi all,

Does anyone know how common Slate-colored Juncos with white wing bars are?  
Over the years I've seen a few in NY that have them but otherwise look like 
Slate-coloreds.  Today I had another I observered for awhile at Ward Acres Park 
in New Rochelle that sure looked good for White-winged Juco, but I always have 
Slate-coloreds with wing bars in the back of my mind.  Any ideas?

Andrew

Andrew Block
Consulting Naturalist
Yonkers, New York
www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums
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[nysbirds-l] The 83rd Southern Nassau County CBC, 31 Dec 2022

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dating to 1932 , the Southern Nassau County CBC encompasses some of the most 
intensively birded sites in New York State. About 80 observers conducted this 
count in coastal southwestern Long Island for the 83rd time on Saturday, 31 Dec 
2022. For the first time since 28 December 2019, we gathered for an in-person 
compilation. Otto’s Sea Grill was not available, but the Green Turtle in 
Uniondale had plenty of space for us to catch up and run the numbers. We keenly 
felt the absence of Sy Schiff, the Dean of South Nassau birding, for whom that 
December 2019 compilation was his last. We also marked the loss of longtime 
participant Shane Blodgett, who passed away this past September. One measure of 
this count is the breadth and depth of its personnel, which includes some of 
the most knowledgeable and talented birders from a large portion of 
southeastern New York, from Dutchess, Westchester, and Manhattan to Shane’s 
home county of Brooklyn (which was strongly represented this year), as well as 
Queens and Suffolk Counties. 
In recent decades the Long Island region has experienced an odd 
micro-seasonal pattern in early winter, in which the early portion of the CBC 
period (ca. 14-20 Dec) has tended to be markedly cold and windy in contrast to 
the latter portion (ca. 30 Dec-5 Jan), which has tended to be warm and wet in 
many years. This pattern was very strongly marked this year, with adverse 
consequences of various kinds for many regional counts. In addition to the 
strong front preceding the weekend of 17-18 Dec, a powerful bomb cyclone passed 
on 23 Dec, leaving unusually cold temperatures in its wake. The deep freeze was 
of short duration, however, and it had at most subtle direct impacts on this 
circle’s avifauna, probably reducing numbers of various shorebirds and 
waterfowl (but see below). Indirect impacts arose from the chilled ocean and 
bays and extensive ice cover on the ponds, which cooked up fog for us under 
100% humidity and temperatures as high as 52 F. Saturday’s count was yet 
another one spent hoping, that forecast rain would hold off for a few hours, 
and struggling, in foggy and rainy conditions. A belt of heavy rain at 06:45 
impacted nocturnal birding, but over most of the circle, rain remained trace to 
light until about 2:30 p.m.
The fog greatly reduced detection of many common and abundant species, 
including many waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, and raptors, and it was directly 
responsible for two of our worst misses, Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser, 
which were known to be present but could not be seen.* Otherwise, bad misses 
were relatively few, involving just five additional species recorded on more 
than half of recent counts: Redhead (8/10 years), Snow Goose (7/10), Red-necked 
Grebe (7/10), Wood Duck (6/10), and Chipping Sparrow (6/10).
With one spectacular exception, the many highlights of the day were not 
really surprises. they consisted mainly of either irruptive species (such as 3 
Dovekies spaced along the three ocean-front territories, 14 Red Crossbills in 
Atlantic, and a Pine Siskin in Five Towns), or else they were scarce species 
that are routinely sought on this count.** Deserving of emphasis in the latter 
category are Black-headed Gull (found this time in Atlantic), a regionally rare 
species that we have recorded in eight of the past ten years; Common Gallinule 
(returning for a fourth year in Massapequa--and, remarkably, found to have been 
joined by a second, immature bird, the day after the count); and Yellow-crowned 
Night-Heron (recorded in six of the past ten years, all in Baldwin). Like the 
small number of bad misses, the long list of good finds listed under ** is a 
testament to the skill and perseverance of our participants. The mind-bending 
exception, possibly a first CBC record for Long Island, was a Northern Fulmar 
seen by two observers in Atlantic.
Despite the weather and the negative population trends shown by many 
species in our region, there were also many ten-year maxima (13 species) and 
other high counts greater than 140% of recent averages (10 species). The raw 
total of 1968 Razorbills involved at least 1500 birds and is consistent with a 
region-wide incursion this season. Similarly, 2145 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 
reminiscent of a bygone age of abundance, are part of a region-wide event this 
year. Astonishing, but part of a year-over-year upward trend, were 404 
Double-crested Cormorants. Like the Red Crossbills and Pine Siskin mentioned 
above, many of the high counts involved irruptive forest birds that show 
correlated abundance on our counts: 232 Blue Jay (ten-year max), 41 Tufted 
Titmouse (ten-year max and the most since the epic irruption of 1995-1996), 65 
White-breasted Nuthatch, 61 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 13 Brown Creeper, 38 
Golden-crowned Kinglet, and 3 Purple Finch (a save in Baldwin). The icterids 
tend to swing between feast and famine here, and this year was good for Rusty 

[nysbirds-l] The 83rd Southern Nassau County CBC, 31 Dec 2022

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dating to 1932 , the Southern Nassau County CBC encompasses some of the most 
intensively birded sites in New York State. About 80 observers conducted this 
count in coastal southwestern Long Island for the 83rd time on Saturday, 31 Dec 
2022. For the first time since 28 December 2019, we gathered for an in-person 
compilation. Otto’s Sea Grill was not available, but the Green Turtle in 
Uniondale had plenty of space for us to catch up and run the numbers. We keenly 
felt the absence of Sy Schiff, the Dean of South Nassau birding, for whom that 
December 2019 compilation was his last. We also marked the loss of longtime 
participant Shane Blodgett, who passed away this past September. One measure of 
this count is the breadth and depth of its personnel, which includes some of 
the most knowledgeable and talented birders from a large portion of 
southeastern New York, from Dutchess, Westchester, and Manhattan to Shane’s 
home county of Brooklyn (which was strongly represented this year), as well as 
Queens and Suffolk Counties. 
In recent decades the Long Island region has experienced an odd 
micro-seasonal pattern in early winter, in which the early portion of the CBC 
period (ca. 14-20 Dec) has tended to be markedly cold and windy in contrast to 
the latter portion (ca. 30 Dec-5 Jan), which has tended to be warm and wet in 
many years. This pattern was very strongly marked this year, with adverse 
consequences of various kinds for many regional counts. In addition to the 
strong front preceding the weekend of 17-18 Dec, a powerful bomb cyclone passed 
on 23 Dec, leaving unusually cold temperatures in its wake. The deep freeze was 
of short duration, however, and it had at most subtle direct impacts on this 
circle’s avifauna, probably reducing numbers of various shorebirds and 
waterfowl (but see below). Indirect impacts arose from the chilled ocean and 
bays and extensive ice cover on the ponds, which cooked up fog for us under 
100% humidity and temperatures as high as 52 F. Saturday’s count was yet 
another one spent hoping, that forecast rain would hold off for a few hours, 
and struggling, in foggy and rainy conditions. A belt of heavy rain at 06:45 
impacted nocturnal birding, but over most of the circle, rain remained trace to 
light until about 2:30 p.m.
The fog greatly reduced detection of many common and abundant species, 
including many waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, and raptors, and it was directly 
responsible for two of our worst misses, Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser, 
which were known to be present but could not be seen.* Otherwise, bad misses 
were relatively few, involving just five additional species recorded on more 
than half of recent counts: Redhead (8/10 years), Snow Goose (7/10), Red-necked 
Grebe (7/10), Wood Duck (6/10), and Chipping Sparrow (6/10).
With one spectacular exception, the many highlights of the day were not 
really surprises. they consisted mainly of either irruptive species (such as 3 
Dovekies spaced along the three ocean-front territories, 14 Red Crossbills in 
Atlantic, and a Pine Siskin in Five Towns), or else they were scarce species 
that are routinely sought on this count.** Deserving of emphasis in the latter 
category are Black-headed Gull (found this time in Atlantic), a regionally rare 
species that we have recorded in eight of the past ten years; Common Gallinule 
(returning for a fourth year in Massapequa--and, remarkably, found to have been 
joined by a second, immature bird, the day after the count); and Yellow-crowned 
Night-Heron (recorded in six of the past ten years, all in Baldwin). Like the 
small number of bad misses, the long list of good finds listed under ** is a 
testament to the skill and perseverance of our participants. The mind-bending 
exception, possibly a first CBC record for Long Island, was a Northern Fulmar 
seen by two observers in Atlantic.
Despite the weather and the negative population trends shown by many 
species in our region, there were also many ten-year maxima (13 species) and 
other high counts greater than 140% of recent averages (10 species). The raw 
total of 1968 Razorbills involved at least 1500 birds and is consistent with a 
region-wide incursion this season. Similarly, 2145 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 
reminiscent of a bygone age of abundance, are part of a region-wide event this 
year. Astonishing, but part of a year-over-year upward trend, were 404 
Double-crested Cormorants. Like the Red Crossbills and Pine Siskin mentioned 
above, many of the high counts involved irruptive forest birds that show 
correlated abundance on our counts: 232 Blue Jay (ten-year max), 41 Tufted 
Titmouse (ten-year max and the most since the epic irruption of 1995-1996), 65 
White-breasted Nuthatch, 61 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 13 Brown Creeper, 38 
Golden-crowned Kinglet, and 3 Purple Finch (a save in Baldwin). The icterids 
tend to swing between feast and famine here, and this year was good for Rusty 

[nysbirds-l] Block Island Veterans Day Count 2022 (extralimital)

[Shaibal Mitra]

Although Block Island lies just outside of the boundaries of New York State, we 
hope that our long-term studies of its winter season bird populations might be 
of interest to birders interested in migration on adjacent Long Island, as well 
as other parts of New York. Beginning in 1996, a group of birders began 
bracketing the venerable Block Island CBC with counts in November, around 
Veterans Day, and in February, around Presidents Day. A major goal of the VDC 
has been to test our perception that, for many migratory species, abundance 
reaches low levels in November, only to increase abruptly in December, 
following the onset of inhospitable conditions to the north. Similarly, a goal 
of the PDC has been to assess the late-winter survival of the many half-hardy 
birds recorded each year on the CBC. We chose Block Island because, as a small 
island, it lacks resident populations of many species that are common on the 
mainland, making it easier to detect inputs and outputs via directed movements 
and mortality, but the same methodology can be applied easily anywhere in the 
region: replicating all or part of one's CBC effort in November and February is 
likely to be very informative.

Nine observers conducted the 27th annual Block Island Veterans Day Count (VDC) 
on 14 November 2022. The weather was clear, with brisk northwesterly winds and 
moderate temperatures (38-46 F).
These conditions suggested a potential for the overnight arrival of 
nocturnal migrants, but two observers present at the North End at first light 
noted just a few small flocks of American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds 
struggling to leave the island. Both of these species (and many others; see 
Table 3) were recorded in unusually low numbers this year, and the addition of 
80 Robins and 40 Red-wings in morning flight mitigated what would otherwise 
have been exceptionally low totals. It often seems that either waterbirds or 
landbirds, but not both, will show poorly on a given day, but on this day, low 
counts were the rule across most of the checklist. Table 3 shows all species 
with totals less than two-thirds their long-term averages. Notably, the 
unusually low counts of waterfowl and shorebirds tended to involve species 
whose abundance has been trending upward over the 27-year history of the count, 
whereas many of the other low counts involved species that have been trending 
downward for many years. Among the species with significantly lower than 
average totals were no fewer than 16 that average more than 100 individuals per 
year. Unsurprisingly, this year’s count of total birds was the lowest ever, at 
4,118.
Interestingly, the thicket-inhabiting species whose facultative 
early-winter movements have been a major focus of the Block Island winter 
counts, were found at low abundance this year. The effort-adjusted metric of 
landbirds per party-mile on foot was just 54.4 and would have fallen below the 
27-year minimum of 54.1 had it not been for those small flocks of migrating 
Robins and Red-wings. Within the thickets, both species of kinglets, Gray 
Catbird, White-throated and Song Sparrows, and many others were counted in low 
numbers. In many past years we have observed dramatic increases in December 
among these species, indicative of post-migratory dispersal, probably in 
response to environmental variables such as snow, freezing, and depletion of 
food resources.
This year’s worst miss was Cedar Waxwing, which has been missed only 
once before on the VDC. It was disappointing to miss species such as American 
Pipit, Snow Bunting, Pine Siskin, and Tree Swallow. All of these are erratic on 
the VDC but are often numerous when they are present at all. Their absence 
across the board contributed to the overall paucity of birds (Table 2). Even 
so, the overall species total was 95, which is a very typical number for the 
extremely volatile VDC, which unpredictably exceeds 110 or even 120 in 
favorable years.
Several unusual species were recorded, but nothing at all surprising, 
apart from a distantly seen swallow that was suspected but not confirmed as a 
Cave Swallow. Otherwise, two second-ever VDC records involved rapidly 
increasing species, Bald Eagle and Common Raven. An off-the-charts tally of 14 
Northern Saw-whet Owls came via Scott Comings’ banding work and is not as 
surprising as it looks in comparison to our usually hit or miss effort. The 
most surprising birds of the day were probably two Northern Parulas foraging 
together near Old Harbor (Table 3).
High counts, more than 1.5 times a species’ average, mostly involved 
species of low to moderate abundance that have been increasing over time (Table 
4). One exception was Ruddy Duck, which has averaged 156 birds per year, but 
which came in at an astonishing 640 this year. Four Orange-crowned Warblers 
would have been a surprise 20 years ago but not anymore.

I'm not sure of the attached Word file will reach the 

[nysbirds-l] Block Island Veterans Day Count 2022 (extralimital)

[Shaibal Mitra]

Although Block Island lies just outside of the boundaries of New York State, we 
hope that our long-term studies of its winter season bird populations might be 
of interest to birders interested in migration on adjacent Long Island, as well 
as other parts of New York. Beginning in 1996, a group of birders began 
bracketing the venerable Block Island CBC with counts in November, around 
Veterans Day, and in February, around Presidents Day. A major goal of the VDC 
has been to test our perception that, for many migratory species, abundance 
reaches low levels in November, only to increase abruptly in December, 
following the onset of inhospitable conditions to the north. Similarly, a goal 
of the PDC has been to assess the late-winter survival of the many half-hardy 
birds recorded each year on the CBC. We chose Block Island because, as a small 
island, it lacks resident populations of many species that are common on the 
mainland, making it easier to detect inputs and outputs via directed movements 
and mortality, but the same methodology can be applied easily anywhere in the 
region: replicating all or part of one's CBC effort in November and February is 
likely to be very informative.

Nine observers conducted the 27th annual Block Island Veterans Day Count (VDC) 
on 14 November 2022. The weather was clear, with brisk northwesterly winds and 
moderate temperatures (38-46 F).
These conditions suggested a potential for the overnight arrival of 
nocturnal migrants, but two observers present at the North End at first light 
noted just a few small flocks of American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds 
struggling to leave the island. Both of these species (and many others; see 
Table 3) were recorded in unusually low numbers this year, and the addition of 
80 Robins and 40 Red-wings in morning flight mitigated what would otherwise 
have been exceptionally low totals. It often seems that either waterbirds or 
landbirds, but not both, will show poorly on a given day, but on this day, low 
counts were the rule across most of the checklist. Table 3 shows all species 
with totals less than two-thirds their long-term averages. Notably, the 
unusually low counts of waterfowl and shorebirds tended to involve species 
whose abundance has been trending upward over the 27-year history of the count, 
whereas many of the other low counts involved species that have been trending 
downward for many years. Among the species with significantly lower than 
average totals were no fewer than 16 that average more than 100 individuals per 
year. Unsurprisingly, this year’s count of total birds was the lowest ever, at 
4,118.
Interestingly, the thicket-inhabiting species whose facultative 
early-winter movements have been a major focus of the Block Island winter 
counts, were found at low abundance this year. The effort-adjusted metric of 
landbirds per party-mile on foot was just 54.4 and would have fallen below the 
27-year minimum of 54.1 had it not been for those small flocks of migrating 
Robins and Red-wings. Within the thickets, both species of kinglets, Gray 
Catbird, White-throated and Song Sparrows, and many others were counted in low 
numbers. In many past years we have observed dramatic increases in December 
among these species, indicative of post-migratory dispersal, probably in 
response to environmental variables such as snow, freezing, and depletion of 
food resources.
This year’s worst miss was Cedar Waxwing, which has been missed only 
once before on the VDC. It was disappointing to miss species such as American 
Pipit, Snow Bunting, Pine Siskin, and Tree Swallow. All of these are erratic on 
the VDC but are often numerous when they are present at all. Their absence 
across the board contributed to the overall paucity of birds (Table 2). Even 
so, the overall species total was 95, which is a very typical number for the 
extremely volatile VDC, which unpredictably exceeds 110 or even 120 in 
favorable years.
Several unusual species were recorded, but nothing at all surprising, 
apart from a distantly seen swallow that was suspected but not confirmed as a 
Cave Swallow. Otherwise, two second-ever VDC records involved rapidly 
increasing species, Bald Eagle and Common Raven. An off-the-charts tally of 14 
Northern Saw-whet Owls came via Scott Comings’ banding work and is not as 
surprising as it looks in comparison to our usually hit or miss effort. The 
most surprising birds of the day were probably two Northern Parulas foraging 
together near Old Harbor (Table 3).
High counts, more than 1.5 times a species’ average, mostly involved 
species of low to moderate abundance that have been increasing over time (Table 
4). One exception was Ruddy Duck, which has averaged 156 birds per year, but 
which came in at an astonishing 640 this year. Four Orange-crowned Warblers 
would have been a surprise 20 years ago but not anymore.

I'm not sure of the attached Word file will reach the 

[nysbirds-l] Limpkin in Lewiston, Niagara County

[Shaibal Mitra]

>From Willie D'Anna, who asked us to post:

"There is a Limpkin at Lewiston landing (Niagara River), currently hiding in 
weeds and shrubs while eating snails. He is right next to the blue-gray harbor 
master building, which is front of the boat ramp, so just a few feet above the 
water level and ten yards from water's edge. Been here a week, apparently. 
Found by Frank Chapman, a fishing guide."

Willie sent a dropped pin which I am not able to include here in this email, 
but which will be shared shortly.

Shai Mitra and Patricia Lindsay
Bay Shore
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[nysbirds-l] Limpkin in Lewiston, Niagara County

[Shaibal Mitra]

>From Willie D'Anna, who asked us to post:

"There is a Limpkin at Lewiston landing (Niagara River), currently hiding in 
weeds and shrubs while eating snails. He is right next to the blue-gray harbor 
master building, which is front of the boat ramp, so just a few feet above the 
water level and ten yards from water's edge. Been here a week, apparently. 
Found by Frank Chapman, a fishing guide."

Willie sent a dropped pin which I am not able to include here in this email, 
but which will be shared shortly.

Shai Mitra and Patricia Lindsay
Bay Shore
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[nysbirds-l] Townsend's Solitaire at Oak Beach, Suffolk--Not Seen

[Shaibal Mitra]

Despite considerable effort by many, the Townsend's Solitaire found yesterday 
at Oak Beach, Suffolk County, by Arie Gilbert has NOT been seen so far this 
morning.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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[nysbirds-l] Townsend's Solitaire at Oak Beach, Suffolk--Not Seen

[Shaibal Mitra]

Despite considerable effort by many, the Townsend's Solitaire found yesterday 
at Oak Beach, Suffolk County, by Arie Gilbert has NOT been seen so far this 
morning.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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[nysbirds-l] Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge

[Shaibal Mitra]

The 9th Annual Seatuck LI Birding Challenge was conducted on 17 September this 
year, in very pleasant weather. Cool and cloudy to start in the morning, the 
day warmed up into the mid 70s under mostly sunny skies, with low humidity. 
With northeast winds early, followed by a warm, sunny afternoon, the day was 
not especially conducive for active migration, despite the perfect date, but 
many migrants were nonetheless detected, perhaps remaining after the good 
flights of the previous two days. Enthusiasm was high all the way to the five 
o’clock hour when the compilation and celebrations began at the lovely Scully 
mansion, in person for the first time since 2019. A special treat this year was 
Enrico’s presentation about the history of how this precious parcel of land 
came to be preserved, followed by a tour of the mansion.

Competing this year were seven teams with a total of 28 participants. Retaining 
the “covid era” rules for limited-area coverage as part of the new norm, we had 
two Island-wide teams, single teams representing Queens, Nassau, and Western 
Suffolk County, and two teams in Eastern Suffolk. The overall total of 166 
species was very close to our long-term average of 167. It included three new 
species, Long-tailed Duck, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Black-headed Gull, bringing 
the cumulative list to 247 species over the nine years.

Few if any real rarities were recorded, and the highlights recounted by the 
various teams mostly involved enjoyable experiences with species expected as to 
date and location, and with team-mates. Many participants noted the relative 
abundance of Cape May Warblers this fall, and the two teams that visited 
Jamaica Bay appreciated the excellent conditions at the East Pond this year.

Pteam Ptarmigeddon competed island-wide and took first place for the overall 
species total for a remarkable sixth time. Their total of 131 species included 
7 “saves” (species not seen by any other team). The High Flyers had the second 
highest species total, 110 in Queens County, and contributed 4 saves. The Aphid 
Eaters, working Nassau County, had 99 species and 6 saves, and the Four Harbors 
Herons came in with 90 species in Nassau and Suffolk (so nominally 
island-wide), including two saves. Captree Counters Imperiál came in with 108 
species within the Western Suffolk category and won the “Hunters’ Hoard” prize 
for most saves, 12 in all. The Savage Trackers and Erin G’s junior team birded 
Eastern Suffolk County; each contributed one save, and the Savage Trackers won 
the area prize with 42 species. At this stage in the evolution of the 
Challenge, it occurs to us that the collaborative dimension has been growing in 
importance, as regionally focused efforts complement each other and contribute 
toward the overall species total as a collective achievement each year, 
analogous to CBCs.

Thanks to Enrico Nardone, Steve Walsh, and the Seatuck team for organizing and 
hosting this enjoyable friendly competition. For more information on this 
important organization and information on this annual event, go to

www.seatuck.org/birding-challenge

We hope to see everyone back next year, and as always, we welcome new teams to 
join us!

Pat and Shai
Bay Shore, NY

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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[nysbirds-l] Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge

[Shaibal Mitra]

The 9th Annual Seatuck LI Birding Challenge was conducted on 17 September this 
year, in very pleasant weather. Cool and cloudy to start in the morning, the 
day warmed up into the mid 70s under mostly sunny skies, with low humidity. 
With northeast winds early, followed by a warm, sunny afternoon, the day was 
not especially conducive for active migration, despite the perfect date, but 
many migrants were nonetheless detected, perhaps remaining after the good 
flights of the previous two days. Enthusiasm was high all the way to the five 
o’clock hour when the compilation and celebrations began at the lovely Scully 
mansion, in person for the first time since 2019. A special treat this year was 
Enrico’s presentation about the history of how this precious parcel of land 
came to be preserved, followed by a tour of the mansion.

Competing this year were seven teams with a total of 28 participants. Retaining 
the “covid era” rules for limited-area coverage as part of the new norm, we had 
two Island-wide teams, single teams representing Queens, Nassau, and Western 
Suffolk County, and two teams in Eastern Suffolk. The overall total of 166 
species was very close to our long-term average of 167. It included three new 
species, Long-tailed Duck, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Black-headed Gull, bringing 
the cumulative list to 247 species over the nine years.

Few if any real rarities were recorded, and the highlights recounted by the 
various teams mostly involved enjoyable experiences with species expected as to 
date and location, and with team-mates. Many participants noted the relative 
abundance of Cape May Warblers this fall, and the two teams that visited 
Jamaica Bay appreciated the excellent conditions at the East Pond this year.

Pteam Ptarmigeddon competed island-wide and took first place for the overall 
species total for a remarkable sixth time. Their total of 131 species included 
7 “saves” (species not seen by any other team). The High Flyers had the second 
highest species total, 110 in Queens County, and contributed 4 saves. The Aphid 
Eaters, working Nassau County, had 99 species and 6 saves, and the Four Harbors 
Herons came in with 90 species in Nassau and Suffolk (so nominally 
island-wide), including two saves. Captree Counters Imperiál came in with 108 
species within the Western Suffolk category and won the “Hunters’ Hoard” prize 
for most saves, 12 in all. The Savage Trackers and Erin G’s junior team birded 
Eastern Suffolk County; each contributed one save, and the Savage Trackers won 
the area prize with 42 species. At this stage in the evolution of the 
Challenge, it occurs to us that the collaborative dimension has been growing in 
importance, as regionally focused efforts complement each other and contribute 
toward the overall species total as a collective achievement each year, 
analogous to CBCs.

Thanks to Enrico Nardone, Steve Walsh, and the Seatuck team for organizing and 
hosting this enjoyable friendly competition. For more information on this 
important organization and information on this annual event, go to

www.seatuck.org/birding-challenge

We hope to see everyone back next year, and as always, we welcome new teams to 
join us!

Pat and Shai
Bay Shore, NY

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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[nysbirds-l] Dead Shearwaters on the Beach

[Shaibal Mitra]

This morning Patricia Lindsay and I found one dead Great Shearwater and four 
dead Sooty Shearwaters along ca. two miles of beachfront at Democrat Point, 
southwestern Suffolk County. Mentioning this to others in our circle, I learned 
second-hand of reports today of many dead shearwaters along the beach in the 
Montauk area. If you are visiting the beaches over the next few days, please 
take a few minutes to check the wrack line for these birds. If unsure of the 
identification, please take a photo and feel free to contact me. If the bird is 
in fresh condition (checking the eyes is an easy way to tell), consider 
salvaging it for Paul Sweet at the American Museum of Natural History. If you 
cover some ground searching, be sure to measure or estimate the distance 
covered.

Many on this list will remember June 2017, when there was a spectacular inshore 
movement of Great Shearwaters along the whole Long Island coast, including much 
further west than usual, followed by the discovery of large numbers of dead 
birds.

We also saw living Great and Cory's Shearwaters this morning, our first of the 
year.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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[nysbirds-l] Dead Shearwaters on the Beach

[Shaibal Mitra]

This morning Patricia Lindsay and I found one dead Great Shearwater and four 
dead Sooty Shearwaters along ca. two miles of beachfront at Democrat Point, 
southwestern Suffolk County. Mentioning this to others in our circle, I learned 
second-hand of reports today of many dead shearwaters along the beach in the 
Montauk area. If you are visiting the beaches over the next few days, please 
take a few minutes to check the wrack line for these birds. If unsure of the 
identification, please take a photo and feel free to contact me. If the bird is 
in fresh condition (checking the eyes is an easy way to tell), consider 
salvaging it for Paul Sweet at the American Museum of Natural History. If you 
cover some ground searching, be sure to measure or estimate the distance 
covered.

Many on this list will remember June 2017, when there was a spectacular inshore 
movement of Great Shearwaters along the whole Long Island coast, including much 
further west than usual, followed by the discovery of large numbers of dead 
birds.

We also saw living Great and Cory's Shearwaters this morning, our first of the 
year.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
--

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Cormorants moving

[Shaibal Mitra]

Josh,

Thanks for sharing this observation. We also noticed flocks of DC Cormorants 
migrating over Long Island yesterday. For me and many others, observing 
different kinds of movements is equally if not more interesting than seeing 
different species.

This morning I saw over 200 White-winged Scoters migrating over the ocean at 
Robert Moses SP, Suffolk County. This evening might be a good opportunity to 
see overland flights of species like White-winged Scoter, as well as Brant and 
others.

There were all kinds of movements at RMSP this morning: DC Cormorants and 
Common Loons migrating eastward; immature gulls (including a Bonaparte's Gull) 
plodding eastward; the first Wilson's Storm-Petrels, arriving from the 
Antarctic, also heading east; a smattering of Neotropical migrants re-orienting 
westward, highlighted by great looks at a Bay-breasted Warbler in overland 
flight; and enigmatic things that nobody understands, such six Red-bellied 
Woodpeckers and a Blue Jay flying westward, as though they had arrived 
overnight from over the ocean, like the warblers!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore





From: bounce-126554790-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126554790-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Joshua Malbin 
[joshuamal...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2022 8:43 PM
To: nysbirds-l
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Cormorants moving

Nothing rare, but all day today we were watching vee-shaped flocks of 
Double-crested Cormorants apparently migrating over Jamaica Bay, all heading 
northeast. Flocks were 50 to 150 birds strong and just kept coming. Over the 
course of the afternoon we must have seen 2,000 or more.

Good birding,

Joshua Malbin
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Cormorants moving

[Shaibal Mitra]

Josh,

Thanks for sharing this observation. We also noticed flocks of DC Cormorants 
migrating over Long Island yesterday. For me and many others, observing 
different kinds of movements is equally if not more interesting than seeing 
different species.

This morning I saw over 200 White-winged Scoters migrating over the ocean at 
Robert Moses SP, Suffolk County. This evening might be a good opportunity to 
see overland flights of species like White-winged Scoter, as well as Brant and 
others.

There were all kinds of movements at RMSP this morning: DC Cormorants and 
Common Loons migrating eastward; immature gulls (including a Bonaparte's Gull) 
plodding eastward; the first Wilson's Storm-Petrels, arriving from the 
Antarctic, also heading east; a smattering of Neotropical migrants re-orienting 
westward, highlighted by great looks at a Bay-breasted Warbler in overland 
flight; and enigmatic things that nobody understands, such six Red-bellied 
Woodpeckers and a Blue Jay flying westward, as though they had arrived 
overnight from over the ocean, like the warblers!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore





From: bounce-126554790-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126554790-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Joshua Malbin 
[joshuamal...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2022 8:43 PM
To: nysbirds-l
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Cormorants moving

Nothing rare, but all day today we were watching vee-shaped flocks of 
Double-crested Cormorants apparently migrating over Jamaica Bay, all heading 
northeast. Flocks were 50 to 150 birds strong and just kept coming. Over the 
course of the afternoon we must have seen 2,000 or more.

Good birding,

Joshua Malbin
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[nysbirds-l] A Memorable Crossing of the Long Island Sound

[Shaibal Mitra]

I crossed from Orient Point to New London on the 11:00 am ferry (Susan Anne) 
yesterday. As I have mentioned before in this forum, this passage can be 
remarkably birdless--and so it was. The only notable birds were a simmer of 
five Turkey Vultires over the northeast tip of Plum Island, some Gannets where 
they don't go except in migration, and one Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 
carefully studied as it tracked our course southwest to northeast mid-sound, 
just off the starboard beam.

Knowing these waters and the surrounding lands all my life, I almost always 
spend some time studying the appearance of things when I'm there. Yesterday's 
crossing was almost hallucinatory in its visuals. This area is exceptionally 
well suited to mirages, and other optical effects, arising from thermal 
inversions, and I've seen quite a few interesting things of this sort over 
decades of sound crossings. But yesterday, with a layer of warm air lying 
stably atop the water-cooled blanket atop the glassy and windless sound, 
produced a uniquely amazing array of effects. Familiar landmarks in the 
distance such as the Montauk peninsula and Fishers Island--and even objects 
ordinarily invisible from the ferry's route, beyond the curvature of the Earth, 
like Block Island and its wind turbines--were subject to every effect I know: 
Layered superior mirages (Fata Morgana), looming, towering, stooping, and even 
(I think) inferior mirages. Through eight power binoculars, the impression of 
this familiar place was utterly strange and disorienting! I did my best to 
capture some of the effects by phone-binning. Most of my captures were aimed at 
familiar landmarks, such as the Montauk Point Light, Camp Hero radar tower, 
Montauk Village water tower, and Hither Hills radar towers.

Although off-topic for birds, i thought I would sharemy images of this 
memorable experience:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzKEP1

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore


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[nysbirds-l] A Memorable Crossing of the Long Island Sound

[Shaibal Mitra]

I crossed from Orient Point to New London on the 11:00 am ferry (Susan Anne) 
yesterday. As I have mentioned before in this forum, this passage can be 
remarkably birdless--and so it was. The only notable birds were a simmer of 
five Turkey Vultires over the northeast tip of Plum Island, some Gannets where 
they don't go except in migration, and one Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 
carefully studied as it tracked our course southwest to northeast mid-sound, 
just off the starboard beam.

Knowing these waters and the surrounding lands all my life, I almost always 
spend some time studying the appearance of things when I'm there. Yesterday's 
crossing was almost hallucinatory in its visuals. This area is exceptionally 
well suited to mirages, and other optical effects, arising from thermal 
inversions, and I've seen quite a few interesting things of this sort over 
decades of sound crossings. But yesterday, with a layer of warm air lying 
stably atop the water-cooled blanket atop the glassy and windless sound, 
produced a uniquely amazing array of effects. Familiar landmarks in the 
distance such as the Montauk peninsula and Fishers Island--and even objects 
ordinarily invisible from the ferry's route, beyond the curvature of the Earth, 
like Block Island and its wind turbines--were subject to every effect I know: 
Layered superior mirages (Fata Morgana), looming, towering, stooping, and even 
(I think) inferior mirages. Through eight power binoculars, the impression of 
this familiar place was utterly strange and disorienting! I did my best to 
capture some of the effects by phone-binning. Most of my captures were aimed at 
familiar landmarks, such as the Montauk Point Light, Camp Hero radar tower, 
Montauk Village water tower, and Hither Hills radar towers.

Although off-topic for birds, i thought I would sharemy images of this 
memorable experience:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzKEP1

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore


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RE:[nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Ernst has posted the following suggestions regarding parking to the WhatsApp 
groups:

"Being that tomorrow is Saturday there will for sure be a lot of people chasing 
the Mottled Duck. It's a sensitive site with limited street side parking in a 
residential neighborhood. A lot of residents will be home tomorrow. Please be 
respectful of them. The police and public safety drove by a few times today so 
neighbors have probably already started calling. The bird has most often be 
viewed from the area where I posted the pin earlier. The view from there is 
through phrags, so birders have tended to get a bit bunched up there, standing 
in the road. Cars can speed down that road, so please be careful. It would be 
best if no one parks close to that pin, especially not directly across from the 
best viewing spots where everyone will congregate. It will become a tight 
squeeze for cars driving through. Parking a few blocks away on side streets 
could help. There is a parking lot behind a closed bank at 400 Montauk Highway 
where you can park without any hassle and it's only about a 4 block walk to the 
pin location. Across the street from the bank is a Stop n Shop with a lot of 
parking. Be really wary of traffic if you're crossing away from the traffic 
light. Thanks! The MODU and the female MALL it's paired with were often out of 
view for long periods of time throughout the day, but when they came out into 
the open, they were quite accommodating to viewers and relatively close."

From: bounce-126467769-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126467769-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra 
[shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 10:45 AM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

Ernst Mutchnick found what he suspected as a Mottled Duck at Ketcham's Creek, 
southwest Suffolk County, on the evening of Tuesday, 5 April. This is a tricky 
identification, given hybridization between Mallards and Black Ducks, and 
between Mallards and Mottled Ducks, among the varied contenders among Big Brown 
Ducks.

Efforts to re-find it throughout the day on Wed and Thu were unsuccessful, but 
this male bird was present (with a female Mallard) this morning, and it has 
been visible off and on throughout the morning.

The bird appears quite typical of the nominate, Florida subspecies, showing the 
characteristic black gape mark, a pale face with very fine streaking on the 
upper cheek and a clear throat; a very narrow white rear border to the speculum 
(and no visible white at the front edge), and no signs of whiteness or 
curliness in the tail feathers.

Photos are available here:

https://flic.kr/p/2nd8cNZ

This is a sensitive site with limited streetside parking in a residential 
neighborhood. Please be careful and courteous.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE:[nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Ernst has posted the following suggestions regarding parking to the WhatsApp 
groups:

"Being that tomorrow is Saturday there will for sure be a lot of people chasing 
the Mottled Duck. It's a sensitive site with limited street side parking in a 
residential neighborhood. A lot of residents will be home tomorrow. Please be 
respectful of them. The police and public safety drove by a few times today so 
neighbors have probably already started calling. The bird has most often be 
viewed from the area where I posted the pin earlier. The view from there is 
through phrags, so birders have tended to get a bit bunched up there, standing 
in the road. Cars can speed down that road, so please be careful. It would be 
best if no one parks close to that pin, especially not directly across from the 
best viewing spots where everyone will congregate. It will become a tight 
squeeze for cars driving through. Parking a few blocks away on side streets 
could help. There is a parking lot behind a closed bank at 400 Montauk Highway 
where you can park without any hassle and it's only about a 4 block walk to the 
pin location. Across the street from the bank is a Stop n Shop with a lot of 
parking. Be really wary of traffic if you're crossing away from the traffic 
light. Thanks! The MODU and the female MALL it's paired with were often out of 
view for long periods of time throughout the day, but when they came out into 
the open, they were quite accommodating to viewers and relatively close."

From: bounce-126467769-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126467769-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra 
[shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 10:45 AM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

Ernst Mutchnick found what he suspected as a Mottled Duck at Ketcham's Creek, 
southwest Suffolk County, on the evening of Tuesday, 5 April. This is a tricky 
identification, given hybridization between Mallards and Black Ducks, and 
between Mallards and Mottled Ducks, among the varied contenders among Big Brown 
Ducks.

Efforts to re-find it throughout the day on Wed and Thu were unsuccessful, but 
this male bird was present (with a female Mallard) this morning, and it has 
been visible off and on throughout the morning.

The bird appears quite typical of the nominate, Florida subspecies, showing the 
characteristic black gape mark, a pale face with very fine streaking on the 
upper cheek and a clear throat; a very narrow white rear border to the speculum 
(and no visible white at the front edge), and no signs of whiteness or 
curliness in the tail feathers.

Photos are available here:

https://flic.kr/p/2nd8cNZ

This is a sensitive site with limited streetside parking in a residential 
neighborhood. Please be careful and courteous.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
--

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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--

[nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Ernst Mutchnick found what he suspected as a Mottled Duck at Ketcham's Creek, 
southwest Suffolk County, on the evening of Tuesday, 5 April. This is a tricky 
identification, given hybridization between Mallards and Black Ducks, and 
between Mallards and Mottled Ducks, among the varied contenders among Big Brown 
Ducks.

Efforts to re-find it throughout the day on Wed and Thu were unsuccessful, but 
this male bird was present (with a female Mallard) this morning, and it has 
been visible off and on throughout the morning.

The bird appears quite typical of the nominate, Florida subspecies, showing the 
characteristic black gape mark, a pale face with very fine streaking on the 
upper cheek and a clear throat; a very narrow white rear border to the speculum 
(and no visible white at the front edge), and no signs of whiteness or 
curliness in the tail feathers.

Photos are available here:

https://flic.kr/p/2nd8cNZ

This is a sensitive site with limited streetside parking in a residential 
neighborhood. Please be careful and courteous.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
--

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http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm
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3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01

Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

[nysbirds-l] Mottled Duck Ketcham's Creek, Southwest Suffolk County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Ernst Mutchnick found what he suspected as a Mottled Duck at Ketcham's Creek, 
southwest Suffolk County, on the evening of Tuesday, 5 April. This is a tricky 
identification, given hybridization between Mallards and Black Ducks, and 
between Mallards and Mottled Ducks, among the varied contenders among Big Brown 
Ducks.

Efforts to re-find it throughout the day on Wed and Thu were unsuccessful, but 
this male bird was present (with a female Mallard) this morning, and it has 
been visible off and on throughout the morning.

The bird appears quite typical of the nominate, Florida subspecies, showing the 
characteristic black gape mark, a pale face with very fine streaking on the 
upper cheek and a clear throat; a very narrow white rear border to the speculum 
(and no visible white at the front edge), and no signs of whiteness or 
curliness in the tail feathers.

Photos are available here:

https://flic.kr/p/2nd8cNZ

This is a sensitive site with limited streetside parking in a residential 
neighborhood. Please be careful and courteous.

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:
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--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi all,

Thank you for the feedback, to which I'll offer three quick points.

First, Wayne is completely correct--in yesterday's post, I was definitely 
speaking from a North Atlantic perspective. It is certainly true that I 
neglected the many places in the world where isolation does break down in 
Larus, but I wanted to emphasize the many, many places where Larus gulls show 
strong isolation. Furthermore, even GWGU show isolation; when they migrate 
south and encounter wymani WEGU colonies, they don't just stick around and pair 
up. And when wymani WEGU disperse north into the breeding ranges of Olympic 
Gulls and GWGU, they don't get confused and pair up with them. Our knowledge of 
hybrids between LBBG and the various Herring Gulls is very limited and largely 
speculative. At the very least, I hope we all agree that the Old Field Point 
bird cannot be accepted as a hybrid!

Second, regarding certainty/uncertainty in identification. we should strive for 
consistency of approach. By definition, if some individuals can't be identified 
to species (which is true), then the proportion of individuals that can't be 
identified to subspecies will be greater. The zone of uncertainty must be 
defined by observable patterns of variability in populations of known identity. 
In this case, I'm still not aware of anything inconsistent with identification 
as L. a. argentatus, whereas there is much inconsistent with other hypotheses. 
As Karlo notes, it was a matter of luck (and Patrice's skill) that this 
individual is distinctive--many argenteus would surely be overlooked 
completely. Some people have commented that the mantle tone seems like it might 
be too dark for argentatus. Based on Malling Olsen and Larsson and photos 
available online, I don't agree. Be sure to look at multiple different series 
of photos of the Old Field Point bird--photographs can be misleading in this 
particular gray area (pun intended).

Finally, Dick Veit and Simon Perkins collected first-winter argenteus (not 
argentatus, as printed in Birds of Massachusetts) on Nantucket Island (very 
close to Long Island), probably round the early 80s. I recall Dick saying that 
multiple birds were present, and fairly distinctive at that time, when LBBG was 
still very rare. They have also been identified on Newfoundland. There seems 
little doubt that European Herring Gulls occur at least rarely in eastern North 
America, but possible regularly. To me it doesn't matter if they are split or 
not; the goal is to identify the population from which the bird comes.

Best,
Shai



From: Timothy Healy [tp...@cornell.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, March 8, 2022 10:53 AM
To: akmi...@aol.com
Cc: Shaibal Mitra; birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a 
Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

This bird has certainly proven to be a fascinating case study, and the 
discussion across the various forums has been enlightening. I always appreciate 
the opportunity to learn from one of these community identification efforts, 
and I'm grateful for public venues like the listserv where experts can hash out 
the details in the open air. The specter of hybridization always hangs over 
discussion of unusual gulls. Documented hybrid swarms like the "Olympic Gulls" 
of the West Coast illustrate the need for caution when it comes to assigning 
birds to specific categories. I agree that mixed parentage should be considered 
with due diligence, but likewise that it should not be the default answer for 
any individual that is perceived as looking "off." Many of these Larus species, 
especially the Herring gull complex, are so wildly variable that they can 
account for many atypical birds even without getting into the muddy waters of 
hybrids, potential backcrosses, and the like.

The case that has been made for this particular individual being a European 
Herring Gull is compelling, and this conclusion of this analysis has been 
backed, at least tentatively, by a few European birders who I've seen chiming 
in on different gull ID groups. I do wonder if we'll be able to gather enough 
evidence to surpass the threshold of "acceptability" for such an exceptional 
record, especially considering that the European taxa are likely candidates for 
a split (or according to some authorities, already separated at the species 
level) and thus a potential state record of note. Is there a precedence or 
protocol for NYSARC treatment of eminently splittable subspecies? If nothing 
else, I would encourage anyone who is interested and able to continue the 
collaborative study of this singular individual while it is still with us. As 
Shai mentioned in previous posts, some of the finer details of soft parts and 
primary patterns could still serve to be nailed down more conclusively. I did 
my best to secure useful images during my brief time with the gull this

RE: [nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi all,

Thank you for the feedback, to which I'll offer three quick points.

First, Wayne is completely correct--in yesterday's post, I was definitely 
speaking from a North Atlantic perspective. It is certainly true that I 
neglected the many places in the world where isolation does break down in 
Larus, but I wanted to emphasize the many, many places where Larus gulls show 
strong isolation. Furthermore, even GWGU show isolation; when they migrate 
south and encounter wymani WEGU colonies, they don't just stick around and pair 
up. And when wymani WEGU disperse north into the breeding ranges of Olympic 
Gulls and GWGU, they don't get confused and pair up with them. Our knowledge of 
hybrids between LBBG and the various Herring Gulls is very limited and largely 
speculative. At the very least, I hope we all agree that the Old Field Point 
bird cannot be accepted as a hybrid!

Second, regarding certainty/uncertainty in identification. we should strive for 
consistency of approach. By definition, if some individuals can't be identified 
to species (which is true), then the proportion of individuals that can't be 
identified to subspecies will be greater. The zone of uncertainty must be 
defined by observable patterns of variability in populations of known identity. 
In this case, I'm still not aware of anything inconsistent with identification 
as L. a. argentatus, whereas there is much inconsistent with other hypotheses. 
As Karlo notes, it was a matter of luck (and Patrice's skill) that this 
individual is distinctive--many argenteus would surely be overlooked 
completely. Some people have commented that the mantle tone seems like it might 
be too dark for argentatus. Based on Malling Olsen and Larsson and photos 
available online, I don't agree. Be sure to look at multiple different series 
of photos of the Old Field Point bird--photographs can be misleading in this 
particular gray area (pun intended).

Finally, Dick Veit and Simon Perkins collected first-winter argenteus (not 
argentatus, as printed in Birds of Massachusetts) on Nantucket Island (very 
close to Long Island), probably round the early 80s. I recall Dick saying that 
multiple birds were present, and fairly distinctive at that time, when LBBG was 
still very rare. They have also been identified on Newfoundland. There seems 
little doubt that European Herring Gulls occur at least rarely in eastern North 
America, but possible regularly. To me it doesn't matter if they are split or 
not; the goal is to identify the population from which the bird comes.

Best,
Shai



From: Timothy Healy [tp...@cornell.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, March 8, 2022 10:53 AM
To: akmi...@aol.com
Cc: Shaibal Mitra; birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a 
Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

This bird has certainly proven to be a fascinating case study, and the 
discussion across the various forums has been enlightening. I always appreciate 
the opportunity to learn from one of these community identification efforts, 
and I'm grateful for public venues like the listserv where experts can hash out 
the details in the open air. The specter of hybridization always hangs over 
discussion of unusual gulls. Documented hybrid swarms like the "Olympic Gulls" 
of the West Coast illustrate the need for caution when it comes to assigning 
birds to specific categories. I agree that mixed parentage should be considered 
with due diligence, but likewise that it should not be the default answer for 
any individual that is perceived as looking "off." Many of these Larus species, 
especially the Herring gull complex, are so wildly variable that they can 
account for many atypical birds even without getting into the muddy waters of 
hybrids, potential backcrosses, and the like.

The case that has been made for this particular individual being a European 
Herring Gull is compelling, and this conclusion of this analysis has been 
backed, at least tentatively, by a few European birders who I've seen chiming 
in on different gull ID groups. I do wonder if we'll be able to gather enough 
evidence to surpass the threshold of "acceptability" for such an exceptional 
record, especially considering that the European taxa are likely candidates for 
a split (or according to some authorities, already separated at the species 
level) and thus a potential state record of note. Is there a precedence or 
protocol for NYSARC treatment of eminently splittable subspecies? If nothing 
else, I would encourage anyone who is interested and able to continue the 
collaborative study of this singular individual while it is still with us. As 
Shai mentioned in previous posts, some of the finer details of soft parts and 
primary patterns could still serve to be nailed down more conclusively. I did 
my best to secure useful images during my brief time with the gull this

[nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

[Shaibal Mitra]

 to be intermediate. It must be remembered that statement 1 is not 
based on comparing the putative hybrids with birds of known identity (of which 
almost none are known); it is an hypothesis regarding birds of unknown 
identity, chosen because of their intermediate appearance. I fully accept that 
these probably include actual hybrids, but they also probably include a motley 
by-catch of pale-end graellsii (North American LBBGs are oddly variable in 
mantle color, so tossing off the pale ones as hybrids is a wrong emboyo), 
European Herring Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, and hybrids involving completely 
different taxa. But even if all of the putative LBBG x HERG hybrids are really 
hybrids, they are by no means common. Furthermore, just as we are probably 
overstating the frequency of hybrids by lumping in other things, we are 
probably NOT over-looking actual hybrids. In closely related species like 
these, hybrids are unlikely NOT to be intermediate in general, and especially 
in quantitative characters such as size and shape. These considerations also 
have implications for statement 2, which must now be understood as referring to 
extremes of variation (by definition infrequent) within an already small number 
of presumed hybrids. 
In contrast, the European Herring Gull hypothesis stands on a 
completely different logical basis. First, it is based on comparing the 
detailed appearance of the focal bird to large series of birds of known 
identity in the northern and eastern breeding populations of L. a. argentatus. 
Second, although we do not know how often European Herring Gulls occur in 
eastern North America, the small number of proven cases is not tiny, and surely 
the actual rate of occurrence greatly exceeds this number. Adult L. a. 
argenteus would almost always be overlooked as smithsonianus—as would adult 
argentatus with paler mantles and/or pink legs; darker adults with yellowish 
legs would be overlooked as hybrids; and all immatures would be overlooked as 
Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
The thing that is unusual about Larus is not its supposed promiscuity, 
but rather its strong reproductive isolating mechanisms, which allow groups of 
local populations to show remarkable phenotypic cohesion, even when they are 
very recently isolated and not yet sorted out genetically. In such a system, 
where the animals are very closely related, hybrids will be viable and 
intermediate in appearance. Thousands of Lesser Black-backed Gulls are right 
now migrating north past hundreds of thousands of already-paired-up Herring 
Gulls and Great Black backed Gulls. None will drop in and pair with a HERG or 
GBBG. Maybe one in a million. No not even that. 


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2022 12:36 PM
To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: RE: A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

Hi all,

We studied the yellow-legged Larus at Old Field Point again yesterday, 27 Feb 
2022. For convenience, here are links to some checklists with useful photos and 
descriptions of the bird:

https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103711048
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103758350
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103798052
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103770855
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103820434
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103880419

I’m increasingly convinced that this gull is a European L. a. argentatus. There 
are many serious obstacles to the alternative interpretations.

The extent of white on P10 and P9, the restricted amount of black on PP6-8, the 
absence of black on P5, and the large size of the apical spots on all these 
feathers strongly counter-indicate Lesser Black-backed Gull, its potential 
hybrids with various Herring-type taxa, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Gull, and 
also most “Herring Gulls” (e.g., western/interior North American L. a. 
smithsonianus and European L. a. argenteus). These features of the wingtip are 
most consistent with northeastern North American smithsonianus (which is 
locally abundant) and vagrant argentatus (not yet documented in New York, but 
with records from Newfoundland). Published resources and series of photographs 
from known sites and dates indicate that the wingtip pattern wherein these two 
taxa approach each other most closely is very similar to that of the Old Field 
Point bird. There are several very subtle distinctions in primary pattern 
between the two taxa, and the assessment of these in the Old Field Point bird 
seems to me to be the primary remaining task (see below).

But even if this bird’s wingtip pattern is equivocal, it must be noted that it 
shows numerous other characters that closely match birds from the northern 
breeding areas of L. a. argentatus, and that specifically point away from L. a. 
smithsonianus:

1.  Mantle tone

[nysbirds-l] Is the Old Field Point Bird a Euro Herring Gull or a Hybrid LBBG x HERG?

[Shaibal Mitra]

 to be intermediate. It must be remembered that statement 1 is not 
based on comparing the putative hybrids with birds of known identity (of which 
almost none are known); it is an hypothesis regarding birds of unknown 
identity, chosen because of their intermediate appearance. I fully accept that 
these probably include actual hybrids, but they also probably include a motley 
by-catch of pale-end graellsii (North American LBBGs are oddly variable in 
mantle color, so tossing off the pale ones as hybrids is a wrong emboyo), 
European Herring Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, and hybrids involving completely 
different taxa. But even if all of the putative LBBG x HERG hybrids are really 
hybrids, they are by no means common. Furthermore, just as we are probably 
overstating the frequency of hybrids by lumping in other things, we are 
probably NOT over-looking actual hybrids. In closely related species like 
these, hybrids are unlikely NOT to be intermediate in general, and especially 
in quantitative characters such as size and shape. These considerations also 
have implications for statement 2, which must now be understood as referring to 
extremes of variation (by definition infrequent) within an already small number 
of presumed hybrids. 
In contrast, the European Herring Gull hypothesis stands on a 
completely different logical basis. First, it is based on comparing the 
detailed appearance of the focal bird to large series of birds of known 
identity in the northern and eastern breeding populations of L. a. argentatus. 
Second, although we do not know how often European Herring Gulls occur in 
eastern North America, the small number of proven cases is not tiny, and surely 
the actual rate of occurrence greatly exceeds this number. Adult L. a. 
argenteus would almost always be overlooked as smithsonianus—as would adult 
argentatus with paler mantles and/or pink legs; darker adults with yellowish 
legs would be overlooked as hybrids; and all immatures would be overlooked as 
Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
The thing that is unusual about Larus is not its supposed promiscuity, 
but rather its strong reproductive isolating mechanisms, which allow groups of 
local populations to show remarkable phenotypic cohesion, even when they are 
very recently isolated and not yet sorted out genetically. In such a system, 
where the animals are very closely related, hybrids will be viable and 
intermediate in appearance. Thousands of Lesser Black-backed Gulls are right 
now migrating north past hundreds of thousands of already-paired-up Herring 
Gulls and Great Black backed Gulls. None will drop in and pair with a HERG or 
GBBG. Maybe one in a million. No not even that. 


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2022 12:36 PM
To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: RE: A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

Hi all,

We studied the yellow-legged Larus at Old Field Point again yesterday, 27 Feb 
2022. For convenience, here are links to some checklists with useful photos and 
descriptions of the bird:

https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103711048
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103758350
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103798052
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103770855
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103820434
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103880419

I’m increasingly convinced that this gull is a European L. a. argentatus. There 
are many serious obstacles to the alternative interpretations.

The extent of white on P10 and P9, the restricted amount of black on PP6-8, the 
absence of black on P5, and the large size of the apical spots on all these 
feathers strongly counter-indicate Lesser Black-backed Gull, its potential 
hybrids with various Herring-type taxa, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Gull, and 
also most “Herring Gulls” (e.g., western/interior North American L. a. 
smithsonianus and European L. a. argenteus). These features of the wingtip are 
most consistent with northeastern North American smithsonianus (which is 
locally abundant) and vagrant argentatus (not yet documented in New York, but 
with records from Newfoundland). Published resources and series of photographs 
from known sites and dates indicate that the wingtip pattern wherein these two 
taxa approach each other most closely is very similar to that of the Old Field 
Point bird. There are several very subtle distinctions in primary pattern 
between the two taxa, and the assessment of these in the Old Field Point bird 
seems to me to be the primary remaining task (see below).

But even if this bird’s wingtip pattern is equivocal, it must be noted that it 
shows numerous other characters that closely match birds from the northern 
breeding areas of L. a. argentatus, and that specifically point away from L. a. 
smithsonianus:

1.  Mantle tone

[nysbirds-l] The 27th Block Island Presidents Day Count

[Shaibal Mitra]

Beginning in February 1996, a team of field ornithologists has been studying 
winter bird populations on Block Island, Rhode Island, by bracketing the 
traditional Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with similar counts around 10 November 
(Veterans Day Count, VDC) and 20 February (Presidents Day Count, PDC). Block 
Island was chosen because of its isolation from the nearest neighboring 
landmasses (the RI mainland and Long Island) and because it lacks (or nearly 
lacks) resident populations of many landbirds that are common year-round in 
these neighboring areas. Thus, the variable occurrence of such species on Block 
Island is easily interpretable as migration or dispersal, even in species for 
which such behavior is difficult to measure, or even discern, on the mainland 
(Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, etc.). The target date of 
the November count was chosen to fall later than the bulk of stereotyped 
long-distance migration by most nocturnal-migrant landbirds and many diurnal 
migrants, too. Similarly, the target date of the February count was chosen as 
deep into the winter as possible but still prior to the advent of stereotyped 
northbound migration in most species of landbirds. 
The primary original goal was to evaluate the over-winter survival or 
persistence of many “half-hardy” landbird species that, although near or beyond 
the normal limits of their winter ranges in southern New England, are regularly 
observed there on the mid-late December CBCs. Another question was whether the 
diminution of such species between December and February could be attributable, 
at least in part, for some species in some years, to over-water dispersal, in 
addition to mortality. Within a few years we recognized that all of the 
half-hardies that are most numerous on the CBC typically persist into mid-late 
February, and that their reduction in abundance is often no greater than among 
the most abundant landbird species wintering in the same habitats. We also 
noted a strong tendency for many species, but especially the half-hardies, to 
increase in abundance between November and December, proving a general capacity 
of such birds to undertake major movements long after their periods of “normal” 
migration. This latter finding suggests that such movements are at least 
possible later in the winter and might in fact contribute, along with 
mortality, to the reduced abundance observed in February. Related to both of 
these goals was the important practical question of whether the timing of the 
traditional CBC is possibly too early in the winter to provide a reliable 
measure of winter abundance in many species. Our conclusion (at least in the 
early years of this now multi-decade project!) was a validation of the CBC for 
this site: abundance on the CBC accurately predicted abundance on the PDC, 
whereas abundance on the VDC varied wildly and did not predict abundance on the 
CBC. Finally, the extra data and context provided by the supplementary counts 
were intended to assist with studying long-term trends (for instance, related 
to climate change); as hinted above, insights have been gained on this question 
as well.

This year’s Presidents Day Count was conducted on 21 Feb 2022 by 17 observers 
in ten parties—significantly better coverage than usual (average seven 
observers in four parties). Note, however, that the 39.8 party-miles on foot 
exceeded the average of 27 to a lesser extent than implied by the other 
metrics, because extra effort is devoted to legwork in years with fewer 
participants. An unprecedented total of 95 species was recorded, with variety 
well distributed across seabirds, freshwater species, and landbirds. 
All but one of the notable misses involved species that are frequently 
missed on the PDC: Northern Gannet (seventh miss), American Coot (eleventh 
miss), and Bonaparte’s Gull (eleventh miss). Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, 
Double-crested Cormorant, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, and Belted 
Kingfisher resemble Coot in their tendency to vanish after hard freezes, so it 
was notable that all except for the grebe and kingfisher were tallied this 
year—all singles, except for three Great Blue Herons. Virginia Rail is somewhat 
less sensitive than the preceding, but this year’s total of six was remarkable 
for the date. Freshwater ducks that can tolerate short periods of freezing were 
conspicuous: Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, and Hooded Merganser continued their 
trends toward increased abundance, two rare species were found (Blue-winged 
Teal and Redhead, both fourth occurrences), and various others were present in 
large numbers, even though frequently missed altogether (18 Snow Goose, 36 
American Wigeon, and 13 Green-winged Teal).
Had I been told ahead of time we would see four species of alcids, I 
could not have imagined we’d miss Common Murre, which has been recorded on all 
but two of the previous 17 PDCs. Razorbills were numerous, four 

[nysbirds-l] The 27th Block Island Presidents Day Count

[Shaibal Mitra]

Beginning in February 1996, a team of field ornithologists has been studying 
winter bird populations on Block Island, Rhode Island, by bracketing the 
traditional Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with similar counts around 10 November 
(Veterans Day Count, VDC) and 20 February (Presidents Day Count, PDC). Block 
Island was chosen because of its isolation from the nearest neighboring 
landmasses (the RI mainland and Long Island) and because it lacks (or nearly 
lacks) resident populations of many landbirds that are common year-round in 
these neighboring areas. Thus, the variable occurrence of such species on Block 
Island is easily interpretable as migration or dispersal, even in species for 
which such behavior is difficult to measure, or even discern, on the mainland 
(Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, etc.). The target date of 
the November count was chosen to fall later than the bulk of stereotyped 
long-distance migration by most nocturnal-migrant landbirds and many diurnal 
migrants, too. Similarly, the target date of the February count was chosen as 
deep into the winter as possible but still prior to the advent of stereotyped 
northbound migration in most species of landbirds. 
The primary original goal was to evaluate the over-winter survival or 
persistence of many “half-hardy” landbird species that, although near or beyond 
the normal limits of their winter ranges in southern New England, are regularly 
observed there on the mid-late December CBCs. Another question was whether the 
diminution of such species between December and February could be attributable, 
at least in part, for some species in some years, to over-water dispersal, in 
addition to mortality. Within a few years we recognized that all of the 
half-hardies that are most numerous on the CBC typically persist into mid-late 
February, and that their reduction in abundance is often no greater than among 
the most abundant landbird species wintering in the same habitats. We also 
noted a strong tendency for many species, but especially the half-hardies, to 
increase in abundance between November and December, proving a general capacity 
of such birds to undertake major movements long after their periods of “normal” 
migration. This latter finding suggests that such movements are at least 
possible later in the winter and might in fact contribute, along with 
mortality, to the reduced abundance observed in February. Related to both of 
these goals was the important practical question of whether the timing of the 
traditional CBC is possibly too early in the winter to provide a reliable 
measure of winter abundance in many species. Our conclusion (at least in the 
early years of this now multi-decade project!) was a validation of the CBC for 
this site: abundance on the CBC accurately predicted abundance on the PDC, 
whereas abundance on the VDC varied wildly and did not predict abundance on the 
CBC. Finally, the extra data and context provided by the supplementary counts 
were intended to assist with studying long-term trends (for instance, related 
to climate change); as hinted above, insights have been gained on this question 
as well.

This year’s Presidents Day Count was conducted on 21 Feb 2022 by 17 observers 
in ten parties—significantly better coverage than usual (average seven 
observers in four parties). Note, however, that the 39.8 party-miles on foot 
exceeded the average of 27 to a lesser extent than implied by the other 
metrics, because extra effort is devoted to legwork in years with fewer 
participants. An unprecedented total of 95 species was recorded, with variety 
well distributed across seabirds, freshwater species, and landbirds. 
All but one of the notable misses involved species that are frequently 
missed on the PDC: Northern Gannet (seventh miss), American Coot (eleventh 
miss), and Bonaparte’s Gull (eleventh miss). Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, 
Double-crested Cormorant, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, and Belted 
Kingfisher resemble Coot in their tendency to vanish after hard freezes, so it 
was notable that all except for the grebe and kingfisher were tallied this 
year—all singles, except for three Great Blue Herons. Virginia Rail is somewhat 
less sensitive than the preceding, but this year’s total of six was remarkable 
for the date. Freshwater ducks that can tolerate short periods of freezing were 
conspicuous: Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, and Hooded Merganser continued their 
trends toward increased abundance, two rare species were found (Blue-winged 
Teal and Redhead, both fourth occurrences), and various others were present in 
large numbers, even though frequently missed altogether (18 Snow Goose, 36 
American Wigeon, and 13 Green-winged Teal).
Had I been told ahead of time we would see four species of alcids, I 
could not have imagined we’d miss Common Murre, which has been recorded on all 
but two of the previous 17 PDCs. Razorbills were numerous, four 

RE:[nysbirds-l] A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

[Shaibal Mitra]

 the color of the orbital ring and gape.
6.  The shape of the large, broken mirror on P9 is distinctive—what does it 
mean? (Example of a similar wingtip and details of p9 from Belgium 1 Mar: 
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/212753731)
7.  Do the lengths or shapes of the pale tongues in PP7-8 favor either 
taxon?
8.  The black band on P6 shows a very slight W shape. This is ascribed to 
smithsonianus but is readily found in photos of European Herring Gulls, at 
least of ssp. argenteus:

http://www.gull-research.org/hg/hg5cy/adfeb66.html

For the sake of thoroughness, these points should be resolved and assessed with 
regard to northeastern smithsonianus vs. northern argentatus. But it seems to 
me that characters 5-8 could only weakly support smithsonianus or 
counter-indicate argentatus, whereas characters 1-3 pose very serious obstacles 
for smithsonianus and match northern argentatus to a surprisingly detailed 
degree.

Finally, in going back through my photos of variant Herring and Great 
Black-backed Gulls with yellow legs, I found another bird (from 3 May 2014) 
that is suggestive of argentatus:

https://flic.kr/p/RV27qh

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2022 8:47 AM
To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

Dear ID Frontiers NYSBirds,

I would appreciate feedback regarding an adult yellow-legged Larus found 22 Feb 
at Old Field Point, on the north shore of central Long Island, New York.

Broadly speaking, it is a Herring Gull type, but there are reasons to doubt 
each of the usual (and less usual) interpretations of Herring-like gulls with 
yellow legs in this region at this time of year.

Most often, such birds prove to be otherwise typical smithsonianus Herring 
Herring Gulls, which regularly show some degree of yellow color in the legs and 
feet in late winter and early spring (as do small numbers of local Great 
Black-backed Gulls). Another frequent interpretation is Herring Gull x Lesser 
Black-backed Gull hybrid, which the original finder, Patrice Domeischel, 
considered in the present case because of the bird's slightly darker than 
smithsonianus mantle. A third possibility, always present in the minds of New 
York gull aficionados, is Yellow-legged Gull, which was considered by Patrice, 
and also by Peter Osswald, who independently found the bird on 23 Feb.

Patricia Lindsay and I studied the bird yesterday afternoon (23 Feb), and I 
have reservations about all three of these hypotheses, which are explained in 
my eBird report (link below). Briefly, Yellow-legged Gull is counter-indicated 
by this bird's heavier than expected head and nape streaking; it's notably 
large (larger than typical smithsonianus) apical spots on the primaries; and 
other details of the wingtip pattern (more white, less black than typical for 
smithsonianus, let along Yellow-legged Gull). The latter two points regarding 
the primaries also point away from Lesser Black-backed Gull ancestry. Finally, 
American Herring Gull is problematic by virtue of the subtly (but clearly) 
darker than typical mantle tone; the completely clear yellow tones of the the 
legs and feet; and details of the wingtip pattern. I could not see the orbital 
ring color. Photos by Patrice and Barbara Lagois seem to show it is red, but 
are not decisive on this point, in my opinion.

I wonder if this bird might represent a yellow-legged example of northern 
European L. a. argentatus, which I do not know well in life, but which is 
described as having a slightly darker mantle tone than smithsonianus, a wingtip 
pattern very similar to the present bird, and a relatively high incidence of 
yellow leg color.

My preliminary analysis (with photos by Barbara Lagois) and two of Patrice's 
checklists, also with excellent photos can be found here:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, New York

--

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/

--

RE:[nysbirds-l] A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

[Shaibal Mitra]

 the color of the orbital ring and gape.
6.  The shape of the large, broken mirror on P9 is distinctive—what does it 
mean? (Example of a similar wingtip and details of p9 from Belgium 1 Mar: 
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/212753731)
7.  Do the lengths or shapes of the pale tongues in PP7-8 favor either 
taxon?
8.  The black band on P6 shows a very slight W shape. This is ascribed to 
smithsonianus but is readily found in photos of European Herring Gulls, at 
least of ssp. argenteus:

http://www.gull-research.org/hg/hg5cy/adfeb66.html

For the sake of thoroughness, these points should be resolved and assessed with 
regard to northeastern smithsonianus vs. northern argentatus. But it seems to 
me that characters 5-8 could only weakly support smithsonianus or 
counter-indicate argentatus, whereas characters 1-3 pose very serious obstacles 
for smithsonianus and match northern argentatus to a surprisingly detailed 
degree.

Finally, in going back through my photos of variant Herring and Great 
Black-backed Gulls with yellow legs, I found another bird (from 3 May 2014) 
that is suggestive of argentatus:

https://flic.kr/p/RV27qh

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2022 8:47 AM
To: birdw...@listserv.ksu.edu; NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

Dear ID Frontiers NYSBirds,

I would appreciate feedback regarding an adult yellow-legged Larus found 22 Feb 
at Old Field Point, on the north shore of central Long Island, New York.

Broadly speaking, it is a Herring Gull type, but there are reasons to doubt 
each of the usual (and less usual) interpretations of Herring-like gulls with 
yellow legs in this region at this time of year.

Most often, such birds prove to be otherwise typical smithsonianus Herring 
Herring Gulls, which regularly show some degree of yellow color in the legs and 
feet in late winter and early spring (as do small numbers of local Great 
Black-backed Gulls). Another frequent interpretation is Herring Gull x Lesser 
Black-backed Gull hybrid, which the original finder, Patrice Domeischel, 
considered in the present case because of the bird's slightly darker than 
smithsonianus mantle. A third possibility, always present in the minds of New 
York gull aficionados, is Yellow-legged Gull, which was considered by Patrice, 
and also by Peter Osswald, who independently found the bird on 23 Feb.

Patricia Lindsay and I studied the bird yesterday afternoon (23 Feb), and I 
have reservations about all three of these hypotheses, which are explained in 
my eBird report (link below). Briefly, Yellow-legged Gull is counter-indicated 
by this bird's heavier than expected head and nape streaking; it's notably 
large (larger than typical smithsonianus) apical spots on the primaries; and 
other details of the wingtip pattern (more white, less black than typical for 
smithsonianus, let along Yellow-legged Gull). The latter two points regarding 
the primaries also point away from Lesser Black-backed Gull ancestry. Finally, 
American Herring Gull is problematic by virtue of the subtly (but clearly) 
darker than typical mantle tone; the completely clear yellow tones of the the 
legs and feet; and details of the wingtip pattern. I could not see the orbital 
ring color. Photos by Patrice and Barbara Lagois seem to show it is red, but 
are not decisive on this point, in my opinion.

I wonder if this bird might represent a yellow-legged example of northern 
European L. a. argentatus, which I do not know well in life, but which is 
described as having a slightly darker mantle tone than smithsonianus, a wingtip 
pattern very similar to the present bird, and a relatively high incidence of 
yellow leg color.

My preliminary analysis (with photos by Barbara Lagois) and two of Patrice's 
checklists, also with excellent photos can be found here:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, New York

--

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] A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear ID Frontiers NYSBirds,

I would appreciate feedback regarding an adult yellow-legged Larus found 22 Feb 
at Old Field Point, on the north shore of central Long Island, New York.

Broadly speaking, it is a Herring Gull type, but there are reasons to doubt 
each of the usual (and less usual) interpretations of Herring-like gulls with 
yellow legs in this region at this time of year.

Most often, such birds prove to be otherwise typical smithsonianus Herring 
Herring Gulls, which regularly show some degree of yellow color in the legs and 
feet in late winter and early spring (as do small numbers of local Great 
Black-backed Gulls). Another frequent interpretation is Herring Gull x Lesser 
Black-backed Gull hybrid, which the original finder, Patrice Domeischel, 
considered in the present case because of the bird's slightly darker than 
smithsonianus mantle. A third possibility, always present in the minds of New 
York gull aficionados, is Yellow-legged Gull, which was considered by Patrice, 
and also by Peter Osswald, who independently found the bird on 23 Feb. 

Patricia Lindsay and I studied the bird yesterday afternoon (23 Feb), and I 
have reservations about all three of these hypotheses, which are explained in 
my eBird report (link below). Briefly, Yellow-legged Gull is counter-indicated 
by this bird's heavier than expected head and nape streaking; it's notably 
large (larger than typical smithsonianus) apical spots on the primaries; and 
other details of the wingtip pattern (more white, less black than typical for 
smithsonianus, let along Yellow-legged Gull). The latter two points regarding 
the primaries also point away from Lesser Black-backed Gull ancestry. Finally, 
American Herring Gull is problematic by virtue of the subtly (but clearly) 
darker than typical mantle tone; the completely clear yellow tones of the the 
legs and feet; and details of the wingtip pattern. I could not see the orbital 
ring color. Photos by Patrice and Barbara Lagois seem to show it is red, but 
are not decisive on this point, in my opinion.

I wonder if this bird might represent a yellow-legged example of northern 
European L. a. argentatus, which I do not know well in life, but which is 
described as having a slightly darker mantle tone than smithsonianus, a wingtip 
pattern very similar to the present bird, and a relatively high incidence of 
yellow leg color.

My preliminary analysis (with photos by Barbara Lagois) and two of Patrice's 
checklists, also with excellent photos can be found here:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, New York
--

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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/

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[nysbirds-l] A Long Island, New York Larus with Yellow Legs

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear ID Frontiers NYSBirds,

I would appreciate feedback regarding an adult yellow-legged Larus found 22 Feb 
at Old Field Point, on the north shore of central Long Island, New York.

Broadly speaking, it is a Herring Gull type, but there are reasons to doubt 
each of the usual (and less usual) interpretations of Herring-like gulls with 
yellow legs in this region at this time of year.

Most often, such birds prove to be otherwise typical smithsonianus Herring 
Herring Gulls, which regularly show some degree of yellow color in the legs and 
feet in late winter and early spring (as do small numbers of local Great 
Black-backed Gulls). Another frequent interpretation is Herring Gull x Lesser 
Black-backed Gull hybrid, which the original finder, Patrice Domeischel, 
considered in the present case because of the bird's slightly darker than 
smithsonianus mantle. A third possibility, always present in the minds of New 
York gull aficionados, is Yellow-legged Gull, which was considered by Patrice, 
and also by Peter Osswald, who independently found the bird on 23 Feb. 

Patricia Lindsay and I studied the bird yesterday afternoon (23 Feb), and I 
have reservations about all three of these hypotheses, which are explained in 
my eBird report (link below). Briefly, Yellow-legged Gull is counter-indicated 
by this bird's heavier than expected head and nape streaking; it's notably 
large (larger than typical smithsonianus) apical spots on the primaries; and 
other details of the wingtip pattern (more white, less black than typical for 
smithsonianus, let along Yellow-legged Gull). The latter two points regarding 
the primaries also point away from Lesser Black-backed Gull ancestry. Finally, 
American Herring Gull is problematic by virtue of the subtly (but clearly) 
darker than typical mantle tone; the completely clear yellow tones of the the 
legs and feet; and details of the wingtip pattern. I could not see the orbital 
ring color. Photos by Patrice and Barbara Lagois seem to show it is red, but 
are not decisive on this point, in my opinion.

I wonder if this bird might represent a yellow-legged example of northern 
European L. a. argentatus, which I do not know well in life, but which is 
described as having a slightly darker mantle tone than smithsonianus, a wingtip 
pattern very similar to the present bird, and a relatively high incidence of 
yellow leg color.

My preliminary analysis (with photos by Barbara Lagois) and two of Patrice's 
checklists, also with excellent photos can be found here:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S103599677
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103599196
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S103596988

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, New York
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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/

--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Are there more than one Golden Eagle overwintering at Storm King Mountain, Orange County?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear Ajit and all,

I am among the many observers who recorded a Golden Eagle at Storm King this 
month with extreme negligence regarding critical detail. I was in the throes of 
an intense bout of twitching, riding the thrill of impending glory on the Hot 
100, and lazy with my record-keeping! But the bird was so cooperative and 
arresting, that I actually lapsed back into real birding mode and studied it 
quite carefully, despite my intentions to "take no chances with the LASP!" Pat 
and I discussed the eagle in reasonable detail, and I repeated most of the 
points in a phone call with Tom Burke, who had been there a day or two earlier. 
I've amended my eBird report with the following:

"Huge raptor, mostly blackish, but with extensive, messy paler markings across 
upperwing coverts; extensively bright golden nape; small and irregular pale 
blotch on breast; and black-tipped tail with paler base.* Feet deep yellow. The 
overall proportions were quite different from the superficially similar 
immature plumages of BAEA, most notably in the more normal-looking head and 
bill (not grotequely large as in Haliaeetus spp.) and overall more "normal" or 
"Buteo-like" manners during a fortuitous fly-around between periods perching at 
its traditional spot, first facing away and to the right, and afterwards 
perching facing us. Furthermore, it lacked white in the axillaries, underwing 
coverts, and belly, one or more of which would be present in any BAEA lacking 
white head and tail.

*The age of this bird, and its individual identity relative to other reports of 
GOEA from this area this season, are somewhat uncertain. The extensively pale 
upperwing coverts exclude a juvenile, and the messiness of these tracts 
suggests an adult to me (opportunity for multiple feather generations to be 
present). Furthermore, we did not see any white at the wrists, as is usually 
obvious in a juv GOEA. On the perched bird, I could see that the base of the 
tail was paler than the terminus several times, most strikingly when it raised 
its tail to defecate before its fly-around. At that point, it looked pretty 
much whitish at the base with a black terminal band. On the other hand, when it 
was flying around, the base of the tail looked only vaguely paler than the 
black terminus. Lacking critical experience with this species, I can't choose 
confidently between an older immature vs. an adult. If it is possible for the 
grayer base of an adult GOEA's tail to appear variably--and sometimes 
obviously--pale, depending on lighting and angle, I would lean toward an adult, 
based on other features and a consistent pattern of behavior over the years 
suggestive of a returning individual."

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-126262833-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126262833-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Ajit I. Antony 
[aiant...@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 6:35 PM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Are there more than one Golden Eagle overwintering at 
Storm King Mountain, Orange County?

Sent from Mail for Windows
I know that many birders from out of Orange County, NY come to see the Storm  
King Mountain Golden Eagle, so hence this essay on this forum.

Thanks to all the birders entering their data in eBird we have good 
documentation of the Golden Eagle on Storm King for yet another year. A very 
few birders have the skills and equipment to photograph the species well, and 
many thanks to them.

I had seen a recent report on the Orange County RBA of a Golden Eagle sighting 
by Mearns Club member Barbara Thomascall at Iona Island 
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S100714805 whose description “Large eagle 
with golden nape, two brown bands along back of wings, some pale on the flight 
feathers of the underside of the wing” seemed to me to suggest a subadult GE. 
All the photographs I’ve seen this year of the Storm King GE suggested a 
“more-than-one-year-old” GE, so I wondered whether there were more than one GE 
overwintering in the area.

I looked at all the local eBird sightings for GE under Species Maps 
https://tinyurl.com/2p8wcmh3  I added in “Current Year” for Date Range and 
“Orange County” for Location.


A singular focus on only 1 feature of GE by all reporters

The feature described by almost everyone seems to be the golden nape to the 
exclusion of any other features of the species. At the I-84 Overlook Hawk Watch 
we have seen a number of subadult BE which “certainly seemed” initially to have 
convincing golden hackles/nape and a dihedral (BE at this location often have 
dihedrals because of the ridges) when they were really far away suggesting GE, 
but when they flew closer we realized they were Bald Eagle when we saw the 
diagnostic white axillaries or the oblique white line along the underwing.
Remember, a ‘juvenile’ eagle is one in its 1st year of life. An ‘immature’ is 
all years 

RE: [nysbirds-l] Are there more than one Golden Eagle overwintering at Storm King Mountain, Orange County?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear Ajit and all,

I am among the many observers who recorded a Golden Eagle at Storm King this 
month with extreme negligence regarding critical detail. I was in the throes of 
an intense bout of twitching, riding the thrill of impending glory on the Hot 
100, and lazy with my record-keeping! But the bird was so cooperative and 
arresting, that I actually lapsed back into real birding mode and studied it 
quite carefully, despite my intentions to "take no chances with the LASP!" Pat 
and I discussed the eagle in reasonable detail, and I repeated most of the 
points in a phone call with Tom Burke, who had been there a day or two earlier. 
I've amended my eBird report with the following:

"Huge raptor, mostly blackish, but with extensive, messy paler markings across 
upperwing coverts; extensively bright golden nape; small and irregular pale 
blotch on breast; and black-tipped tail with paler base.* Feet deep yellow. The 
overall proportions were quite different from the superficially similar 
immature plumages of BAEA, most notably in the more normal-looking head and 
bill (not grotequely large as in Haliaeetus spp.) and overall more "normal" or 
"Buteo-like" manners during a fortuitous fly-around between periods perching at 
its traditional spot, first facing away and to the right, and afterwards 
perching facing us. Furthermore, it lacked white in the axillaries, underwing 
coverts, and belly, one or more of which would be present in any BAEA lacking 
white head and tail.

*The age of this bird, and its individual identity relative to other reports of 
GOEA from this area this season, are somewhat uncertain. The extensively pale 
upperwing coverts exclude a juvenile, and the messiness of these tracts 
suggests an adult to me (opportunity for multiple feather generations to be 
present). Furthermore, we did not see any white at the wrists, as is usually 
obvious in a juv GOEA. On the perched bird, I could see that the base of the 
tail was paler than the terminus several times, most strikingly when it raised 
its tail to defecate before its fly-around. At that point, it looked pretty 
much whitish at the base with a black terminal band. On the other hand, when it 
was flying around, the base of the tail looked only vaguely paler than the 
black terminus. Lacking critical experience with this species, I can't choose 
confidently between an older immature vs. an adult. If it is possible for the 
grayer base of an adult GOEA's tail to appear variably--and sometimes 
obviously--pale, depending on lighting and angle, I would lean toward an adult, 
based on other features and a consistent pattern of behavior over the years 
suggestive of a returning individual."

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-126262833-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-126262833-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Ajit I. Antony 
[aiant...@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 6:35 PM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Are there more than one Golden Eagle overwintering at 
Storm King Mountain, Orange County?

Sent from Mail for Windows
I know that many birders from out of Orange County, NY come to see the Storm  
King Mountain Golden Eagle, so hence this essay on this forum.

Thanks to all the birders entering their data in eBird we have good 
documentation of the Golden Eagle on Storm King for yet another year. A very 
few birders have the skills and equipment to photograph the species well, and 
many thanks to them.

I had seen a recent report on the Orange County RBA of a Golden Eagle sighting 
by Mearns Club member Barbara Thomascall at Iona Island 
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S100714805 whose description “Large eagle 
with golden nape, two brown bands along back of wings, some pale on the flight 
feathers of the underside of the wing” seemed to me to suggest a subadult GE. 
All the photographs I’ve seen this year of the Storm King GE suggested a 
“more-than-one-year-old” GE, so I wondered whether there were more than one GE 
overwintering in the area.

I looked at all the local eBird sightings for GE under Species Maps 
https://tinyurl.com/2p8wcmh3  I added in “Current Year” for Date Range and 
“Orange County” for Location.


A singular focus on only 1 feature of GE by all reporters

The feature described by almost everyone seems to be the golden nape to the 
exclusion of any other features of the species. At the I-84 Overlook Hawk Watch 
we have seen a number of subadult BE which “certainly seemed” initially to have 
convincing golden hackles/nape and a dihedral (BE at this location often have 
dihedrals because of the ridges) when they were really far away suggesting GE, 
but when they flew closer we realized they were Bald Eagle when we saw the 
diagnostic white axillaries or the oblique white line along the underwing.
Remember, a ‘juvenile’ eagle is one in its 1st year of life. An ‘immature’ is 
all years 

[nysbirds-l] Southern Nassau County CBC, 2 January 2022--Preliminary Results

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted on Sunday, 2 Jan 2022. The weather 
preceding the count was highly unusual; in 40 years participating in CBCs in 
the Northeast, I cannot recall a November-December period so completely lacking 
in freezing conditions. The morning of the count was warm (min temp 48 F), 
calm, and very foggy, greatly hindering visibility. The fog cleared during the 
late morning, however, and temperatures rose to 60 F before the post-frontal 
northwesterly winds whipped up late in the day. 

The early morning conditions might be blamed for bad misses such as Razorbill 
and Bonaparte’s Gull, but the lack of wind also surely contributed to improved 
detection of many species, including many of the unusually large list of 
10-year maxima (discussed below), and a very unusual set of suite of 
usually-scarce species that were detected in multiples: 4 Wood Duck, 2 Clapper 
Rail, 7 American Woodcock, 2 American Bittern, 3 yellow-crowned Night-Heron, 5 
Eastern Screech-Owl, 5 Marsh Wren, 3 Chipping Sparrow, 5 Eastern Meadowlark, 3 
Palm Warbler, 5 Orange-crowned Warbler, and 2 Pine Warbler. The warm late fall 
and early winter weather undoubtedly influenced these positive records also, 
just as it surely contributed to numerous negative outcomes. Misses such as 
Common Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, and Lapland Longspur come to mind, as do 
some of the 10-year minima and other low counts, which tended to be 
concentrated among the waterfowl:

Ten-year Minima
Brant (16,025), Surf Scoter (12), American Coot (16), Ring-billed Gull (1884), 
Herring Gull (2205), Red-throated Loon (44), Common Loon (13—vs. the previous 
min of 94 and the ten-year average of 183!), Northern Harrier (11), Red-tailed 
Hawk (18), American Crow (70), House Sparrow (983), Snow Bunting (10), and 
Field Sparrow (2).

Other low counts:
American Wigeon (64), Northern Pintail (27), Redhead (1), Greater Scaup (85), 
Common Eider (3), White-winged Scoter (8), Black Scoter (91), Long-tailed Duck 
(111), Bufflehead (90—vs. ten-year average 315), Ruddy Duck (102), Horned Grebe 
(1), Red Knot (2), Great Cormorant (1), White-breasted Nuthatch (14), and 
American Goldfinch (85). 

Some of these species have been diminishing for some time (notably Redhead, 
Horned Grebe, and Great Cormorant), whereas others wouldn’t obviously be 
responding to the warm lead-up. Nevertheless, a general paucity of waterfowl 
and other aquatic birds was noticed on most or all of the prior CBCs on Long 
Island.

(Digressing for a moment to settle our debts and failures, the following were 
reported in the circle during the count week but not on count day: Blue-winged 
Teal, Osprey, Northern Shrike, Yellow-breasted Chat, Red Crossbill, and 
Dickcissel.)

Very curiously, and in contrast to the rather long lists of low numbers 
detailed above, a surprisingly large number of species bested their ten-year 
maxima:

Mourning Dove (988), Greater yellowlegs (70), Lesser Black-backed Gull (7), 
Great Egret (25), Black-crowned Night-Heron (142), Merlin (15), Monk Parakeet 
(363), Blue Jay (230), Golden-crowned Kinglet (57), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (24), 
Brown Creeper (19), Carolina Wren (171), Gray Catbird (49—vs. ten-year max 24), 
Hermit thrush (19), American Robin (919), Fox Sparrow (46), White-throated 
Sparrow (1285—vs. ten-year max 762). As noted above, the combination of an 
ice-free lead-up and a windless morning undoubtedly contributed to many of 
these results. The dramatic upsurge of White-throated Sparrow throughout Long 
Island and southern England during the 122nd CBC period deserves emphasis. I 
have never regarded this as a particularly volatile species (prone to dramatic 
shifts in abundance from year to year), and its general trend on the half dozen 
regional CBCs I do has been downward for more than a decade. This is certainly 
a species to pay attention to throughout the rest of the winter, particularly 
via focused efforts such as the Northport Winter Count and the Block Island 
Presidents Day Count.

And finally, as is the custom on this count, there were numerous unusual 
species, including Common Gallinule, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, 
Western Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Turkey Vulture, Saltmarsh Sparrow 
(two, in different territories), and Baltimore Oriole (again two, in different 
territories). All of these have one or two precedents over the past ten years, 
and I will add a Nashville Warbler here, even though it has been recorded in 
four out of the past ten years. The three most unusual species were Nelson’s 
Sparrow (fourth time recorded, and the first since 3 Jan 2009), Lincoln’s 
Sparrow (third ever and first since 2 Jan 2000), and Cape May Warbler (second 
ever and first since 30 Dec 1956). This year’s wild combination of failures and 
successes combined to produce a remarkable preliminary total of 139 species, 
well above our ten-year average of 133.

Pat and I thank the New York State Parks, Town of Hempstead, and 

[nysbirds-l] Southern Nassau County CBC, 2 January 2022--Preliminary Results

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted on Sunday, 2 Jan 2022. The weather 
preceding the count was highly unusual; in 40 years participating in CBCs in 
the Northeast, I cannot recall a November-December period so completely lacking 
in freezing conditions. The morning of the count was warm (min temp 48 F), 
calm, and very foggy, greatly hindering visibility. The fog cleared during the 
late morning, however, and temperatures rose to 60 F before the post-frontal 
northwesterly winds whipped up late in the day. 

The early morning conditions might be blamed for bad misses such as Razorbill 
and Bonaparte’s Gull, but the lack of wind also surely contributed to improved 
detection of many species, including many of the unusually large list of 
10-year maxima (discussed below), and a very unusual set of suite of 
usually-scarce species that were detected in multiples: 4 Wood Duck, 2 Clapper 
Rail, 7 American Woodcock, 2 American Bittern, 3 yellow-crowned Night-Heron, 5 
Eastern Screech-Owl, 5 Marsh Wren, 3 Chipping Sparrow, 5 Eastern Meadowlark, 3 
Palm Warbler, 5 Orange-crowned Warbler, and 2 Pine Warbler. The warm late fall 
and early winter weather undoubtedly influenced these positive records also, 
just as it surely contributed to numerous negative outcomes. Misses such as 
Common Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, and Lapland Longspur come to mind, as do 
some of the 10-year minima and other low counts, which tended to be 
concentrated among the waterfowl:

Ten-year Minima
Brant (16,025), Surf Scoter (12), American Coot (16), Ring-billed Gull (1884), 
Herring Gull (2205), Red-throated Loon (44), Common Loon (13—vs. the previous 
min of 94 and the ten-year average of 183!), Northern Harrier (11), Red-tailed 
Hawk (18), American Crow (70), House Sparrow (983), Snow Bunting (10), and 
Field Sparrow (2).

Other low counts:
American Wigeon (64), Northern Pintail (27), Redhead (1), Greater Scaup (85), 
Common Eider (3), White-winged Scoter (8), Black Scoter (91), Long-tailed Duck 
(111), Bufflehead (90—vs. ten-year average 315), Ruddy Duck (102), Horned Grebe 
(1), Red Knot (2), Great Cormorant (1), White-breasted Nuthatch (14), and 
American Goldfinch (85). 

Some of these species have been diminishing for some time (notably Redhead, 
Horned Grebe, and Great Cormorant), whereas others wouldn’t obviously be 
responding to the warm lead-up. Nevertheless, a general paucity of waterfowl 
and other aquatic birds was noticed on most or all of the prior CBCs on Long 
Island.

(Digressing for a moment to settle our debts and failures, the following were 
reported in the circle during the count week but not on count day: Blue-winged 
Teal, Osprey, Northern Shrike, Yellow-breasted Chat, Red Crossbill, and 
Dickcissel.)

Very curiously, and in contrast to the rather long lists of low numbers 
detailed above, a surprisingly large number of species bested their ten-year 
maxima:

Mourning Dove (988), Greater yellowlegs (70), Lesser Black-backed Gull (7), 
Great Egret (25), Black-crowned Night-Heron (142), Merlin (15), Monk Parakeet 
(363), Blue Jay (230), Golden-crowned Kinglet (57), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (24), 
Brown Creeper (19), Carolina Wren (171), Gray Catbird (49—vs. ten-year max 24), 
Hermit thrush (19), American Robin (919), Fox Sparrow (46), White-throated 
Sparrow (1285—vs. ten-year max 762). As noted above, the combination of an 
ice-free lead-up and a windless morning undoubtedly contributed to many of 
these results. The dramatic upsurge of White-throated Sparrow throughout Long 
Island and southern England during the 122nd CBC period deserves emphasis. I 
have never regarded this as a particularly volatile species (prone to dramatic 
shifts in abundance from year to year), and its general trend on the half dozen 
regional CBCs I do has been downward for more than a decade. This is certainly 
a species to pay attention to throughout the rest of the winter, particularly 
via focused efforts such as the Northport Winter Count and the Block Island 
Presidents Day Count.

And finally, as is the custom on this count, there were numerous unusual 
species, including Common Gallinule, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, 
Western Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Turkey Vulture, Saltmarsh Sparrow 
(two, in different territories), and Baltimore Oriole (again two, in different 
territories). All of these have one or two precedents over the past ten years, 
and I will add a Nashville Warbler here, even though it has been recorded in 
four out of the past ten years. The three most unusual species were Nelson’s 
Sparrow (fourth time recorded, and the first since 3 Jan 2009), Lincoln’s 
Sparrow (third ever and first since 2 Jan 2000), and Cape May Warbler (second 
ever and first since 30 Dec 1956). This year’s wild combination of failures and 
successes combined to produce a remarkable preliminary total of 139 species, 
well above our ten-year average of 133.

Pat and I thank the New York State Parks, Town of Hempstead, and 

RE:[nysbirds-l] LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls--Addendum

[Shaibal Mitra]

I meant to add:

Today, for instance, there were just 5 LBBGs at Captree and 5 at Heckscher (per 
Pat).

From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2021 2:18 PM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

This morning's intense rain and strong easterly winds grounded large numbers of 
migrating Lesser Black-backed Gulls. At Robert Moses SP in southwestern Suffolk 
County, Doug Futuyma, Patricia Lindsay, and I counted multiple flocks 
containing 310 individuals, outnumbering all other gulls combined (Great 
Black-backed was second most numerous, whereas Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls 
were in single-digits, so evidently resting some other place).

I was able to assess the age composition for most of the flocks: 14 juveniles, 
62 second calendar-year, and 150 older immatures and adults (these can be hard 
to tell apart at this date, without close study, whereas the SY birds are still 
fairly uniform in appearance). Even just a few years ago, the (then smaller) 
largest October counts tended to have few SYs, so the timing of movements of 
the age cohorts is changing, as well as their overall abundance.

Another interesting pattern is that habitat specificity seems to be tightening 
up, even as abundance continues to increase rapidly. This is in marked contrast 
to several other species that have have increased in overall abundance on Long 
Island during the same period: Common Eider, Razorbill, and Northern Gannet 
have also increased greatly over the past 30 years, but each of these has 
broadened its ecological profile at the same time, occurring in increasingly 
diverse areas and habitats. The predilection of Lesser Black-backed Gull for 
the outer coast is as strong, or stronger, now than when the species was rare 
or uncommon overall. In fact, 15 years ago, sites like Captree and Heckscher, 
that are just slightly recessed from the ocean, were not obviously worse for 
LBBGs than the ocean beaches. Now, with overall numbers two orders of magnitude 
higher, absolute occurrence at these sites is barely greater than it was then.

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/

--

RE:[nysbirds-l] LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls--Addendum

[Shaibal Mitra]

I meant to add:

Today, for instance, there were just 5 LBBGs at Captree and 5 at Heckscher (per 
Pat).

From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2021 2:18 PM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

This morning's intense rain and strong easterly winds grounded large numbers of 
migrating Lesser Black-backed Gulls. At Robert Moses SP in southwestern Suffolk 
County, Doug Futuyma, Patricia Lindsay, and I counted multiple flocks 
containing 310 individuals, outnumbering all other gulls combined (Great 
Black-backed was second most numerous, whereas Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls 
were in single-digits, so evidently resting some other place).

I was able to assess the age composition for most of the flocks: 14 juveniles, 
62 second calendar-year, and 150 older immatures and adults (these can be hard 
to tell apart at this date, without close study, whereas the SY birds are still 
fairly uniform in appearance). Even just a few years ago, the (then smaller) 
largest October counts tended to have few SYs, so the timing of movements of 
the age cohorts is changing, as well as their overall abundance.

Another interesting pattern is that habitat specificity seems to be tightening 
up, even as abundance continues to increase rapidly. This is in marked contrast 
to several other species that have have increased in overall abundance on Long 
Island during the same period: Common Eider, Razorbill, and Northern Gannet 
have also increased greatly over the past 30 years, but each of these has 
broadened its ecological profile at the same time, occurring in increasingly 
diverse areas and habitats. The predilection of Lesser Black-backed Gull for 
the outer coast is as strong, or stronger, now than when the species was rare 
or uncommon overall. In fact, 15 years ago, sites like Captree and Heckscher, 
that are just slightly recessed from the ocean, were not obviously worse for 
LBBGs than the ocean beaches. Now, with overall numbers two orders of magnitude 
higher, absolute occurrence at these sites is barely greater than it was then.

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] LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

[Shaibal Mitra]

This morning's intense rain and strong easterly winds grounded large numbers of 
migrating Lesser Black-backed Gulls. At Robert Moses SP in southwestern Suffolk 
County, Doug Futuyma, Patricia Lindsay, and I counted multiple flocks 
containing 310 individuals, outnumbering all other gulls combined (Great 
Black-backed was second most numerous, whereas Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls 
were in single-digits, so evidently resting some other place).

I was able to assess the age composition for most of the flocks: 14 juveniles, 
62 second calendar-year, and 150 older immatures and adults (these can be hard 
to tell apart at this date, without close study, whereas the SY birds are still 
fairly uniform in appearance). Even just a few years ago, the (then smaller) 
largest October counts tended to have few SYs, so the timing of movements of 
the age cohorts is changing, as well as their overall abundance.

Another interesting pattern is that habitat specificity seems to be tightening 
up, even as abundance continues to increase rapidly. This is in marked contrast 
to several other species that have have increased in overall abundance on Long 
Island during the same period: Common Eider, Razorbill, and Northern Gannet 
have also increased greatly over the past 30 years, but each of these has 
broadened its ecological profile at the same time, occurring in increasingly 
diverse areas and habitats. The predilection of Lesser Black-backed Gull for 
the outer coast is as strong, or stronger, now than when the species was rare 
or uncommon overall. In fact, 15 years ago, sites like Captree and Heckscher, 
that are just slightly recessed from the ocean, were not obviously worse for 
LBBGs than the ocean beaches. Now, with overall numbers two orders of magnitude 
higher, absolute occurrence at these sites is barely greater than it was then.

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] LI Storm Birding: 310 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

[Shaibal Mitra]

This morning's intense rain and strong easterly winds grounded large numbers of 
migrating Lesser Black-backed Gulls. At Robert Moses SP in southwestern Suffolk 
County, Doug Futuyma, Patricia Lindsay, and I counted multiple flocks 
containing 310 individuals, outnumbering all other gulls combined (Great 
Black-backed was second most numerous, whereas Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls 
were in single-digits, so evidently resting some other place).

I was able to assess the age composition for most of the flocks: 14 juveniles, 
62 second calendar-year, and 150 older immatures and adults (these can be hard 
to tell apart at this date, without close study, whereas the SY birds are still 
fairly uniform in appearance). Even just a few years ago, the (then smaller) 
largest October counts tended to have few SYs, so the timing of movements of 
the age cohorts is changing, as well as their overall abundance.

Another interesting pattern is that habitat specificity seems to be tightening 
up, even as abundance continues to increase rapidly. This is in marked contrast 
to several other species that have have increased in overall abundance on Long 
Island during the same period: Common Eider, Razorbill, and Northern Gannet 
have also increased greatly over the past 30 years, but each of these has 
broadened its ecological profile at the same time, occurring in increasingly 
diverse areas and habitats. The predilection of Lesser Black-backed Gull for 
the outer coast is as strong, or stronger, now than when the species was rare 
or uncommon overall. In fact, 15 years ago, sites like Captree and Heckscher, 
that are just slightly recessed from the ocean, were not obviously worse for 
LBBGs than the ocean beaches. Now, with overall numbers two orders of magnitude 
higher, absolute occurrence at these sites is barely greater than it was then.

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] NYS Young Birders Club--North Atlantic Right Whale++

[Shaibal Mitra]

The New York State Young Birders Club visited Nickerson Beach this morning, 
with Mary Normandia, Pat Lindsay, and me there to help out. This was 13 years 
after the group's very first field trip, to Jamaica Bay:

http://nysyoungbirders.org/articles/tripreports/JamaicaBay2008_0816.htm

This year's trip was also scheduled for Jamaica Bay, but we changed venue 
because recent rains had rendered the East Pond difficult for birding. Our 
backup choice of Nickerson Beach was richly reward by a great variety of birds; 
but the astonishing highlight was a North Atlantic Right Whale, swimming west 
to east offshore, slapping its pectoral fin and revealing one of its flukes, 
repeatedly, around 9:00.

The Young Birders are highly skilled with their cameras and acquired excellent 
documentation (while I ogled the creature in disbelief, noting its ginkgo-leaf 
pectoral fins, fin-less dorsum, and bizarre callosities). Nickerson Beach 
monitors Brien and Paul alerted the marine mammal community, and theses experts 
would not have believed us were it not for the photos.

These are courtesy of young birder Rio:

https://flic.kr/p/2mk8vZn

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] NYS Young Birders Club--North Atlantic Right Whale++

[Shaibal Mitra]

The New York State Young Birders Club visited Nickerson Beach this morning, 
with Mary Normandia, Pat Lindsay, and me there to help out. This was 13 years 
after the group's very first field trip, to Jamaica Bay:

http://nysyoungbirders.org/articles/tripreports/JamaicaBay2008_0816.htm

This year's trip was also scheduled for Jamaica Bay, but we changed venue 
because recent rains had rendered the East Pond difficult for birding. Our 
backup choice of Nickerson Beach was richly reward by a great variety of birds; 
but the astonishing highlight was a North Atlantic Right Whale, swimming west 
to east offshore, slapping its pectoral fin and revealing one of its flukes, 
repeatedly, around 9:00.

The Young Birders are highly skilled with their cameras and acquired excellent 
documentation (while I ogled the creature in disbelief, noting its ginkgo-leaf 
pectoral fins, fin-less dorsum, and bizarre callosities). Nickerson Beach 
monitors Brien and Paul alerted the marine mammal community, and theses experts 
would not have believed us were it not for the photos.

These are courtesy of young birder Rio:

https://flic.kr/p/2mk8vZn

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] Reflections on Tropical Storm Henri

[Shaibal Mitra]

The information/communications environment we now inhabit distorts our 
expectations. At least this is how it seems to some of us who began birding 
storms prior to the advent of the internet and mobile phones. Perhaps it could 
be argued that our expectations have simply been altered, not necessarily for 
the worse. It was pointed out to me several times, explicitly and implicitly, 
during the excited lead-up to Tropical Storm Henri, that I am now an old-timer. 
From that perspective, I think I can state accurately that my more humble 
expectations, which come naturally to me after decades of personal failures of 
various sorts while searching for birds, serve me well—and possibly better than 
the grander expectations that arise so easily now, based on the non-stop news 
cycle of other people’s successes, culled from a vast body of collective effort 
that constantly and noisily commands our attention.

And yet I definitely expected that this storm would produce at least a few 
Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, Black-capped Petrels, and White-tailed Tropicbirds, 
somewhere on Long Island or New England, if not for me personally. And I 
intended to do my best to put myself where I might find them. I also expected 
that the storm would displace some of the regular seabirds that inhabit our 
shelf waters at this time of year, and that it would force down difficult to 
see species that normally over-fly the coast at this season. Of these three 
modalities, my experience from 40-plus years of birding has been that the 
tropical/Gulf Stream results are by far the most variable from storm to storm. 
Indeed, each storm’s yield of such birds seems wildly uncertain and almost 
always defies predictions, for better or worse, despite our ever-increasing 
sophistication in terms of precedent and meteorology. The second mode, relating 
to our common seabirds, impresses me as being the most predictable. When a 
storm approaches our coast from the south, one will see Sterna and Laughing 
Gulls streaming eastward during the approach, and one will usually see some 
shearwaters and jaegers during the storm, if one is able to view the ocean. The 
third mode, southbound migrants whose ordinarily invisible overhead flights are 
obstructed and forced downward, almost always occurs in some fashion, but with 
much variation in terms of scale and species composition. Lesser Yellowlegs and 
Black Tern are the bread and butter of this cohort, Sabine’s Gull and 
Long-tailed Jaeger the caviar.

Viewed this way, Henri’s avian impacts look less freakishly pathetic than they 
seemed at first. The greatest surprises, requiring some exploration, are (1) 
the near (or complete?) absence of tropical/Gulf Stream birds; and (2) the 
abundance and richness of the downed migrants.

My intention from the beginning was to try to get east of the eye at landfall 
on Sunday and to be at an appropriate promontory to observe displaced birds 
flying back to the ocean on Monday morning. Initially it seemed that Montauk 
Point could serve both purposes, provided that one could get there, hide the 
jeep from the gendarmerie, and survive overnight. But the 11:00 p.m. tracking 
update obviated that. Patricia Lindsay and I would have to drive through the 
top of the storm to Rhode Island on Sunday morning and see what we could 
accomplish in my childhood haunts.

It quickly became clear that this was not a physically large storm. It was calm 
with just light rain in Bay Shore at 7:00 a.m.; the rain was intense in 
Bridgeport, but just a little further east in New Haven, it was utterly calm 
with light rain at 9:07. We first noticed the wind picking up when we crossed 
the high, exposed bridge over the Connecticut River, and our pulses quickened 
when we re-entered our home turf in New London. There, on the Thames River 
bridge at 9:49, both wind and rain were intense. Dropping down to the RI coast 
along Rte. 1, I felt that perfect sense of excitement that I experience from 
being in a hurricane, irrespective of the birding angle. I couldn’t resist 
exploring some storm-roost spots in the Matunuck area, but this was in 
retrospect an error that was potentially quite costly. My plan was a pee-stop 
at Trustom Pond, a quick trip down to Mud Pond, inspection of Cards Pond and 
the fields to the east, then escape back to Rte. 1 via Matunuck Beach Road. But 
that road was blocked by fallen trees, as was Moonstone Beach Road when we 
tried to return that way, but Green Hill Beach Road was still open, so we 
escaped.

>From there, everything went perfectly in terms of timing, access, etc. We were 
>able to bird the Point Judith Peninsula in relative comfort as the poorly 
>formed eye made land and we found loads of birds at all the regular 
>storm-roosts. The only problem was that all of the birds we saw were, with 
>only one possible exception, species expected as to time and place. With 
>effort we saw Manx, Great, and Cory’s Shearwaters, a Parasitic Jaeger, two 
>Black 

[nysbirds-l] Reflections on Tropical Storm Henri

[Shaibal Mitra]

The information/communications environment we now inhabit distorts our 
expectations. At least this is how it seems to some of us who began birding 
storms prior to the advent of the internet and mobile phones. Perhaps it could 
be argued that our expectations have simply been altered, not necessarily for 
the worse. It was pointed out to me several times, explicitly and implicitly, 
during the excited lead-up to Tropical Storm Henri, that I am now an old-timer. 
From that perspective, I think I can state accurately that my more humble 
expectations, which come naturally to me after decades of personal failures of 
various sorts while searching for birds, serve me well—and possibly better than 
the grander expectations that arise so easily now, based on the non-stop news 
cycle of other people’s successes, culled from a vast body of collective effort 
that constantly and noisily commands our attention.

And yet I definitely expected that this storm would produce at least a few 
Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, Black-capped Petrels, and White-tailed Tropicbirds, 
somewhere on Long Island or New England, if not for me personally. And I 
intended to do my best to put myself where I might find them. I also expected 
that the storm would displace some of the regular seabirds that inhabit our 
shelf waters at this time of year, and that it would force down difficult to 
see species that normally over-fly the coast at this season. Of these three 
modalities, my experience from 40-plus years of birding has been that the 
tropical/Gulf Stream results are by far the most variable from storm to storm. 
Indeed, each storm’s yield of such birds seems wildly uncertain and almost 
always defies predictions, for better or worse, despite our ever-increasing 
sophistication in terms of precedent and meteorology. The second mode, relating 
to our common seabirds, impresses me as being the most predictable. When a 
storm approaches our coast from the south, one will see Sterna and Laughing 
Gulls streaming eastward during the approach, and one will usually see some 
shearwaters and jaegers during the storm, if one is able to view the ocean. The 
third mode, southbound migrants whose ordinarily invisible overhead flights are 
obstructed and forced downward, almost always occurs in some fashion, but with 
much variation in terms of scale and species composition. Lesser Yellowlegs and 
Black Tern are the bread and butter of this cohort, Sabine’s Gull and 
Long-tailed Jaeger the caviar.

Viewed this way, Henri’s avian impacts look less freakishly pathetic than they 
seemed at first. The greatest surprises, requiring some exploration, are (1) 
the near (or complete?) absence of tropical/Gulf Stream birds; and (2) the 
abundance and richness of the downed migrants.

My intention from the beginning was to try to get east of the eye at landfall 
on Sunday and to be at an appropriate promontory to observe displaced birds 
flying back to the ocean on Monday morning. Initially it seemed that Montauk 
Point could serve both purposes, provided that one could get there, hide the 
jeep from the gendarmerie, and survive overnight. But the 11:00 p.m. tracking 
update obviated that. Patricia Lindsay and I would have to drive through the 
top of the storm to Rhode Island on Sunday morning and see what we could 
accomplish in my childhood haunts.

It quickly became clear that this was not a physically large storm. It was calm 
with just light rain in Bay Shore at 7:00 a.m.; the rain was intense in 
Bridgeport, but just a little further east in New Haven, it was utterly calm 
with light rain at 9:07. We first noticed the wind picking up when we crossed 
the high, exposed bridge over the Connecticut River, and our pulses quickened 
when we re-entered our home turf in New London. There, on the Thames River 
bridge at 9:49, both wind and rain were intense. Dropping down to the RI coast 
along Rte. 1, I felt that perfect sense of excitement that I experience from 
being in a hurricane, irrespective of the birding angle. I couldn’t resist 
exploring some storm-roost spots in the Matunuck area, but this was in 
retrospect an error that was potentially quite costly. My plan was a pee-stop 
at Trustom Pond, a quick trip down to Mud Pond, inspection of Cards Pond and 
the fields to the east, then escape back to Rte. 1 via Matunuck Beach Road. But 
that road was blocked by fallen trees, as was Moonstone Beach Road when we 
tried to return that way, but Green Hill Beach Road was still open, so we 
escaped.

>From there, everything went perfectly in terms of timing, access, etc. We were 
>able to bird the Point Judith Peninsula in relative comfort as the poorly 
>formed eye made land and we found loads of birds at all the regular 
>storm-roosts. The only problem was that all of the birds we saw were, with 
>only one possible exception, species expected as to time and place. With 
>effort we saw Manx, Great, and Cory’s Shearwaters, a Parasitic Jaeger, two 
>Black 

[nysbirds-l] Captree June Count, 12 June 2021

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Captree June Count was conducted for the seventh consecutive year on 
Saturday 12 June 2021. A record total of 37 observers divided into 20 parties 
to cover the nine traditional territories of the Captree Christmas Bird Count 
circle, in southwestern Suffolk County, Long Island. This fine-grained effort, 
in combination with favorable weather, yielded a total of 138 species—eight 
more than the previous best totals, in 2017 and 2019. Breeding evidence was 
obtained for 106 species, 57 of which were confirmed, with 14 more scored as 
probable.

Easterly winds and good visibility allowed for a productive seawatch in which, 
for the first time in these seven years, all seven of the regularly occurring 
seabird species were recorded on the CJC: 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 15 Wilson’s 
Storm-Petrels, 16 Cory’s Shearwaters, 17 Sooty Shearwaters, single Great and 
Manx Shearwaters, and 62 Northern Gannets; eleven Roseate Terns and two Arctic 
Terns were also highlights at Fire Island.

Indeed, the highlights were many. The best waterfowl records were Green-winged 
Teal at Oak Beach and a Hooded Merganser and family of Wood Ducks at 
Connetquot. The only Whip-poor-wills recorded were also at Connetquot. 
Remarkable for June were 16 species of shorebirds, headlined by a Red Knot at 
Fire Island, White-rumped Sandpipers at Gardiner County Park and Oakdale, and a 
Stilt Sandpiper at Oak Beach. The Heckscher team found an American Woodcock, 
adding this difficult to detect species to the cumulative list at last. For the 
first time in seven years, we managed to log both Little Blue and Tricolored 
Herons, scarce and elusive residents of the Captree marshes, and another 
Tricolor was found in the Oakdale-West Sayville area. Great Horned Owl is not 
numerous in this circle, so one at Belmont was an excellent pick up, and the 
observers covering the East Islip area must be commended for their thoroughness 
in tallying up no fewer than eight Eastern Screech-Owls by night, then two 
locally scarce Turkey Vultures by day. 

Among passerines, a Bank Swallow at Belmont was new to the count and likely a 
late migrant, whereas the pair of Yellow-throated Warblers at Bayard Cutting 
Arboretum were confirmed feeding young—a brand-new Brown-headed Cowbird. 
Forest-breeding Neotropical migrants are not doing well in this circle, but 
Connetquot still supports at least eight Veeries and two Wood Thrushes were 
recorded in the Oakdale-West Sayville area. The former site was also host to 
the only two Black-and-white Warblers, whereas the latter yielded a territorial 
Hooded Warbler—a species barely suspected of ever breeding on the south shore 
of western and central Long Island. 

Common Ravens (9!) fledged young prior to the count, and Wild Turkey made an 
emphatic entry onto the list with 12 birds in three of the easternmost 
territories. A numerical pattern that can’t be ignored involves the gulls on 
the outer beach. The most numerous species was Great Black-backed Gull at 
1,056—more than five times the previous max. A total of 1,015 Laughing Gulls 
was partly a reflection of the relatively new colony in Great South Bay, but 
mostly comprised first-summer birds migrating west to east over the ocean. 
Lesser Black-backed Gull retrenched to 41 from last year’s total of 66, but 
still managed to outnumber Herring Gull in a couple of outer beach flocks. 

Our worst misses were Surf Scoter (always a roll of the dice at this season), 
Belted Kingfisher (not really expected as a breeder in this circle), but also 
three Neotropicals: Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos, and, most 
remarkably and distressingly, Scarlet Tanager.

The full data for this year’s count, including breeding codes and summaries of 
frequency and maximum counts, are available on request.

We thank all of our participants and convey our deep gratitude to Bob and 
Michelle Grover for hosting an in-person compilation. It was such a pleasure 
for us all to be together again, recounting the day and so many past days we’ve 
shared.

Patricia Lindsay & 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] Captree June Count, 12 June 2021

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Captree June Count was conducted for the seventh consecutive year on 
Saturday 12 June 2021. A record total of 37 observers divided into 20 parties 
to cover the nine traditional territories of the Captree Christmas Bird Count 
circle, in southwestern Suffolk County, Long Island. This fine-grained effort, 
in combination with favorable weather, yielded a total of 138 species—eight 
more than the previous best totals, in 2017 and 2019. Breeding evidence was 
obtained for 106 species, 57 of which were confirmed, with 14 more scored as 
probable.

Easterly winds and good visibility allowed for a productive seawatch in which, 
for the first time in these seven years, all seven of the regularly occurring 
seabird species were recorded on the CJC: 3 Parasitic Jaegers, 15 Wilson’s 
Storm-Petrels, 16 Cory’s Shearwaters, 17 Sooty Shearwaters, single Great and 
Manx Shearwaters, and 62 Northern Gannets; eleven Roseate Terns and two Arctic 
Terns were also highlights at Fire Island.

Indeed, the highlights were many. The best waterfowl records were Green-winged 
Teal at Oak Beach and a Hooded Merganser and family of Wood Ducks at 
Connetquot. The only Whip-poor-wills recorded were also at Connetquot. 
Remarkable for June were 16 species of shorebirds, headlined by a Red Knot at 
Fire Island, White-rumped Sandpipers at Gardiner County Park and Oakdale, and a 
Stilt Sandpiper at Oak Beach. The Heckscher team found an American Woodcock, 
adding this difficult to detect species to the cumulative list at last. For the 
first time in seven years, we managed to log both Little Blue and Tricolored 
Herons, scarce and elusive residents of the Captree marshes, and another 
Tricolor was found in the Oakdale-West Sayville area. Great Horned Owl is not 
numerous in this circle, so one at Belmont was an excellent pick up, and the 
observers covering the East Islip area must be commended for their thoroughness 
in tallying up no fewer than eight Eastern Screech-Owls by night, then two 
locally scarce Turkey Vultures by day. 

Among passerines, a Bank Swallow at Belmont was new to the count and likely a 
late migrant, whereas the pair of Yellow-throated Warblers at Bayard Cutting 
Arboretum were confirmed feeding young—a brand-new Brown-headed Cowbird. 
Forest-breeding Neotropical migrants are not doing well in this circle, but 
Connetquot still supports at least eight Veeries and two Wood Thrushes were 
recorded in the Oakdale-West Sayville area. The former site was also host to 
the only two Black-and-white Warblers, whereas the latter yielded a territorial 
Hooded Warbler—a species barely suspected of ever breeding on the south shore 
of western and central Long Island. 

Common Ravens (9!) fledged young prior to the count, and Wild Turkey made an 
emphatic entry onto the list with 12 birds in three of the easternmost 
territories. A numerical pattern that can’t be ignored involves the gulls on 
the outer beach. The most numerous species was Great Black-backed Gull at 
1,056—more than five times the previous max. A total of 1,015 Laughing Gulls 
was partly a reflection of the relatively new colony in Great South Bay, but 
mostly comprised first-summer birds migrating west to east over the ocean. 
Lesser Black-backed Gull retrenched to 41 from last year’s total of 66, but 
still managed to outnumber Herring Gull in a couple of outer beach flocks. 

Our worst misses were Surf Scoter (always a roll of the dice at this season), 
Belted Kingfisher (not really expected as a breeder in this circle), but also 
three Neotropicals: Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos, and, most 
remarkably and distressingly, Scarlet Tanager.

The full data for this year’s count, including breeding codes and summaries of 
frequency and maximum counts, are available on request.

We thank all of our participants and convey our deep gratitude to Bob and 
Michelle Grover for hosting an in-person compilation. It was such a pleasure 
for us all to be together again, recounting the day and so many past days we’ve 
shared.

Patricia Lindsay & 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] First-summer Arctic Tern at Nickerson Beach, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

A first-summer (= almost one year-old) Arctic Tern was observed this morning at 
Nickerson Beach, Nassau County. It was resting with Common Terns in a small 
beach-front loafing flock which was soon disturbed by passers-by, after which 
the Arctic Tern was not seen again.

As is characteristic of the occurrence of this species on Long Island, this 
morning's follow-up effort, after yesterday's adult Arctic Tern at this site, 
failed to produce that bird but instead yielded a recognizably different 
individual. These birds seem to drop in for short visits to favorable loafing 
sites, for periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours, and only rarely 
does a particular bird persist for multiple days.

There are several places at Nickerson that are currently attracting 
loafing/visiting terns not directly associated with the nearby breeding colony, 
including a large flock next to the fenced-off freshwater pool next to the 
western colony--ideal for our purposes because it is less vulnerable to 
disturbance than are the beach-front flocks.

Photos of this morning's bird can be seen here:

https://flic.kr/p/2m34yJq

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] First-summer Arctic Tern at Nickerson Beach, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

A first-summer (= almost one year-old) Arctic Tern was observed this morning at 
Nickerson Beach, Nassau County. It was resting with Common Terns in a small 
beach-front loafing flock which was soon disturbed by passers-by, after which 
the Arctic Tern was not seen again.

As is characteristic of the occurrence of this species on Long Island, this 
morning's follow-up effort, after yesterday's adult Arctic Tern at this site, 
failed to produce that bird but instead yielded a recognizably different 
individual. These birds seem to drop in for short visits to favorable loafing 
sites, for periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours, and only rarely 
does a particular bird persist for multiple days.

There are several places at Nickerson that are currently attracting 
loafing/visiting terns not directly associated with the nearby breeding colony, 
including a large flock next to the fenced-off freshwater pool next to the 
western colony--ideal for our purposes because it is less vulnerable to 
disturbance than are the beach-front flocks.

Photos of this morning's bird can be seen here:

https://flic.kr/p/2m34yJq

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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ARCHIVES:
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/

--

Re: [nysbirds-l] dark eyed white-eyed vireo in late May?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Anything is possible with pigementation characters, but White-eyed Vireo would 
be a vagrant in Arizona. The most obvious possibility is that it was a Bell's 
Vireo.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125667917-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125667917-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Andrew Block 
[ablock22...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2021 9:17 AM
To: NYS Birds
Cc: nysbird...@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] dark eyed white-eyed vireo in late May?

Has anyone ever had a juvenile white-eyed vireo in late May?  I had a bird in 
AZ that looked just like a white-eyed vireo but it's eye was dark.  I know the 
juveniles have dark eyes, but I've always been puzzled that it was dark at that 
time of year.  I would think they haven't even fledged at that time.  I thought 
of maybe a Mexican species but there are none that look like the white-eyed and 
have a dark eye.  Just wondering.

Andrew

Andrew v. F. Block
Consulting Naturalist
20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3
Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4780
www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums
--
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Rules and Information
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave
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Archive
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ABA
Please submit your observations to eBird!
--

--

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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/

--

Re: [nysbirds-l] dark eyed white-eyed vireo in late May?

[Shaibal Mitra]

Anything is possible with pigementation characters, but White-eyed Vireo would 
be a vagrant in Arizona. The most obvious possibility is that it was a Bell's 
Vireo.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125667917-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125667917-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Andrew Block 
[ablock22...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2021 9:17 AM
To: NYS Birds
Cc: nysbird...@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] dark eyed white-eyed vireo in late May?

Has anyone ever had a juvenile white-eyed vireo in late May?  I had a bird in 
AZ that looked just like a white-eyed vireo but it's eye was dark.  I know the 
juveniles have dark eyes, but I've always been puzzled that it was dark at that 
time of year.  I would think they haven't even fledged at that time.  I thought 
of maybe a Mexican species but there are none that look like the white-eyed and 
have a dark eye.  Just wondering.

Andrew

Andrew v. F. Block
Consulting Naturalist
20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3
Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4780
www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics
Rules and Information
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive
Surfbirds
ABA
Please submit your observations to 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/

--

Re: [nysbirds-l] Global Big Day and Massive White-Winged Scoter Flight Broome Co. NY

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear Dave and all,

This is great stuff and a reminder that it is long past time for us to connect 
the dots and write up a note about the overland spring migration of 
White-winged Scoters, Red-necked Grebes, and other seafowl in the Northeast.

Following Dave's note below, I've pasted several notes relating to these 
species' visible spring movements along the outer coast of Long Island, and 
especially along the more recessed coast of the mainland, from Westchester 
County and Connecticut to Rhode Island. To summarize very briefly, we often see 
White-winged Scoters migrating from east to west along these coasts during May, 
and the folks in the far western LI Sound have documented them heading overland 
in the evening. Presumably these birds usually make it at least to the Great 
Lakes, but Dave's observations suggest that sometimes they don't. On a related 
topic, but in the fall, observers on the ocean coast sometimes fortuitously 
detect scoters arriving from the north in the morning. Because the flocks are 
striking the coast on a perpendicular track, the observer must be lucky to be 
standing at a more or less random place along the shore. These arriving scoter 
flocks drop lower when they reach the ocean, and then turn either left (ene) or 
right (wsw), presumably toward wintering grounds off eastern LI/southern New 
England or further south along the coast, respectively.

The notes copied below, include specific instances of westward spring flights 
of White-winged Scoters and a link to an old paper showing that this phenomenon 
has been known for more than a century.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125619177-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125619177-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of David Nicosia 
[daven102...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 8, 2021 7:50 PM
To: NY Birds; BroomeBirds
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Global Big Day and Massive White-Winged Scoter Flight 
Broome Co. NY

All,

Had about 7 hours to bird today so I made the most of it and began at one of 
our local hotspots - Whitney Point Dam. along Keibal Rd. Jim Hoteling, one of 
our fine local birders, made it there early and reported an amazing 250+ WW 
SCOTERS on the dam. I came up quickly and we found even more up the reservoir. 
We had a close estimate of 400 WW SCOTERS which crushed the Broome Co previous 
high count record of 27. I also looked around the Finger Lakes county's ebird 
reports and it looks like this could be a record for upstate NY in the counties 
away from Lake Ontario/Lake Erie and of course it pales in comparison to the 
staggering numbers that have been counted from Long Island.  This is the most 
of this species I have ever seen away from the coast by far. There were also 
other reports of high numbers of WW SCOTERS around the Finger Lakes too. I 
suspect last night's heavy rain coincided with a big migratory flight of this 
species and many of these birds were forced down. Amazingly we carefully 
checked all the scoters and only came up with 1 SURF SCOTER. We also had 4 
RED-NECKED GREBES which are rare in Broome Co but regular each year.

Keibal rd in Whitney Point is unique in that it has woodland and field habitat 
that comes right up to the lake.  There were quite a few warbler flocks mostly 
Yellow-rumped, but we also had several other species   List for Keibal Rd is 
here https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S87440451

Upper Lisle County Park was quiet as we hit it midday and it was beginning to 
get windy with temperatures around 40F. Upper Lisle Co. Park list is here 
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S87472754

I totaled 103 species in Broome County which was decent. I wish I had more time.

I hope many of you had an awesome day too!

Good Birding to all!
Best,
Dave Nicosia



From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2019 11:54 PM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: RE: westward spring migration of White-winged Scoters

Around 6:00 pm this evening, while watching an impressive gathering of 
shorebirds on the Cupsogue flats, Suffolk Co., I saw something I've thought 
about for many years but never seen before. Included below is a thread on the 
westward spring migration of several species of ocean-wintering waterfowl; we 
observers on the outer beach see this sort of thing quite often. But sharp 
observers such as Dick Ferren and Tom Burke, one or two geographic layers up in 
southwestern RI, CT, and Westchester Co., have sometimes seen these birds 
actually heading north overland, like Brant.

This evening at Cupsogue, I saw a distant flock over the ocean to the east that 
seemed too high to be cormorants. Putting the scope on them, I saw that most 
were White-winged Scoters, along with a contingent of dark-winged scoters. 
Tracking them, they turned north and crossed the barrier beach over the 
monstrous mansions in Westhampton Beach, at which point the non-White-wings 
peeled off and returned to the ocean

Re: [nysbirds-l] Global Big Day and Massive White-Winged Scoter Flight Broome Co. NY

[Shaibal Mitra]

Dear Dave and all,

This is great stuff and a reminder that it is long past time for us to connect 
the dots and write up a note about the overland spring migration of 
White-winged Scoters, Red-necked Grebes, and other seafowl in the Northeast.

Following Dave's note below, I've pasted several notes relating to these 
species' visible spring movements along the outer coast of Long Island, and 
especially along the more recessed coast of the mainland, from Westchester 
County and Connecticut to Rhode Island. To summarize very briefly, we often see 
White-winged Scoters migrating from east to west along these coasts during May, 
and the folks in the far western LI Sound have documented them heading overland 
in the evening. Presumably these birds usually make it at least to the Great 
Lakes, but Dave's observations suggest that sometimes they don't. On a related 
topic, but in the fall, observers on the ocean coast sometimes fortuitously 
detect scoters arriving from the north in the morning. Because the flocks are 
striking the coast on a perpendicular track, the observer must be lucky to be 
standing at a more or less random place along the shore. These arriving scoter 
flocks drop lower when they reach the ocean, and then turn either left (ene) or 
right (wsw), presumably toward wintering grounds off eastern LI/southern New 
England or further south along the coast, respectively.

The notes copied below, include specific instances of westward spring flights 
of White-winged Scoters and a link to an old paper showing that this phenomenon 
has been known for more than a century.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125619177-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125619177-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of David Nicosia 
[daven102...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 8, 2021 7:50 PM
To: NY Birds; BroomeBirds
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Global Big Day and Massive White-Winged Scoter Flight 
Broome Co. NY

All,

Had about 7 hours to bird today so I made the most of it and began at one of 
our local hotspots - Whitney Point Dam. along Keibal Rd. Jim Hoteling, one of 
our fine local birders, made it there early and reported an amazing 250+ WW 
SCOTERS on the dam. I came up quickly and we found even more up the reservoir. 
We had a close estimate of 400 WW SCOTERS which crushed the Broome Co previous 
high count record of 27. I also looked around the Finger Lakes county's ebird 
reports and it looks like this could be a record for upstate NY in the counties 
away from Lake Ontario/Lake Erie and of course it pales in comparison to the 
staggering numbers that have been counted from Long Island.  This is the most 
of this species I have ever seen away from the coast by far. There were also 
other reports of high numbers of WW SCOTERS around the Finger Lakes too. I 
suspect last night's heavy rain coincided with a big migratory flight of this 
species and many of these birds were forced down. Amazingly we carefully 
checked all the scoters and only came up with 1 SURF SCOTER. We also had 4 
RED-NECKED GREBES which are rare in Broome Co but regular each year.

Keibal rd in Whitney Point is unique in that it has woodland and field habitat 
that comes right up to the lake.  There were quite a few warbler flocks mostly 
Yellow-rumped, but we also had several other species   List for Keibal Rd is 
here https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S87440451

Upper Lisle County Park was quiet as we hit it midday and it was beginning to 
get windy with temperatures around 40F. Upper Lisle Co. Park list is here 
https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S87472754

I totaled 103 species in Broome County which was decent. I wish I had more time.

I hope many of you had an awesome day too!

Good Birding to all!
Best,
Dave Nicosia



From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2019 11:54 PM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: RE: westward spring migration of White-winged Scoters

Around 6:00 pm this evening, while watching an impressive gathering of 
shorebirds on the Cupsogue flats, Suffolk Co., I saw something I've thought 
about for many years but never seen before. Included below is a thread on the 
westward spring migration of several species of ocean-wintering waterfowl; we 
observers on the outer beach see this sort of thing quite often. But sharp 
observers such as Dick Ferren and Tom Burke, one or two geographic layers up in 
southwestern RI, CT, and Westchester Co., have sometimes seen these birds 
actually heading north overland, like Brant.

This evening at Cupsogue, I saw a distant flock over the ocean to the east that 
seemed too high to be cormorants. Putting the scope on them, I saw that most 
were White-winged Scoters, along with a contingent of dark-winged scoters. 
Tracking them, they turned north and crossed the barrier beach over the 
monstrous mansions in Westhampton Beach, at which point the non-White-wings 
peeled off and returned to the ocean

[nysbirds-l] Burrowing Owl, Kings County

[Shaibal Mitra]

A Burrowing Owl was photographed in Brooklyn this morning, at the Lowe’s in 
Kings Plaza on Avenue U at Flatbush in Brooklyn. The photo shows the bird 
resting on a black metal fence alongside some shrink-wrapped containers.

The person who found it is not a birder but sent the photo to Tom O'Donnell, a 
birding friend who lives in western NYS. Knowing my name and email from NYSOA, 
Tom sent the photo and info to me, and I'm sharing it with the birding 
community.

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] Burrowing Owl, Kings County

[Shaibal Mitra]

A Burrowing Owl was photographed in Brooklyn this morning, at the Lowe’s in 
Kings Plaza on Avenue U at Flatbush in Brooklyn. The photo shows the bird 
resting on a black metal fence alongside some shrink-wrapped containers.

The person who found it is not a birder but sent the photo to Tom O'Donnell, a 
birding friend who lives in western NYS. Knowing my name and email from NYSOA, 
Tom sent the photo and info to me, and I'm sharing it with the birding 
community.

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] Four-letter Codes for Birds

[Shaibal Mitra]

When Rich posted yesterday, I was anxiously awaiting any news at all from him 
and read it immediately on the basis of the sender's name, regardless of the 
subject line. I and many others appreciated his efforts to re-find the Violent 
Green Swallow in the cold and wind. That said, the "RWSW" in the subject line 
caught my eye. I haven't seen that code since I finally tore myself away from 
it in the late 80s or 90s, but my old childhood notebooks contain many such 
entries, prior to the standardization of four-letter codes and the splitting of 
the Rough-winged Swallow complex into several species, including our NRWS. I'm 
guessing that Rich's use of codes goes back at least that far, and that his 
typo dates him to the earliest years of this expedience.

I vividly remember my first exposure to the idea of four-letter codes for 
birds: an article in Bird Watcher's Digest around 1981. I thought it was a 
great idea and adopted it in my own notes immediately. My early notebooks need 
a little tlc to interpret: my "BWWA" meant Black-and-white Warbler, a 
super-familiar species that nested behind my house, rather than Blue-winged 
Warbler, which took me a couple of years to find in its much lower numbers and 
more localized breeding sites within biking distance of my house. When I 
finally found my first Blue-winged Warblers in the Great Swamp, I realized I 
had a problem. Ditto for my discovery of a colony of Bank Swallows at the 
Plains Road super fund site, which was accomplished only after a couple of 
notebooks were filled with "BASW," referring to the ubiquitous, chirpy, 
long-tailed one.

Anyway, I'd like to commend the use of four-letter codes, not just for 
note-taking, but for efficiently navigating eBird. Standard codes work in eBird 
for any search at the species level, and, in certain kinds of navigation, down 
to subspecies level, for those that have codes assigned (e.g. searching media 
for "YPWA" brings up photos and recordings of Yellow Palm Warbler). This last 
observation reminds me of a significant and largely under-appreciated virtue of 
four-letter codes. Fluency in them will teach you a lot about taxonomy and 
field-identifiability at the subspecies and superspecies levels. Subspecies 
that have been assigned codes are those that are distinctive enough that 
banders are expected to be able to distinguish and record them as such. So why 
not birders, too? In fact, many of the codes that were initially applied to 
distinctive subspecies, such as "ETTI" (vs. Black-crested Titmouse), have since 
been split. In other cases, it was enlightening to learn that I wasn't supposed 
to use "WIFL" when banding the locally common breeding Empid, because of 
difficulties in distinguishing it from "ALFL" in the hand, when these birds 
simply refuse to sing and were coded collectively as TRFL (Traill's 
Flycatcher). This challenged me to seek reliable visual features to distinguish 
them, which I believe I have been able to do, in large part.

If anybody has old issues of Bird Watcher's Digest (or superior hacking skills) 
and could share that forty year-old article with me, I'd appreciate it. The way 
I remember it, the proposal wasn't originally geared toward banding, but toward 
ease of field-recording and simplicity of computer entry (at that time, via 
Atari 800 for me).

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] Four-letter Codes for Birds

[Shaibal Mitra]

When Rich posted yesterday, I was anxiously awaiting any news at all from him 
and read it immediately on the basis of the sender's name, regardless of the 
subject line. I and many others appreciated his efforts to re-find the Violent 
Green Swallow in the cold and wind. That said, the "RWSW" in the subject line 
caught my eye. I haven't seen that code since I finally tore myself away from 
it in the late 80s or 90s, but my old childhood notebooks contain many such 
entries, prior to the standardization of four-letter codes and the splitting of 
the Rough-winged Swallow complex into several species, including our NRWS. I'm 
guessing that Rich's use of codes goes back at least that far, and that his 
typo dates him to the earliest years of this expedience.

I vividly remember my first exposure to the idea of four-letter codes for 
birds: an article in Bird Watcher's Digest around 1981. I thought it was a 
great idea and adopted it in my own notes immediately. My early notebooks need 
a little tlc to interpret: my "BWWA" meant Black-and-white Warbler, a 
super-familiar species that nested behind my house, rather than Blue-winged 
Warbler, which took me a couple of years to find in its much lower numbers and 
more localized breeding sites within biking distance of my house. When I 
finally found my first Blue-winged Warblers in the Great Swamp, I realized I 
had a problem. Ditto for my discovery of a colony of Bank Swallows at the 
Plains Road super fund site, which was accomplished only after a couple of 
notebooks were filled with "BASW," referring to the ubiquitous, chirpy, 
long-tailed one.

Anyway, I'd like to commend the use of four-letter codes, not just for 
note-taking, but for efficiently navigating eBird. Standard codes work in eBird 
for any search at the species level, and, in certain kinds of navigation, down 
to subspecies level, for those that have codes assigned (e.g. searching media 
for "YPWA" brings up photos and recordings of Yellow Palm Warbler). This last 
observation reminds me of a significant and largely under-appreciated virtue of 
four-letter codes. Fluency in them will teach you a lot about taxonomy and 
field-identifiability at the subspecies and superspecies levels. Subspecies 
that have been assigned codes are those that are distinctive enough that 
banders are expected to be able to distinguish and record them as such. So why 
not birders, too? In fact, many of the codes that were initially applied to 
distinctive subspecies, such as "ETTI" (vs. Black-crested Titmouse), have since 
been split. In other cases, it was enlightening to learn that I wasn't supposed 
to use "WIFL" when banding the locally common breeding Empid, because of 
difficulties in distinguishing it from "ALFL" in the hand, when these birds 
simply refuse to sing and were coded collectively as TRFL (Traill's 
Flycatcher). This challenged me to seek reliable visual features to distinguish 
them, which I believe I have been able to do, in large part.

If anybody has old issues of Bird Watcher's Digest (or superior hacking skills) 
and could share that forty year-old article with me, I'd appreciate it. The way 
I remember it, the proposal wasn't originally geared toward banding, but toward 
ease of field-recording and simplicity of computer entry (at that time, via 
Atari 800 for me).

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/

--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Prospect Park (likely) Caribbean/Cuban Martin continuing

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi all,

Pat and I headed into Brooklyn based on Doug's photos, which raised doubts 
about it being a Purple Martin. I have to say that our views of the bird in 
life pointed even more strongly away from Purple Martin. In addition to the 
features obvious in the photos, especially the underparts pattern, I saw this 
martin as a smaller and much more "normal" swallow than Purple Martin in terms 
of shape and flight action. For instance, it wasn't strikingly different from 
Tree Swallows, unlike the inevitable impressions given by PUMA over time, which 
reveal grotesque looks, owing to the overall size, long neck, large bill, etc. 
This bird never gave a starling-like impression. The plumage also deviates from 
my experience with PUMA, especially the all white undertail coverts and neat 
division between snowy belly and gray-brown upper breast.

I know very little about the three taxa of "Snowy-bellied Martin" and only 
moderately more about Gray-breasted Martin. I completely understand what Doug 
meant about PUMA being the "null hypothesis" but seeing the bird in life helped 
me to strongly doubt that interpretation.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125512311-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125512311-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Doug Gochfeld 
[fresha2...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 1, 2021 6:28 PM
To: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Prospect Park (likely) Caribbean/Cuban Martin continuing

The apparent “Snowy-bellied” Martin on Prospect Lake has been continuing on and 
off in Prospect Park all afternoon, since my last message. It is ranging widely 
around the lake from end-to-end, but the base and tip of the peninsula remain 
good general vantage points. It spent a long time at one point at the SW corner 
of the lake.

Good Birding
-Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY.
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics
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Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive
Surfbirds
ABA
Please submit your observations to 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/

--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Prospect Park (likely) Caribbean/Cuban Martin continuing

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi all,

Pat and I headed into Brooklyn based on Doug's photos, which raised doubts 
about it being a Purple Martin. I have to say that our views of the bird in 
life pointed even more strongly away from Purple Martin. In addition to the 
features obvious in the photos, especially the underparts pattern, I saw this 
martin as a smaller and much more "normal" swallow than Purple Martin in terms 
of shape and flight action. For instance, it wasn't strikingly different from 
Tree Swallows, unlike the inevitable impressions given by PUMA over time, which 
reveal grotesque looks, owing to the overall size, long neck, large bill, etc. 
This bird never gave a starling-like impression. The plumage also deviates from 
my experience with PUMA, especially the all white undertail coverts and neat 
division between snowy belly and gray-brown upper breast.

I know very little about the three taxa of "Snowy-bellied Martin" and only 
moderately more about Gray-breasted Martin. I completely understand what Doug 
meant about PUMA being the "null hypothesis" but seeing the bird in life helped 
me to strongly doubt that interpretation.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125512311-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125512311-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Doug Gochfeld 
[fresha2...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 1, 2021 6:28 PM
To: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Prospect Park (likely) Caribbean/Cuban Martin continuing

The apparent “Snowy-bellied” Martin on Prospect Lake has been continuing on and 
off in Prospect Park all afternoon, since my last message. It is ranging widely 
around the lake from end-to-end, but the base and tip of the peninsula remain 
good general vantage points. It spent a long time at one point at the SW corner 
of the lake.

Good Birding
-Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY.
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Spotted Towhee question - Baldwin, LI (Nassau County)

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Karen and all,

I haven't looked at a lot of photos of either bird, but my impression is that 
the MA bird's brown areas are browner and its dorsal spots are whiter than the 
LI bird's (grayer on the head and back and buffier on the dorsal spots). But 
this could be an artifact of lighting or photography.

With improved coverage, communication, and photographs it has became possible 
in recent years to link widely spaced detections of vagrants to individual 
birds--much to the amazement of some of us. Most often, however, these events 
involve larger and more conspicuous species, such as pelicans, raptors, and 
shorebirds. Conversely, there are several reasons to believe that we are 
overlooking the vast majority of reclusive passerine vagrants. For instance, 
two things happen each year in mid-late March: known vagrants over-wintering at 
feeders (or like this bird) wander off and disappear, not to be detected 
anywhere else; but at the same time, new vagrants are detected by birders in 
the act of birding, implying that these too had wintered nearby but had gone 
undetected for months. I'd also add that it is the norm, not the exception, for 
vagrants of a given species to occur in bunches, owing to the year to year 
variability in the processes driving vagrancy (e.g., population trends on the 
breeding grounds, environmental conditions conducive to long-distance 
dispersal, etc.).

Even so, it is worthwhile asking the question and publishing evidence for 
identity, when it is found.

Best,
Shai

From: bounce-125386974-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125386974-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Karen Fung 
[easternblueb...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2021 8:13 PM
To: nysbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Spotted Towhee question - Baldwin, LI (Nassau County)

Hi All,
Has anyone considered the possibility that this bird, first reported by Shai 
and Pat on 2 January, is the same individual that was widely reported in 
Bristol County, MA  from 9 November - 15 December 2020?

The Massachusetts  bird was ID'd as an immature, and the few photos I examined 
of that individual looked similar to the many photos of the Baldwin bird.  The 
one audio recording of the Baldwin bird sounds similar to the many recordings 
of the one in MA, but if this is an immature, then the spectrograms don't even 
have to be an exact match if the bird is still learning its song repertoire 
(please correct me if I'm wrong).

Here is the search I used on eBird to produce the reports.  Not sure if you 
need to log in to see the actual query.

https://ebird.org/map/spotow?neg=true=-72.1743936079403=40.95926453047936=-70.49485869583093=42.03817728084794=true=false=Z=on=11=2=range=2019=2021

Thoughts, anyone?  Spotted Towhee is a pretty rare find in the Northeast.  I 
have not tried for this bird yet.

Thanks,
Karen Fung
NYC


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RE: [nysbirds-l] Spotted Towhee question - Baldwin, LI (Nassau County)

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Karen and all,

I haven't looked at a lot of photos of either bird, but my impression is that 
the MA bird's brown areas are browner and its dorsal spots are whiter than the 
LI bird's (grayer on the head and back and buffier on the dorsal spots). But 
this could be an artifact of lighting or photography.

With improved coverage, communication, and photographs it has became possible 
in recent years to link widely spaced detections of vagrants to individual 
birds--much to the amazement of some of us. Most often, however, these events 
involve larger and more conspicuous species, such as pelicans, raptors, and 
shorebirds. Conversely, there are several reasons to believe that we are 
overlooking the vast majority of reclusive passerine vagrants. For instance, 
two things happen each year in mid-late March: known vagrants over-wintering at 
feeders (or like this bird) wander off and disappear, not to be detected 
anywhere else; but at the same time, new vagrants are detected by birders in 
the act of birding, implying that these too had wintered nearby but had gone 
undetected for months. I'd also add that it is the norm, not the exception, for 
vagrants of a given species to occur in bunches, owing to the year to year 
variability in the processes driving vagrancy (e.g., population trends on the 
breeding grounds, environmental conditions conducive to long-distance 
dispersal, etc.).

Even so, it is worthwhile asking the question and publishing evidence for 
identity, when it is found.

Best,
Shai

From: bounce-125386974-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125386974-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Karen Fung 
[easternblueb...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2021 8:13 PM
To: nysbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Spotted Towhee question - Baldwin, LI (Nassau County)

Hi All,
Has anyone considered the possibility that this bird, first reported by Shai 
and Pat on 2 January, is the same individual that was widely reported in 
Bristol County, MA  from 9 November - 15 December 2020?

The Massachusetts  bird was ID'd as an immature, and the few photos I examined 
of that individual looked similar to the many photos of the Baldwin bird.  The 
one audio recording of the Baldwin bird sounds similar to the many recordings 
of the one in MA, but if this is an immature, then the spectrograms don't even 
have to be an exact match if the bird is still learning its song repertoire 
(please correct me if I'm wrong).

Here is the search I used on eBird to produce the reports.  Not sure if you 
need to log in to see the actual query.

https://ebird.org/map/spotow?neg=true=-72.1743936079403=40.95926453047936=-70.49485869583093=42.03817728084794=true=false=Z=on=11=2=range=2019=2021

Thoughts, anyone?  Spotted Towhee is a pretty rare find in the Northeast.  I 
have not tried for this bird yet.

Thanks,
Karen Fung
NYC


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RE:[nysbirds-l] Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Within minutes of posting, Jennifer Wilson-Pines responded with excellent 
photos of the rubescent Horned Lark at JBWE today:

https://flic.kr/p/2kBNrhm


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2021 7:51 PM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

Among the many Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and one Lapland Longspur at Jones 
Beach West End (lawn between boat basin pavilion and gazebo) was a very unusual 
lark. In terms of structure and overall plumage pattern, it was clearly a 
Horned Lark, but its face and breast were suffused with an intense, rubescent 
tone (adjective inspired by alternate-plumaged American Pipit). This deep, 
pink-cinnamon color was visible throughout the face and upper breast, but 
yellow was still obvious through it in the rear supercilium and throat. The 
bird showed less black than most female HOLA on the face and breast crescent, 
and it appeared slightly smaller than the numerous adjacent northern alpestris 
(and some praticola and hoyti candidates). I don't know if this is simply an 
odd variant or consistent with an unfamiliar extralimital population of this 
widespread and variable species.

In an example of GTTI (gross tag-team ineptitude), Pat had left her phone home 
today and I left mine in the car, so we had no means of getting photos. We went 
back later and I got some very distant shots before the flock flushed yet again 
and the focal bird vanished (as the LALO had also).

Given the amount of photographic attention this flock has been getting, perhaps 
there are good photos out there.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE:[nysbirds-l] Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Within minutes of posting, Jennifer Wilson-Pines responded with excellent 
photos of the rubescent Horned Lark at JBWE today:

https://flic.kr/p/2kBNrhm


From: Shaibal Mitra
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2021 7:51 PM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

Among the many Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and one Lapland Longspur at Jones 
Beach West End (lawn between boat basin pavilion and gazebo) was a very unusual 
lark. In terms of structure and overall plumage pattern, it was clearly a 
Horned Lark, but its face and breast were suffused with an intense, rubescent 
tone (adjective inspired by alternate-plumaged American Pipit). This deep, 
pink-cinnamon color was visible throughout the face and upper breast, but 
yellow was still obvious through it in the rear supercilium and throat. The 
bird showed less black than most female HOLA on the face and breast crescent, 
and it appeared slightly smaller than the numerous adjacent northern alpestris 
(and some praticola and hoyti candidates). I don't know if this is simply an 
odd variant or consistent with an unfamiliar extralimital population of this 
widespread and variable species.

In an example of GTTI (gross tag-team ineptitude), Pat had left her phone home 
today and I left mine in the car, so we had no means of getting photos. We went 
back later and I got some very distant shots before the flock flushed yet again 
and the focal bird vanished (as the LALO had also).

Given the amount of photographic attention this flock has been getting, perhaps 
there are good photos out there.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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--

[nysbirds-l] Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Among the many Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and one Lapland Longspur at Jones 
Beach West End (lawn between boat basin pavilion and gazebo) was a very unusual 
lark. In terms of structure and overall plumage pattern, it was clearly a 
Horned Lark, but its face and breast were suffused with an intense, rubescent 
tone (adjective inspired by alternate-plumaged American Pipit). This deep, 
pink-cinnamon color was visible throughout the face and upper breast, but 
yellow was still obvious through it in the rear supercilium and throat. The 
bird showed less black than most female HOLA on the face and breast crescent, 
and it appeared slightly smaller than the numerous adjacent northern alpestris 
(and some praticola and hoyti candidates). I don't know if this is simply an 
odd variant or consistent with an unfamiliar extralimital population of this 
widespread and variable species.

In an example of GTTI (gross tag-team ineptitude), Pat had left her phone home 
today and I left mine in the car, so we had no means of getting photos. We went 
back later and I got some very distant shots before the flock flushed yet again 
and the focal bird vanished (as the LALO had also).

Given the amount of photographic attention this flock has been getting, perhaps 
there are good photos out there.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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--

[nysbirds-l] Unusual Horned Lark at Jones Beach West End, Nassau County

[Shaibal Mitra]

Among the many Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and one Lapland Longspur at Jones 
Beach West End (lawn between boat basin pavilion and gazebo) was a very unusual 
lark. In terms of structure and overall plumage pattern, it was clearly a 
Horned Lark, but its face and breast were suffused with an intense, rubescent 
tone (adjective inspired by alternate-plumaged American Pipit). This deep, 
pink-cinnamon color was visible throughout the face and upper breast, but 
yellow was still obvious through it in the rear supercilium and throat. The 
bird showed less black than most female HOLA on the face and breast crescent, 
and it appeared slightly smaller than the numerous adjacent northern alpestris 
(and some praticola and hoyti candidates). I don't know if this is simply an 
odd variant or consistent with an unfamiliar extralimital population of this 
widespread and variable species.

In an example of GTTI (gross tag-team ineptitude), Pat had left her phone home 
today and I left mine in the car, so we had no means of getting photos. We went 
back later and I got some very distant shots before the flock flushed yet again 
and the focal bird vanished (as the LALO had also).

Given the amount of photographic attention this flock has been getting, perhaps 
there are good photos out there.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Ferruginous Hawk and another state first

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Larry and all,

That is certainly a striking looking owl and a candidate for B. v. subarcticus 
(=wapacuthu in much 20th Century literature).

Salzman (1998, in "Bull's Birds of New York State") cites three specimens of 
Subarctic Great Horned Owl in NYS, from Erie, Bronx, and Suffolk Counties, and 
mentions specimens from NJ and CT as well.

In case you are considering writing this up for NYSARC and/or The Kingbird, 
note that the date of the old Bronx specimen (AMNH 144845) is given as 15 Feb 
1910 by Salzman, but as 15 Feb 1919 by Parkes (who directly examined the 
specimen, in his 1952 Cornell PhD dissertation).

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125331055-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125331055-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Larry Scacchetti 
[larrybird4...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2021 9:52 AM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Ferruginous Hawk and another state first

Saturday, Justin Muratore and I located the FEHA on Onion Ave at 8:30 am.  The 
bird circle the field and perched in a tree very close to the road.  It offered 
amazing looks before heading East over the tree line towards Celery Ave.

The more amazing bits of the day, for me at least, was the adult subarcticus 
Great Horned Owl.  This subspecies as far as I can tell hasn’t been in the 
lower 48 outside of MN.  The bright with GHOW stood out like a sore thumb.  We 
sat there on the side of the road waiting for the line of speeding cars, 
heading off the the next FEHA sighting, to pass and then we just had this quiet 
moment watching this unreal visitor from the north.

Photos of the owl, and hawk, can be seen here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/larrybird13/

Good birding,

Larry Scacchetti
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Ferruginous Hawk and another state first

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Larry and all,

That is certainly a striking looking owl and a candidate for B. v. subarcticus 
(=wapacuthu in much 20th Century literature).

Salzman (1998, in "Bull's Birds of New York State") cites three specimens of 
Subarctic Great Horned Owl in NYS, from Erie, Bronx, and Suffolk Counties, and 
mentions specimens from NJ and CT as well.

In case you are considering writing this up for NYSARC and/or The Kingbird, 
note that the date of the old Bronx specimen (AMNH 144845) is given as 15 Feb 
1910 by Salzman, but as 15 Feb 1919 by Parkes (who directly examined the 
specimen, in his 1952 Cornell PhD dissertation).

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125331055-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125331055-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Larry Scacchetti 
[larrybird4...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2021 9:52 AM
To: NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Ferruginous Hawk and another state first

Saturday, Justin Muratore and I located the FEHA on Onion Ave at 8:30 am.  The 
bird circle the field and perched in a tree very close to the road.  It offered 
amazing looks before heading East over the tree line towards Celery Ave.

The more amazing bits of the day, for me at least, was the adult subarcticus 
Great Horned Owl.  This subspecies as far as I can tell hasn’t been in the 
lower 48 outside of MN.  The bright with GHOW stood out like a sore thumb.  We 
sat there on the side of the road waiting for the line of speeding cars, 
heading off the the next FEHA sighting, to pass and then we just had this quiet 
moment watching this unreal visitor from the north.

Photos of the owl, and hawk, can be seen here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/larrybird13/

Good birding,

Larry Scacchetti
--
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[nysbirds-l] Sad News for the NY Birding Community

[Shaibal Mitra]

Seymour (Sy) Schiff passed away on Thursday, January 14, at the age of 93. I 
learned this from his dear friend Joe Giunta, who had been in touch with Sy 
regularly and made inquiries when he couldn’t be reached. I understand that a 
service has already been held, but I will discuss with Joe how we birders might 
join in honoring him. 

>From his years writing the Kingbird seasonal reports for New York City and 
>Long Island, to his gentlemanly and erudite omnipresence around Jones Beach, 
>to his more wide-ranging birding adventures later in life in Joe’s company, Sy 
>touched New York’s birding community deeply. He will be missed deeply by many, 
>many people.

I know that Sy saw at least 402 species of birds in New York State, and just 
this morning I was thinking of encouraging and helping him to try for the 
Spotted Towhee, very near his home in Baldwin. That will never happen, but I 
will spend some time tonight with my memories of many birds I saw with Sy.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
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[nysbirds-l] Sad News for the NY Birding Community

[Shaibal Mitra]

Seymour (Sy) Schiff passed away on Thursday, January 14, at the age of 93. I 
learned this from his dear friend Joe Giunta, who had been in touch with Sy 
regularly and made inquiries when he couldn’t be reached. I understand that a 
service has already been held, but I will discuss with Joe how we birders might 
join in honoring him. 

>From his years writing the Kingbird seasonal reports for New York City and 
>Long Island, to his gentlemanly and erudite omnipresence around Jones Beach, 
>to his more wide-ranging birding adventures later in life in Joe’s company, Sy 
>touched New York’s birding community deeply. He will be missed deeply by many, 
>many people.

I know that Sy saw at least 402 species of birds in New York State, and just 
this morning I was thinking of encouraging and helping him to try for the 
Spotted Towhee, very near his home in Baldwin. That will never happen, but I 
will spend some time tonight with my memories of many birds I saw with Sy.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore
--

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

[Shaibal Mitra]

We spent a short time searching, with no luck. Nobody who was in touch with me 
found it either.

Shai

From: Robert Lewis [rfer...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2021 2:25 PM
To: Shaibal Mitra
Cc: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

Any luck with this bird today?

Bob Lewis

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 9, 2021, at 6:19 PM, Shaibal Mitra  wrote:
>
> This afternoon I saw and photographed a first winter Larus at Field 7 
> Heckscher SP that I think is a good candidate for California Gull--one of the 
> most birds on Long Island among elusive abundant, migratory species.
>
> The bird caught my eye by virtue of its face, and it passed the test I've 
> applied to so many variant Larus over the decades, "can you see this as a 
> Herring Gull?"--I could not. The enormous variability of Herring Gull, in 
> combination with its abundance here, makes identification of California Gull 
> one of the most difficult challenges on Long Island.
>
> I was in the car, which is an advantage in some ways, but a disadvantage in 
> others--such as when it was jumped by car moments later. I saw it only 
> briefly and bare-eyed as it flew, but fortunately it landed again nearby. I 
> re-oriented the car, studied it through the window-mounted scope, took some 
> digi-scoped photos, then posed and answered the question referred to above to 
> myself. I texted for reinforcements, but when I looked up the bird was gone, 
> never to be seen again today, despite much searching by John Gluth, Mike 
> McBrien, and others.
>
> The field marks I noted in the field were its overall smaller than typical 
> HERG size; small and slight bill which was pink-based with sharply demarcated 
> black tip; all-black tail; seemingly less extensive/obvious pale panel in 
> inner primaries when it flew the first time; and solidly dark bases to the 
> greater coverts (contra those of same-aged HERG, checked in reference, which 
> were spangled up as high as I could see).
>
> I'm writing up a detailed description but wanted to get word and photos out 
> for potential follow-up tomorrow:
>
> https://flic.kr/p/2kqGv5V
>
> 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/

--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

[Shaibal Mitra]

We spent a short time searching, with no luck. Nobody who was in touch with me 
found it either.

Shai

From: Robert Lewis [rfer...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2021 2:25 PM
To: Shaibal Mitra
Cc: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

Any luck with this bird today?

Bob Lewis

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 9, 2021, at 6:19 PM, Shaibal Mitra  wrote:
>
> This afternoon I saw and photographed a first winter Larus at Field 7 
> Heckscher SP that I think is a good candidate for California Gull--one of the 
> most birds on Long Island among elusive abundant, migratory species.
>
> The bird caught my eye by virtue of its face, and it passed the test I've 
> applied to so many variant Larus over the decades, "can you see this as a 
> Herring Gull?"--I could not. The enormous variability of Herring Gull, in 
> combination with its abundance here, makes identification of California Gull 
> one of the most difficult challenges on Long Island.
>
> I was in the car, which is an advantage in some ways, but a disadvantage in 
> others--such as when it was jumped by car moments later. I saw it only 
> briefly and bare-eyed as it flew, but fortunately it landed again nearby. I 
> re-oriented the car, studied it through the window-mounted scope, took some 
> digi-scoped photos, then posed and answered the question referred to above to 
> myself. I texted for reinforcements, but when I looked up the bird was gone, 
> never to be seen again today, despite much searching by John Gluth, Mike 
> McBrien, and others.
>
> The field marks I noted in the field were its overall smaller than typical 
> HERG size; small and slight bill which was pink-based with sharply demarcated 
> black tip; all-black tail; seemingly less extensive/obvious pale panel in 
> inner primaries when it flew the first time; and solidly dark bases to the 
> greater coverts (contra those of same-aged HERG, checked in reference, which 
> were spangled up as high as I could see).
>
> I'm writing up a detailed description but wanted to get word and photos out 
> for potential follow-up tomorrow:
>
> https://flic.kr/p/2kqGv5V
>
> 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/

--

[nysbirds-l] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

[Shaibal Mitra]

This afternoon I saw and photographed a first winter Larus at Field 7 Heckscher 
SP that I think is a good candidate for California Gull--one of the most birds 
on Long Island among elusive abundant, migratory species.

The bird caught my eye by virtue of its face, and it passed the test I've 
applied to so many variant Larus over the decades, "can you see this as a 
Herring Gull?"--I could not. The enormous variability of Herring Gull, in 
combination with its abundance here, makes identification of California Gull 
one of the most difficult challenges on Long Island.

I was in the car, which is an advantage in some ways, but a disadvantage in 
others--such as when it was jumped by car moments later. I saw it only briefly 
and bare-eyed as it flew, but fortunately it landed again nearby. I re-oriented 
the car, studied it through the window-mounted scope, took some digi-scoped 
photos, then posed and answered the question referred to above to myself. I 
texted for reinforcements, but when I looked up the bird was gone, never to be 
seen again today, despite much searching by John Gluth, Mike McBrien, and 
others.

The field marks I noted in the field were its overall smaller than typical HERG 
size; small and slight bill which was pink-based with sharply demarcated black 
tip; all-black tail; seemingly less extensive/obvious pale panel in inner 
primaries when it flew the first time; and solidly dark bases to the greater 
coverts (contra those of same-aged HERG, checked in reference, which were 
spangled up as high as I could see).

I'm writing up a detailed description but wanted to get word and photos out for 
potential follow-up tomorrow:

https://flic.kr/p/2kqGv5V

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] Probable California Gull Heckscher SP, Suffolk, LI

[Shaibal Mitra]

This afternoon I saw and photographed a first winter Larus at Field 7 Heckscher 
SP that I think is a good candidate for California Gull--one of the most birds 
on Long Island among elusive abundant, migratory species.

The bird caught my eye by virtue of its face, and it passed the test I've 
applied to so many variant Larus over the decades, "can you see this as a 
Herring Gull?"--I could not. The enormous variability of Herring Gull, in 
combination with its abundance here, makes identification of California Gull 
one of the most difficult challenges on Long Island.

I was in the car, which is an advantage in some ways, but a disadvantage in 
others--such as when it was jumped by car moments later. I saw it only briefly 
and bare-eyed as it flew, but fortunately it landed again nearby. I re-oriented 
the car, studied it through the window-mounted scope, took some digi-scoped 
photos, then posed and answered the question referred to above to myself. I 
texted for reinforcements, but when I looked up the bird was gone, never to be 
seen again today, despite much searching by John Gluth, Mike McBrien, and 
others.

The field marks I noted in the field were its overall smaller than typical HERG 
size; small and slight bill which was pink-based with sharply demarcated black 
tip; all-black tail; seemingly less extensive/obvious pale panel in inner 
primaries when it flew the first time; and solidly dark bases to the greater 
coverts (contra those of same-aged HERG, checked in reference, which were 
spangled up as high as I could see).

I'm writing up a detailed description but wanted to get word and photos out for 
potential follow-up tomorrow:

https://flic.kr/p/2kqGv5V

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] The 121st CBC, Southern Nassau County, 2 January 2021

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted for the 81st time on 2 January, 
2021, by more than 87 participants in nine territories. Overnight rain lasted 
into the dawn as light drizzle, then cleared as a brisk westerly wind blew up 
around 10:00 am. The wind was especially problematic on the exposed outer 
beaches (which may have been why we found so many beach participants on the 
mainland later in the day). 

The total of 140 species observed on count day was far above our ten-year 
average of 132 and just the fifth time the count has breached the 140 mark, 
following 140 on 1 Jan 2017, 140 on 3 Jan 2009, 142 on 30 Dec 2007, and 142 on 
30 Dec 1995. Among these were many highlights, including three Bald Eagles and 
20 Common Ravens continuing their upsurges, 48 Red Crossbills and five Marsh 
Wrens in three territories each, four Red-shouldered Hawks across two 
territories, three Dovekies in two areas, and Common Eiders penetrating bayside 
waters where we’ve never seen them before. 

An astonishing 32 species were saved by single territories, including three 
Harlequin Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe at Atlantic (sixth consecutive year); 
Black-headed Gull (third straight year and 25th overall), Tricolored Heron 
(second in ten years and 17th overall), 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls, and 2 Common 
Redpolls at Short; Orange-crowned Warbler and Long-eared Owl (45th overall but 
just the second in ten years) at Tobay; Killdeer and Laughing Gull (second in 
ten years and 14th overall) at Five Towns; 15 Redheads at Hempstead; 19 Pine 
Siskins at Mitchell; Common Gallinule (16th overall record but just the fifth 
since 1974), Virginia Rail, and American Bittern (only missed ten times in 81 
years, but missed six of the past ten years) at Massapequa; Lesser Yellowlegs 
(second record in ten years), two Long-billed Dowitchers (formerly regular but 
just the second record in ten years), Rough-legged Hawk (41st overall, but just 
the third in ten years), and Spotted Towhee (fourth Long Island record and 
second for NYSN CBC) in Baldwin.

The worst misses were Barn Owl, Tree Swallow, Brown Thrasher (cw), Purple Finch 
(cw), Lapland Longspur, Chipping Sparrow, and all warblers other than Myrtle 
and Orange-crowned. Continuing in low numbers by long-term standards were 11 
Horned Grebe (ten-year minimum), 2794 Herring Gull, four Great Cormorant, ten 
Gray Catbird, four Hermit Thrush, and 31 Snow Bunting (third straight year <50, 
vs. average of 429 over the prior seven years). 

Taxa recorded from 30 Dec through 5 Jan that were not observed on count-day 
were:
King Eider, Northern Common Eider (Somateria mollissima borealis), Iceland 
Gull, Short-eared Owl, Brown Thrasher, Purple Finch, and Eastern Meadowlark.

Regularly recorded species that were counted in higher than usual numbers 
included 90 White-winged Scoter (ten-year max), 1387 Hooded Merganser (all-time 
max), 569 Mourning Dove (ten-year max), 1679 Sanderling (all-time max), 4821 
Dunlin (ten-year max), five American Woodcock (ten-year max), 661 Great 
Black-backed Gull (ten-year max), 269 Double-crested Cormorant (all-time max; 
formerly rare in winter—for instance, unrecorded 1962-1976), 114 Black-crowned 
Night-Heron (ten-year max), 42 Red-tailed Hawk (all-time max), four Snowy Owls, 
275 Black-capped Chickadee (ten-year max), 78 Red-breasted Nuthatch (ten-year 
max), and 15 Brown Creeper (ten-year max). 

As seems to happen every year on this count, a decision had to be made 
regarding a major rarity, Spotted Towhee this year. As we have in the past, we 
decided to delay reporting for a nominal period, and then to pull the plug and 
allow the count to implode. We’ll never know, but given the weak but 
significant correlation between overall effort and species total in counts of 
this sort, it is quite likely that had we not seen this bird, we would have 
surpassed our own record of 142—and possible that we could have touched 
Captree’s NYS record of 144, or even South Kingstown’s record of 145, still the 
highest north of Cape May, I believe.

We offer our thanks to our participants, area leaders, and several agencies 
that assisted us with access, including New York State Parks, Town of Oyster 
Bay, and Town of Hempstead. 

Patricia Lindsay and 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] The 121st CBC, Southern Nassau County, 2 January 2021

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted for the 81st time on 2 January, 
2021, by more than 87 participants in nine territories. Overnight rain lasted 
into the dawn as light drizzle, then cleared as a brisk westerly wind blew up 
around 10:00 am. The wind was especially problematic on the exposed outer 
beaches (which may have been why we found so many beach participants on the 
mainland later in the day). 

The total of 140 species observed on count day was far above our ten-year 
average of 132 and just the fifth time the count has breached the 140 mark, 
following 140 on 1 Jan 2017, 140 on 3 Jan 2009, 142 on 30 Dec 2007, and 142 on 
30 Dec 1995. Among these were many highlights, including three Bald Eagles and 
20 Common Ravens continuing their upsurges, 48 Red Crossbills and five Marsh 
Wrens in three territories each, four Red-shouldered Hawks across two 
territories, three Dovekies in two areas, and Common Eiders penetrating bayside 
waters where we’ve never seen them before. 

An astonishing 32 species were saved by single territories, including three 
Harlequin Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe at Atlantic (sixth consecutive year); 
Black-headed Gull (third straight year and 25th overall), Tricolored Heron 
(second in ten years and 17th overall), 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls, and 2 Common 
Redpolls at Short; Orange-crowned Warbler and Long-eared Owl (45th overall but 
just the second in ten years) at Tobay; Killdeer and Laughing Gull (second in 
ten years and 14th overall) at Five Towns; 15 Redheads at Hempstead; 19 Pine 
Siskins at Mitchell; Common Gallinule (16th overall record but just the fifth 
since 1974), Virginia Rail, and American Bittern (only missed ten times in 81 
years, but missed six of the past ten years) at Massapequa; Lesser Yellowlegs 
(second record in ten years), two Long-billed Dowitchers (formerly regular but 
just the second record in ten years), Rough-legged Hawk (41st overall, but just 
the third in ten years), and Spotted Towhee (fourth Long Island record and 
second for NYSN CBC) in Baldwin.

The worst misses were Barn Owl, Tree Swallow, Brown Thrasher (cw), Purple Finch 
(cw), Lapland Longspur, Chipping Sparrow, and all warblers other than Myrtle 
and Orange-crowned. Continuing in low numbers by long-term standards were 11 
Horned Grebe (ten-year minimum), 2794 Herring Gull, four Great Cormorant, ten 
Gray Catbird, four Hermit Thrush, and 31 Snow Bunting (third straight year <50, 
vs. average of 429 over the prior seven years). 

Taxa recorded from 30 Dec through 5 Jan that were not observed on count-day 
were:
King Eider, Northern Common Eider (Somateria mollissima borealis), Iceland 
Gull, Short-eared Owl, Brown Thrasher, Purple Finch, and Eastern Meadowlark.

Regularly recorded species that were counted in higher than usual numbers 
included 90 White-winged Scoter (ten-year max), 1387 Hooded Merganser (all-time 
max), 569 Mourning Dove (ten-year max), 1679 Sanderling (all-time max), 4821 
Dunlin (ten-year max), five American Woodcock (ten-year max), 661 Great 
Black-backed Gull (ten-year max), 269 Double-crested Cormorant (all-time max; 
formerly rare in winter—for instance, unrecorded 1962-1976), 114 Black-crowned 
Night-Heron (ten-year max), 42 Red-tailed Hawk (all-time max), four Snowy Owls, 
275 Black-capped Chickadee (ten-year max), 78 Red-breasted Nuthatch (ten-year 
max), and 15 Brown Creeper (ten-year max). 

As seems to happen every year on this count, a decision had to be made 
regarding a major rarity, Spotted Towhee this year. As we have in the past, we 
decided to delay reporting for a nominal period, and then to pull the plug and 
allow the count to implode. We’ll never know, but given the weak but 
significant correlation between overall effort and species total in counts of 
this sort, it is quite likely that had we not seen this bird, we would have 
surpassed our own record of 142—and possible that we could have touched 
Captree’s NYS record of 144, or even South Kingstown’s record of 145, still the 
highest north of Cape May, I believe.

We offer our thanks to our participants, area leaders, and several agencies 
that assisted us with access, including New York State Parks, Town of Oyster 
Bay, and Town of Hempstead. 

Patricia Lindsay and 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] Diverse Late Season Morning Flight/Seawatch

[Shaibal Mitra]

As nocturnal landbird migration has faded to near zero, I've been finding it 
more difficult to make an early start. This morning I reached Robert Moses SP, 
Suffolk County, LI at 08:30 without a clear expectation of what the light wnw 
winds might bring: on the one hand the possibility of a rare irruptive species, 
such as Bohemian Waxwing or even Pine Grosbeak; on the other, waterbirds moving 
in response to freezing temperatures. What I found was a very interesting mix. 
A few American Pipits are still moving and were joined by the first big flocks 
(>100) of Horned Larks and and Snow Buntings I've seen so far this season. 
Among Fringillids, I saw just one flock of American Goldfinches, and single 
American Robin and Downy Woodpecker were calling from the puckerbrush, as if 
bewildered at their new haunts.

But the ocean side was even more lively. Some freshwater ducks on the move 
included a flock of nine Northern Shoveler (a very tough bird at RMSP proper, 
from the competitive patch listing point of view), but the highlights were the 
smaller gulls, moving from east to west in very good numbers: 13 Black-legged 
Kittiwakes, 940 Bonaparte's Gulls, seven tardy Laughing Gulls, and 160 
Ring-billed Gulls. None of these seemed to be lingering to feed in this area, 
but it might be worth checking places like Jones Inlet.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S77187476

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] Diverse Late Season Morning Flight/Seawatch

[Shaibal Mitra]

As nocturnal landbird migration has faded to near zero, I've been finding it 
more difficult to make an early start. This morning I reached Robert Moses SP, 
Suffolk County, LI at 08:30 without a clear expectation of what the light wnw 
winds might bring: on the one hand the possibility of a rare irruptive species, 
such as Bohemian Waxwing or even Pine Grosbeak; on the other, waterbirds moving 
in response to freezing temperatures. What I found was a very interesting mix. 
A few American Pipits are still moving and were joined by the first big flocks 
(>100) of Horned Larks and and Snow Buntings I've seen so far this season. 
Among Fringillids, I saw just one flock of American Goldfinches, and single 
American Robin and Downy Woodpecker were calling from the puckerbrush, as if 
bewildered at their new haunts.

But the ocean side was even more lively. Some freshwater ducks on the move 
included a flock of nine Northern Shoveler (a very tough bird at RMSP proper, 
from the competitive patch listing point of view), but the highlights were the 
smaller gulls, moving from east to west in very good numbers: 13 Black-legged 
Kittiwakes, 940 Bonaparte's Gulls, seven tardy Laughing Gulls, and 160 
Ring-billed Gulls. None of these seemed to be lingering to feed in this area, 
but it might be worth checking places like Jones Inlet.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S77187476

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] Extralimital--Block Island Veterans Day Count

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Block Island Veterans Day Count was conducted for the 25th time on 16 Nov 
2020 by five participants in four parties. Despite the smaller than usual 
number of participants, coverage was strong, with 32 party-miles on foot and 
two boat crossings during daylight. Wind was an issue, especially early in the 
day, with sustained winds of 24 mph and gusts up to 40 mph making the morning 
ferry ride one of the roughest in memory. The wind undoubtedly hindered 
detection of many species of landbirds also, and the general paucity of these 
birds was noted by all participants: 47 landbird species were eight fewer than 
average, and 67 landbirds per foot-mile were 55 fewer than average. Even so, no 
species was missed for the first time.

Despite the irruptions of many boreal species this fall, our count managed to 
fall on a poor day. We missed Purple Finch, Common Redpoll, and Red Crossbill, 
which have been moving strongly in the region, and barely eked out two Pine 
Siskins, one very vocal Evening Grosbeak, seven Red-breasted and three 
White-breasted Nuthatches, and a Hairy Woodpecker. Lingering migrants, often a 
very interesting feature of this count, were almost completely absent: Eastern 
Phoebe, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, and Baltimore Oriole were all 
missed, and the total of three warbler species (Cape May and Palm in addition 
to Myrtle) was surely the lowest ever for this count. A White-eyed Vireo, a 
third record for the November count and two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (a 
species recorded for just the ninth time in 25 years) were the most notable 
exceptions to this pattern. The regular CBC half-hardies were all notably 
scarce: seven Golden-crowned and five Ruby-crowned Kinglets, four Hermit 
Thrushes, two Gray Catbirds, zero Brown Thrasher, and five Eastern Towhees were 
all notably below average. The overall pattern of scarcity of thicket birds 
extended to the common species, as American Robin (39, a new minimum), Myrtle 
Warbler (23, also a new minimum), Song Sparrow (184, 34% below average), and 
White-throated Sparrow (78, 64% below average) were scarce across all parts of 
the island.

In contrast, waterfowl and gulls were well represented, which helped to bring 
the overall species total up to 94, nine fewer than average. Seven Virginia 
Rails and 1420 Northern Gannets set new maxima, whereas a total of nine Common 
Loons was a new minimum. No rare species were found, but a number of scarce 
species were tallied, including Snow Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Harlequin Duck, 
American Kestrel, Iceland Gull, and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Full data with summary stats are attached.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, NY

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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/

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BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx
Description: BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx

[nysbirds-l] Extralimital--Block Island Veterans Day Count

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Block Island Veterans Day Count was conducted for the 25th time on 16 Nov 
2020 by five participants in four parties. Despite the smaller than usual 
number of participants, coverage was strong, with 32 party-miles on foot and 
two boat crossings during daylight. Wind was an issue, especially early in the 
day, with sustained winds of 24 mph and gusts up to 40 mph making the morning 
ferry ride one of the roughest in memory. The wind undoubtedly hindered 
detection of many species of landbirds also, and the general paucity of these 
birds was noted by all participants: 47 landbird species were eight fewer than 
average, and 67 landbirds per foot-mile were 55 fewer than average. Even so, no 
species was missed for the first time.

Despite the irruptions of many boreal species this fall, our count managed to 
fall on a poor day. We missed Purple Finch, Common Redpoll, and Red Crossbill, 
which have been moving strongly in the region, and barely eked out two Pine 
Siskins, one very vocal Evening Grosbeak, seven Red-breasted and three 
White-breasted Nuthatches, and a Hairy Woodpecker. Lingering migrants, often a 
very interesting feature of this count, were almost completely absent: Eastern 
Phoebe, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, and Baltimore Oriole were all 
missed, and the total of three warbler species (Cape May and Palm in addition 
to Myrtle) was surely the lowest ever for this count. A White-eyed Vireo, a 
third record for the November count and two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (a 
species recorded for just the ninth time in 25 years) were the most notable 
exceptions to this pattern. The regular CBC half-hardies were all notably 
scarce: seven Golden-crowned and five Ruby-crowned Kinglets, four Hermit 
Thrushes, two Gray Catbirds, zero Brown Thrasher, and five Eastern Towhees were 
all notably below average. The overall pattern of scarcity of thicket birds 
extended to the common species, as American Robin (39, a new minimum), Myrtle 
Warbler (23, also a new minimum), Song Sparrow (184, 34% below average), and 
White-throated Sparrow (78, 64% below average) were scarce across all parts of 
the island.

In contrast, waterfowl and gulls were well represented, which helped to bring 
the overall species total up to 94, nine fewer than average. Seven Virginia 
Rails and 1420 Northern Gannets set new maxima, whereas a total of nine Common 
Loons was a new minimum. No rare species were found, but a number of scarce 
species were tallied, including Snow Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Harlequin Duck, 
American Kestrel, Iceland Gull, and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Full data with summary stats are attached.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore, NY

--

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http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm
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ARCHIVES:
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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/

--

BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx
Description: BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx

RE: [nysbirds-l] Thrasher update & Merlin

[Shaibal Mitra]

This is an amazing bird--thanks to all who have helped get the word out. Pat 
and I enjoyed wonderful looks at it perched up in the Buckthorn this afternoon, 
about 3:35-4:00. The Buckthorn is within a very narrow swathe of dense 
vegetation between the pond and the mowed field where observers must stand. It 
occurred to me today, having observed the Jamaica Bay Sage Thrasher--which hid 
in thick veg but liked to feed on short grass along pathways--that this bird 
might also want to forage for insects on the short grass outside the dense 
vegetation. I suggest that observers therefore stand back from the edge of the 
dense veg, in case the bird wants to feed on the short grass.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125107758-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125107758-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Richard Guthrie 
[richardpguth...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 6, 2020 5:47 PM
To: NYSBIRDS_L
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Thrasher update & Merlin

The Sage Thrasher has been seen regularly through today, Nov. 6th. If it 
disappears for a while, it eventually returns to the buckthorn bush on the 
south side of the pond at Ooms Conservation area.

There has also been a Merlin seen a few times today. The Merlin was seen 
carrying some prey item (bird?) at about 3 PM. But, the thrasher has been seen 
since by Will Yandik (fmr Regional Editor of Kingbird).

TRAVEL TIP  If you're coming up via the Taconic State Parkway - be sure to 
stop at Will's farmstand, "Green Acres", on Rt. 82, a very short distance west 
of the TSP. The fresh homemade apple pie is worth the minor detour.

You'll thank me later.
--
Richard Guthrie
New Baltimore,
The Greene County,
New York

--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics
Rules and Information
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive
Surfbirds
ABA
Please submit your observations to 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/

--

RE: [nysbirds-l] Thrasher update & Merlin

[Shaibal Mitra]

This is an amazing bird--thanks to all who have helped get the word out. Pat 
and I enjoyed wonderful looks at it perched up in the Buckthorn this afternoon, 
about 3:35-4:00. The Buckthorn is within a very narrow swathe of dense 
vegetation between the pond and the mowed field where observers must stand. It 
occurred to me today, having observed the Jamaica Bay Sage Thrasher--which hid 
in thick veg but liked to feed on short grass along pathways--that this bird 
might also want to forage for insects on the short grass outside the dense 
vegetation. I suggest that observers therefore stand back from the edge of the 
dense veg, in case the bird wants to feed on the short grass.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125107758-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125107758-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Richard Guthrie 
[richardpguth...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 6, 2020 5:47 PM
To: NYSBIRDS_L
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Thrasher update & Merlin

The Sage Thrasher has been seen regularly through today, Nov. 6th. If it 
disappears for a while, it eventually returns to the buckthorn bush on the 
south side of the pond at Ooms Conservation area.

There has also been a Merlin seen a few times today. The Merlin was seen 
carrying some prey item (bird?) at about 3 PM. But, the thrasher has been seen 
since by Will Yandik (fmr Regional Editor of Kingbird).

TRAVEL TIP  If you're coming up via the Taconic State Parkway - be sure to 
stop at Will's farmstand, "Green Acres", on Rt. 82, a very short distance west 
of the TSP. The fresh homemade apple pie is worth the minor detour.

You'll thank me later.
--
Richard Guthrie
New Baltimore,
The Greene County,
New York

--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
Welcome and Basics
Rules and Information
Subscribe, Configuration and 
Leave
Archives:
The Mail 
Archive
Surfbirds
ABA
Please submit your observations to 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/

--

RE: RE:[nysbirds-l] American Golden-Plover - another NYS migrant to worry about?

[Shaibal Mitra]

When Angus posted his query about this species I was immediately reminded of 
two recent conversations with Tom Burke and Doug Futuyma. Despite living more 
than an hour apart in the quite different realms of Westchester and Suffolk 
Counties, Tom and Gale probably share the most similar birding mode to Pat's 
and mine of all our friends: we cover a large area in southeastern NYS, our 
coverage is much more thorough than that of our more list-motivated friends, 
and yet we follow up reports of unusual birds (chase) much more than our most 
purist, patch-working friends. And given that we've been doing it this way for 
decades, we've developed very similar--and probably relatively 
accurate--perceptions of the status of bird species around here.

My conversation with Tom occurred back in August when an American Golden-Plover 
occurred in some (to me) remote and inconvenient part of southeastern NYS; I 
laughed and said, "I think I'll wait for another one!" Tom understood 
completely but he made the point out loud that the species has been rather 
difficult to find over the past couple of years, and I had to concur. The 
conversation with Doug occurred just a few days ago, when he arrived a little 
later than I to a seawatch. I had just had an AMGP fly past, calling, just my 
third of the entire fall, and I knew Doug hadn't connected with one yet. It 
really is possible for active, capable birders to miss this species nowadays.

So when I saw Willie's post, it really gave me pause. Given how infrequently I 
cover western NYS in late summer and fall, I've run into AMGP there often 
enough that I assumed they were even more regular there than here on LI. For 
instance, when Pat and I chased the Swallow-tailed Kites in Hamlin back in 
September, I sort of assumed that picking up our year-bird AMGP would require 
little more than pulling off the road somewhere nearby, on Andy Guthrie's 
instructions. But Andy couldn't offer an easy target, at least on that day.

Willie's post makes the point again about different modes of occurrence 
(agricultural fields vs. lakeshore roosts), and this distinction is very valid 
in my own Long Island/coastal Rhode Island area. Historically there was a 
series of traditional stopover sites for flocks of this species in a very 
specific physiographic belt, ranging from Ridge in central Suffolk County, 
through Riverhead and the North Fork of Long Island, to similar sites in 
Charlestown, Richmond, and South Kingstown, Rhode Island. I'm not a geologist, 
but this belt of flat farmland lies along the Charlestown Moraine and was 
historically much used for potato farming. Nowadays it has been given over 
mostly to turf farming, where it hasn't been destroyed altogether. (There was 
also a very similar satellite site, set off somewhat from this belt, on the 
South Fork of LI, between Water Mill and East Hampton.) In these places, one 
could often see long-staying flocks of AMGP and other shorebirds. But for those 
of us who tire easily of scanning turf fields, there was another mode of 
occurrence, in which this species could be encountered fairly regularly along 
the outer coast.

My perception is that the turf field context has failed almost completely in 
the past several years. Not only are the flocks of AMGP absent, but my 
perception is that they are utterly birdless now--lacking even the flocks of 
Mourning Doves, Killdeer, Tree Swallows, and Starlings that used to be routine. 
The coastal mode still works, but it seems like it's always single birds now, 
never flocks of six or seven as we sometimes saw in the past. My own fall 
records show a paucity of AMGP in my area 2017-2020. They also reveal other 
periods of low detection rates, but I suspect those might be at least partly 
misleading. As Angus noted, I can imagine that in the past, when I didn't 
perceive the species as rare and lucked into it early along the coast, I might 
have spared myself dedicated scanning of the turf! 

https://flic.kr/p/2jW26Qu

I fear that this species is yet another once common one that we will come to 
miss in the future.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125041945-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125041945-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Willie D'Anna 
[dannapot...@roadrunner.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2020 12:14 PM
To: '& [NYSBIRDS]'
Subject: RE:[nysbirds-l] American Golden-Plover - another NYS migrant to worry 
about?

Like Angus, I also have noticed fewer reports and smaller numbers of
American Golden-Plover in Western New York. I live on Lake Ontario in
Niagara County where most autumns I could see this species without any
special effort. That is, I'm not one to hunt down a species for my year
list, unless I am doing a big year, but I still would find them. A few years
ago, I noticed that newer birders were chasing after reports of this species
for their year list and I assumed that they simply did not understand their
habitat 

RE: RE:[nysbirds-l] American Golden-Plover - another NYS migrant to worry about?

[Shaibal Mitra]

When Angus posted his query about this species I was immediately reminded of 
two recent conversations with Tom Burke and Doug Futuyma. Despite living more 
than an hour apart in the quite different realms of Westchester and Suffolk 
Counties, Tom and Gale probably share the most similar birding mode to Pat's 
and mine of all our friends: we cover a large area in southeastern NYS, our 
coverage is much more thorough than that of our more list-motivated friends, 
and yet we follow up reports of unusual birds (chase) much more than our most 
purist, patch-working friends. And given that we've been doing it this way for 
decades, we've developed very similar--and probably relatively 
accurate--perceptions of the status of bird species around here.

My conversation with Tom occurred back in August when an American Golden-Plover 
occurred in some (to me) remote and inconvenient part of southeastern NYS; I 
laughed and said, "I think I'll wait for another one!" Tom understood 
completely but he made the point out loud that the species has been rather 
difficult to find over the past couple of years, and I had to concur. The 
conversation with Doug occurred just a few days ago, when he arrived a little 
later than I to a seawatch. I had just had an AMGP fly past, calling, just my 
third of the entire fall, and I knew Doug hadn't connected with one yet. It 
really is possible for active, capable birders to miss this species nowadays.

So when I saw Willie's post, it really gave me pause. Given how infrequently I 
cover western NYS in late summer and fall, I've run into AMGP there often 
enough that I assumed they were even more regular there than here on LI. For 
instance, when Pat and I chased the Swallow-tailed Kites in Hamlin back in 
September, I sort of assumed that picking up our year-bird AMGP would require 
little more than pulling off the road somewhere nearby, on Andy Guthrie's 
instructions. But Andy couldn't offer an easy target, at least on that day.

Willie's post makes the point again about different modes of occurrence 
(agricultural fields vs. lakeshore roosts), and this distinction is very valid 
in my own Long Island/coastal Rhode Island area. Historically there was a 
series of traditional stopover sites for flocks of this species in a very 
specific physiographic belt, ranging from Ridge in central Suffolk County, 
through Riverhead and the North Fork of Long Island, to similar sites in 
Charlestown, Richmond, and South Kingstown, Rhode Island. I'm not a geologist, 
but this belt of flat farmland lies along the Charlestown Moraine and was 
historically much used for potato farming. Nowadays it has been given over 
mostly to turf farming, where it hasn't been destroyed altogether. (There was 
also a very similar satellite site, set off somewhat from this belt, on the 
South Fork of LI, between Water Mill and East Hampton.) In these places, one 
could often see long-staying flocks of AMGP and other shorebirds. But for those 
of us who tire easily of scanning turf fields, there was another mode of 
occurrence, in which this species could be encountered fairly regularly along 
the outer coast.

My perception is that the turf field context has failed almost completely in 
the past several years. Not only are the flocks of AMGP absent, but my 
perception is that they are utterly birdless now--lacking even the flocks of 
Mourning Doves, Killdeer, Tree Swallows, and Starlings that used to be routine. 
The coastal mode still works, but it seems like it's always single birds now, 
never flocks of six or seven as we sometimes saw in the past. My own fall 
records show a paucity of AMGP in my area 2017-2020. They also reveal other 
periods of low detection rates, but I suspect those might be at least partly 
misleading. As Angus noted, I can imagine that in the past, when I didn't 
perceive the species as rare and lucked into it early along the coast, I might 
have spared myself dedicated scanning of the turf! 

https://flic.kr/p/2jW26Qu

I fear that this species is yet another once common one that we will come to 
miss in the future.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125041945-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125041945-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Willie D'Anna 
[dannapot...@roadrunner.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2020 12:14 PM
To: '& [NYSBIRDS]'
Subject: RE:[nysbirds-l] American Golden-Plover - another NYS migrant to worry 
about?

Like Angus, I also have noticed fewer reports and smaller numbers of
American Golden-Plover in Western New York. I live on Lake Ontario in
Niagara County where most autumns I could see this species without any
special effort. That is, I'm not one to hunt down a species for my year
list, unless I am doing a big year, but I still would find them. A few years
ago, I noticed that newer birders were chasing after reports of this species
for their year list and I assumed that they simply did not understand their
habitat 

RE: [nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

[Shaibal Mitra]

This discussion has been very interesting. I've enjoyed comparing the 
perceptions and experiences of many friends around the region. Having birded 
the coastal Northeast for over 40 years, I've witnessed several kinds of 
changes in the status of Bonaparte's Gull in my "expanded patch" of coastal 
Long Island and Rhode Island. Willie's points about different modes of 
occurrence (early fall migrants, late fall migrants, over-wintering birds, 
spring migrants, over-summering non-breeders) deserves careful attention, as 
does Shane's observation that large counts of this species vary greatly not 
only from year to year, but also from day to day within a season. The 
complexity of this species' modes of occurrence and its extreme variability 
from site to site and from year to year make it difficult to draw firm 
conclusions about its overall status. Ironically, these challenges have given 
us a bit of a refuge from our worst fears as we've watched the diminishing 
numbers--"maybe they're just doing something different, somewhere else."

In my own areas of concentrated field work, little doubt remains that, at a 
minimum, really large counts have been much less frequent for many years now, 
and the species has been missed in recent years on various CBCs where this 
would have been unthinkable in the past (though it is true that there have 
"always" been scattered "bad years" when Bonies were uncommon on all the 
counts). Drawing on Rick's lead, I compiled 50 years of data from four CBCs 
with which I've been deeply involved for many years: Southern Nassau County, 
Captree, Montauk, and South Kingstown (RI). These offer a fair east-west 
transect of the Atlantic Ocean shore of southern New England (to which LI is 
hereby ceded, operationally). All of these CBCs have had historical totals over 
1,000, many years with totals in the 300-800 range, and astonishing dips in 
recent years. The data illustrate the inter-annual volatility of numbers very 
well, but also the absence of big spikes for about 20 years and extreme 
scarcity over the past five consecutive years. In a slightly contrasting 
approach to Rick's, I think raw counts are more informative than 
effort-adjusted detection rates for this species. On these four counts at 
least, the large numbers (when present) are tallied via dedicated effort to 
particular sites, rather than accumulated as sums of small counts. Note also 
that the big spike at Montauk in the late 80s was actually over 21,000--I cut 
it off at 6,000 so as not to reduce the scale for the other data:

https://flic.kr/p/2jUWHDm

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125036546-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125036546-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of rc...@nyc.rr.com 
[rc...@nyc.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 10:07 AM
To: 'Willie D'Anna'; NYSBIRDS-L
Cc: 'Emily Peyton'; 'Richard Veit'
Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

Willie, that is very interesting. I had a quick look at CBC results - for NJ 
rather than NY, so as to avoid including any "Niagara Falls concentration 
effect," and the recent trend does appear to be a decline (with a few 
‘exception’ years mixed in). In this graph "120" is 2019, and numbers extend 
back to turn of century. I know "birds per party hour" is a rough measure (I 
was a CBC compiler for > 25 years, potential party-hour reporting vagaries 
acknowledged), but the numbers do suggest either a decline in population or a 
shift in wintering behavior.

Sorry, this was a quick take, now back to the ol’ day job…

Rick

[cid:40F92B697637904CA54EDB32EC700E76@cornell.edu]

-Original Message-
From: bounce-125036389-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
 On Behalf Of Willie D'Anna
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 9:34 AM
To: '& [NYSBIRDS]' 
Subject: RE:[nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

I have enjoyed the recent posts about Bonaparte's Gulls. Some of the highest 
concentrations of Bonaparte's Gulls in the world occur along the Niagara River, 
with estimates of 50,000 to 100,000 on some days. It is a spectacle to witness 
this blizzard of gulls on the Niagara but it seems that numbers have declined, 
particularly in the last ten to 20 years. It is unfortunate that the only 
evidence that I can offer for this are my own subjective observations. Counts 
of gulls on the Niagara have been done sporadically and it is only in recent 
years that organized counts have been conducted on a yearly basis, with three 
counts per season (late fall/winter), by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Numbers of Bonies, as they are affectionately called here, month to month along 
the Niagara, are highly interesting. Twenty to fifty years ago, numbers would 
begin to build on the Niagara in late July with most of these birds consisting 
of one-year-olds. By mid August, there would be a significant influx of adults, 
only just finished with their breeding activities in Canada. Hundreds of 
individuals could be seen at the source of the river 

RE: [nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

[Shaibal Mitra]

This discussion has been very interesting. I've enjoyed comparing the 
perceptions and experiences of many friends around the region. Having birded 
the coastal Northeast for over 40 years, I've witnessed several kinds of 
changes in the status of Bonaparte's Gull in my "expanded patch" of coastal 
Long Island and Rhode Island. Willie's points about different modes of 
occurrence (early fall migrants, late fall migrants, over-wintering birds, 
spring migrants, over-summering non-breeders) deserves careful attention, as 
does Shane's observation that large counts of this species vary greatly not 
only from year to year, but also from day to day within a season. The 
complexity of this species' modes of occurrence and its extreme variability 
from site to site and from year to year make it difficult to draw firm 
conclusions about its overall status. Ironically, these challenges have given 
us a bit of a refuge from our worst fears as we've watched the diminishing 
numbers--"maybe they're just doing something different, somewhere else."

In my own areas of concentrated field work, little doubt remains that, at a 
minimum, really large counts have been much less frequent for many years now, 
and the species has been missed in recent years on various CBCs where this 
would have been unthinkable in the past (though it is true that there have 
"always" been scattered "bad years" when Bonies were uncommon on all the 
counts). Drawing on Rick's lead, I compiled 50 years of data from four CBCs 
with which I've been deeply involved for many years: Southern Nassau County, 
Captree, Montauk, and South Kingstown (RI). These offer a fair east-west 
transect of the Atlantic Ocean shore of southern New England (to which LI is 
hereby ceded, operationally). All of these CBCs have had historical totals over 
1,000, many years with totals in the 300-800 range, and astonishing dips in 
recent years. The data illustrate the inter-annual volatility of numbers very 
well, but also the absence of big spikes for about 20 years and extreme 
scarcity over the past five consecutive years. In a slightly contrasting 
approach to Rick's, I think raw counts are more informative than 
effort-adjusted detection rates for this species. On these four counts at 
least, the large numbers (when present) are tallied via dedicated effort to 
particular sites, rather than accumulated as sums of small counts. Note also 
that the big spike at Montauk in the late 80s was actually over 21,000--I cut 
it off at 6,000 so as not to reduce the scale for the other data:

https://flic.kr/p/2jUWHDm

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125036546-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125036546-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of rc...@nyc.rr.com 
[rc...@nyc.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 10:07 AM
To: 'Willie D'Anna'; NYSBIRDS-L
Cc: 'Emily Peyton'; 'Richard Veit'
Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

Willie, that is very interesting. I had a quick look at CBC results - for NJ 
rather than NY, so as to avoid including any "Niagara Falls concentration 
effect," and the recent trend does appear to be a decline (with a few 
‘exception’ years mixed in). In this graph "120" is 2019, and numbers extend 
back to turn of century. I know "birds per party hour" is a rough measure (I 
was a CBC compiler for > 25 years, potential party-hour reporting vagaries 
acknowledged), but the numbers do suggest either a decline in population or a 
shift in wintering behavior.

Sorry, this was a quick take, now back to the ol’ day job…

Rick

[cid:40F92B697637904CA54EDB32EC700E76@cornell.edu]

-Original Message-
From: bounce-125036389-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
 On Behalf Of Willie D'Anna
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 9:34 AM
To: '& [NYSBIRDS]' 
Subject: RE:[nysbirds-l] Bonaparte's Gulls

I have enjoyed the recent posts about Bonaparte's Gulls. Some of the highest 
concentrations of Bonaparte's Gulls in the world occur along the Niagara River, 
with estimates of 50,000 to 100,000 on some days. It is a spectacle to witness 
this blizzard of gulls on the Niagara but it seems that numbers have declined, 
particularly in the last ten to 20 years. It is unfortunate that the only 
evidence that I can offer for this are my own subjective observations. Counts 
of gulls on the Niagara have been done sporadically and it is only in recent 
years that organized counts have been conducted on a yearly basis, with three 
counts per season (late fall/winter), by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Numbers of Bonies, as they are affectionately called here, month to month along 
the Niagara, are highly interesting. Twenty to fifty years ago, numbers would 
begin to build on the Niagara in late July with most of these birds consisting 
of one-year-olds. By mid August, there would be a significant influx of adults, 
only just finished with their breeding activities in Canada. Hundreds of 
individuals could be seen at the source of the river 

[nysbirds-l] 7th Annual Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge was conducted on Saturday, 26 
September, for the seventh year. We thank Enrico Nardone, Stephane Perreault 
and others at Seatuck for the effort and care they devoted to revising and 
refining the rules to ensure participants’ fun and safety in this strange 
pandemic period.

The rules changes driven by covid concerns included a requirement that each 
team restrict its activities to a single county (or in the case of sprawling 
Suffolk County, to either the four western towns or the more easterly towns), 
but also relaxed the requirement for team members to travel and bird together. 
In combination, this probably improved overall coverage of the island and 
yielded a collective tally of 194 species, 10 more than the previous highest 
annual total for this count. This achievement is even more notable for having 
been made on a signiciantly later data and on a much less active migration day 
than that of the previous high tally. Also notable was our failure, for the 
first time in seven challenges, to add any new species to the cumulative 
species list, which still stands at 235. This is further evidence of the 
overall thoroughness of the teams this year in detecting uncommon, hard to 
find, and localized species, even in the absence of rarities.

We had 8 teams in the field, with a total of 29 participants, and each of the 
five designated areas was represented. As noted above, it was not a major 
flight day, but the weather was mostly very benign all day long, without heavy 
winds or other impediments to birding effort. It was 63-75 F, overcast with 
good visibility in most places early, then warming up with sun. The biggest 
issue was patchy fog in the morning that reduced visibility for some.

Area champions were:
Brooklyn: Rails Against the Machine (Shane Blodgett, Rob Jett, Heydi Lopes, Tom 
Preston, and Mike Yuan) coming in at 108.

Queens: Ladybyrders (Mary Normandia, Lisa Scheppke, Amy Simmons, Meryl Ackley, 
and Phil Ribilow), tallying 111 species.

Eastern Suffolk: Masked Tityras (Patricia Lindsay, Shai Mitra, Mike Cooper and 
Doug Futuyma) coming in with 130. Three additional teams covered Eastern 
Suffolk: The Bushwackers (Richard Gostic and Bob McGrath), Savage Trackers 
(Stephen and Bob Savage), and The TWIN ROSE breasted Grosbeaks (Raina Angelier, 
Cayla, Iris and Craig Rosenhagen).

And finally, the two leading teams achieved totals only two species apart:

The Classic Birders (Tim Healy, Matt Klein, Ryan Mandelbaum, and Stephane 
Perreault), covering Nassau, was the runner-up team with 139 species.

Pteam Ptarmigeddon covered Western Suffolk and came in overall first at 141, 
wresting back the Twitchers Trophy from the Outlaws (whose misdemeanors had 
resulted in their dispersion into different teams). The Pteam has competed in 
the Challenge with the same members every year, won the trophy the first three 
years, and is now back on top.

Every single team had a least one “save,” a species not recorded by any other 
team. Tied for third were Pteam Ptarmigeddon and The Classic Birders, with 5 
saves each. Second place went to Ladybyrders with 6 saves. The winner of the 
informal Hunters’ Hoard award (a cache of canned spinach, creamed corn, cream 
of mushroom soup, cling peaches, sardines, and Fancy Feast ) was the Masked 
Tityras, with 11 saves! 

Photos and more information about the event will be updated on the Seatuck 
website shortly:

https://seatuck.org/birding-challenge/

We hope to see everybody back out in the field next year, under less stressful 
circumstances.

Shai Mitra & Patricia Lindsay
Bay Shore

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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[nysbirds-l] 7th Annual Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge

[Shaibal Mitra]

The Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge was conducted on Saturday, 26 
September, for the seventh year. We thank Enrico Nardone, Stephane Perreault 
and others at Seatuck for the effort and care they devoted to revising and 
refining the rules to ensure participants’ fun and safety in this strange 
pandemic period.

The rules changes driven by covid concerns included a requirement that each 
team restrict its activities to a single county (or in the case of sprawling 
Suffolk County, to either the four western towns or the more easterly towns), 
but also relaxed the requirement for team members to travel and bird together. 
In combination, this probably improved overall coverage of the island and 
yielded a collective tally of 194 species, 10 more than the previous highest 
annual total for this count. This achievement is even more notable for having 
been made on a signiciantly later data and on a much less active migration day 
than that of the previous high tally. Also notable was our failure, for the 
first time in seven challenges, to add any new species to the cumulative 
species list, which still stands at 235. This is further evidence of the 
overall thoroughness of the teams this year in detecting uncommon, hard to 
find, and localized species, even in the absence of rarities.

We had 8 teams in the field, with a total of 29 participants, and each of the 
five designated areas was represented. As noted above, it was not a major 
flight day, but the weather was mostly very benign all day long, without heavy 
winds or other impediments to birding effort. It was 63-75 F, overcast with 
good visibility in most places early, then warming up with sun. The biggest 
issue was patchy fog in the morning that reduced visibility for some.

Area champions were:
Brooklyn: Rails Against the Machine (Shane Blodgett, Rob Jett, Heydi Lopes, Tom 
Preston, and Mike Yuan) coming in at 108.

Queens: Ladybyrders (Mary Normandia, Lisa Scheppke, Amy Simmons, Meryl Ackley, 
and Phil Ribilow), tallying 111 species.

Eastern Suffolk: Masked Tityras (Patricia Lindsay, Shai Mitra, Mike Cooper and 
Doug Futuyma) coming in with 130. Three additional teams covered Eastern 
Suffolk: The Bushwackers (Richard Gostic and Bob McGrath), Savage Trackers 
(Stephen and Bob Savage), and The TWIN ROSE breasted Grosbeaks (Raina Angelier, 
Cayla, Iris and Craig Rosenhagen).

And finally, the two leading teams achieved totals only two species apart:

The Classic Birders (Tim Healy, Matt Klein, Ryan Mandelbaum, and Stephane 
Perreault), covering Nassau, was the runner-up team with 139 species.

Pteam Ptarmigeddon covered Western Suffolk and came in overall first at 141, 
wresting back the Twitchers Trophy from the Outlaws (whose misdemeanors had 
resulted in their dispersion into different teams). The Pteam has competed in 
the Challenge with the same members every year, won the trophy the first three 
years, and is now back on top.

Every single team had a least one “save,” a species not recorded by any other 
team. Tied for third were Pteam Ptarmigeddon and The Classic Birders, with 5 
saves each. Second place went to Ladybyrders with 6 saves. The winner of the 
informal Hunters’ Hoard award (a cache of canned spinach, creamed corn, cream 
of mushroom soup, cling peaches, sardines, and Fancy Feast ) was the Masked 
Tityras, with 11 saves! 

Photos and more information about the event will be updated on the Seatuck 
website shortly:

https://seatuck.org/birding-challenge/

We hope to see everybody back out in the field next year, under less stressful 
circumstances.

Shai Mitra & Patricia Lindsay
Bay Shore

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3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01

Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE: [nysbirds-l] Fort Tilden Diurnal Migrants

[Shaibal Mitra]

I haven't had a chance yet to unpack and eBird my notebook, but flights at 
Robert Moses SP on Friday and Saturday were excellent and broadly similar to 
those described by Steve, further west.

Steve and I have been doing this style of observation for many decades now, but 
it is a pleasure to note that the cadre of visible migration aficionados has 
grown steadily over the past ten years, since Benjamin van Doren led a 
coordinated study across multiple sites in the broader region.  Doug Gochfeld, 
Shane Blodgett, Sean Sime, and Brendan Fogarty (among others) have been 
watching morning flight from several sites around the West Rockaway Inlet and 
Jamaica Bay, while the Fire Island Inlet area now receives excellent coverage 
from Brent Bomkamp, Michael McBrien, Pete Morris, and Taylor Sturm (and many 
others). Brent and Taylor have furthermore invested many mornings of effort at 
Crab Meadow Beach, on the Long Island Sound shore of western Suffolk County, 
historically a data deficient zone for this sort of study.

The western end of Fire Island remains my favorite, though, and despite my vows 
to experiment at other sites, I seldom have the strength of will to tear myself 
away. The greatest merits of this stretch of beach are its narrowness (one can 
easily see the airspace from ocean to inlet), its remoteness from the mainland 
of Long Island, and its generally impoverished resident landbird community. 
Thus, the single Blue Jay we saw yesterday was greeted with tremendous 
excitement, even bouts of indelicate language, because a count of one there 
exceeds the expected tally by a larger (infinite?) factor than Steve's count of 
260 on the Rockaway Peninsula. Yes, it is definitely already "one of those 
years." In addition to the most familiar and abundant irruptives (Red-breasted 
Nuthatch, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin), Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy 
Woodpeckers have been migrating through over the past two weeks, and this 
weekend, the highly prized White-breasted Nuthatch joined the procession of 
"sedentary forest residents" undertaking the wild ride over miles of open water 
and sand dunes. There's even been a recent claim of that holy grail of the 
barrier beach, Tufted Titmouse, so anything seems possible!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125001915-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125001915-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Steve Walter 
[swalte...@verizon.net]
Sent: Saturday, October 3, 2020 8:17 PM
To: NYSBIRDS
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fort Tilden Diurnal Migrants

Quite an impressive movement of non-raptor land birds at Fort Tilden this 
morning. Most notable has been Cedar Waxwing, with around 900 tallied (after 
some 600 yesterday). Pretty good by Long Island standards was 260 Blue Jays. 
Impressive – if you forget some of the historical numbers – were over 400 
Northern Flickers. And after a lone Pine Siskin yesterday, a couple of flocks 
totaled to about 50 today. Coupled with occasional Purple Finches, it looks 
like one of those years. Lots of other things moving, but too complicated to 
count more than a few species.  I should be counting hawks. You know I love 
them, but they’re such wimps. 7-10 mph winds just aren’t good enough for them 
(on the beach). Less than 100 tallied, and then completely done in by a wind 
shift.

I should slip in that when visiting the beachfront in this area, check the 
ocean. There’s been a nice pod of Bottlenose Dolphins around  and a couple of 
Humpback Whales. Royal and Caspian Terns, too.

It’s fair to say that the diurnal flight echoed the overnight flight. I stopped 
off at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where I found a spectacular warbler (and 
other land birds) show. Also in the area, I stopped off at the newly opened 
Sunset Cove Park (next to where the Burrowing Owl was last year). It was 
extremely lively with phoebes, sparrows, and warblers that don’t mind open 
areas. Looks like a promising site to consider when you’re in the area.

Steve Walter
Bayside, NY

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2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L
3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01

Please submit your 

RE: [nysbirds-l] Fort Tilden Diurnal Migrants

[Shaibal Mitra]

I haven't had a chance yet to unpack and eBird my notebook, but flights at 
Robert Moses SP on Friday and Saturday were excellent and broadly similar to 
those described by Steve, further west.

Steve and I have been doing this style of observation for many decades now, but 
it is a pleasure to note that the cadre of visible migration aficionados has 
grown steadily over the past ten years, since Benjamin van Doren led a 
coordinated study across multiple sites in the broader region.  Doug Gochfeld, 
Shane Blodgett, Sean Sime, and Brendan Fogarty (among others) have been 
watching morning flight from several sites around the West Rockaway Inlet and 
Jamaica Bay, while the Fire Island Inlet area now receives excellent coverage 
from Brent Bomkamp, Michael McBrien, Pete Morris, and Taylor Sturm (and many 
others). Brent and Taylor have furthermore invested many mornings of effort at 
Crab Meadow Beach, on the Long Island Sound shore of western Suffolk County, 
historically a data deficient zone for this sort of study.

The western end of Fire Island remains my favorite, though, and despite my vows 
to experiment at other sites, I seldom have the strength of will to tear myself 
away. The greatest merits of this stretch of beach are its narrowness (one can 
easily see the airspace from ocean to inlet), its remoteness from the mainland 
of Long Island, and its generally impoverished resident landbird community. 
Thus, the single Blue Jay we saw yesterday was greeted with tremendous 
excitement, even bouts of indelicate language, because a count of one there 
exceeds the expected tally by a larger (infinite?) factor than Steve's count of 
260 on the Rockaway Peninsula. Yes, it is definitely already "one of those 
years." In addition to the most familiar and abundant irruptives (Red-breasted 
Nuthatch, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin), Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy 
Woodpeckers have been migrating through over the past two weeks, and this 
weekend, the highly prized White-breasted Nuthatch joined the procession of 
"sedentary forest residents" undertaking the wild ride over miles of open water 
and sand dunes. There's even been a recent claim of that holy grail of the 
barrier beach, Tufted Titmouse, so anything seems possible!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-125001915-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-125001915-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Steve Walter 
[swalte...@verizon.net]
Sent: Saturday, October 3, 2020 8:17 PM
To: NYSBIRDS
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fort Tilden Diurnal Migrants

Quite an impressive movement of non-raptor land birds at Fort Tilden this 
morning. Most notable has been Cedar Waxwing, with around 900 tallied (after 
some 600 yesterday). Pretty good by Long Island standards was 260 Blue Jays. 
Impressive – if you forget some of the historical numbers – were over 400 
Northern Flickers. And after a lone Pine Siskin yesterday, a couple of flocks 
totaled to about 50 today. Coupled with occasional Purple Finches, it looks 
like one of those years. Lots of other things moving, but too complicated to 
count more than a few species.  I should be counting hawks. You know I love 
them, but they’re such wimps. 7-10 mph winds just aren’t good enough for them 
(on the beach). Less than 100 tallied, and then completely done in by a wind 
shift.

I should slip in that when visiting the beachfront in this area, check the 
ocean. There’s been a nice pod of Bottlenose Dolphins around  and a couple of 
Humpback Whales. Royal and Caspian Terns, too.

It’s fair to say that the diurnal flight echoed the overnight flight. I stopped 
off at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where I found a spectacular warbler (and 
other land birds) show. Also in the area, I stopped off at the newly opened 
Sunset Cove Park (next to where the Burrowing Owl was last year). It was 
extremely lively with phoebes, sparrows, and warblers that don’t mind open 
areas. Looks like a promising site to consider when you’re in the area.

Steve Walter
Bayside, NY

--
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ARCHIVES:
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2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L
3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01

Please submit your 

RE:[nysbirds-l] Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Paul and all,

Given that growth (or fault) bars and their interpretation are probably 
unfamiliar to many readers, this bird offers a learning opportunity. If a bird 
experiences nutritional or other stress while its flight feathers are actively 
growing, faint bars (thin bands of weaker feather structure perpendicular to 
the shafts) appear on the growing feathers at positions associated with each 
feather's stage of growth when the stress occurred. These are often visible on 
the fully grown wings and tail of a bird, and their alignment or lack of 
alignment is often indicative of age: adult passerines obviously can't shed and 
replace all their wing feathers at once (though it's not unusual for adults to 
lose their tail feathers simultaneously), so they replace their wing feathers 
in sequence, often just prior to southbound migration. Thus, the growth bars of 
adults of these species are not aligned, falling instead in different positions 
based on how well grown each feather was when the stress(es) occurred. 
Conversely, juvenile birds grow their first set of flight feathers 
simultaneously, resulting in alignment of growth bars, if present.

The Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird is an adult, based on its almost entirely 
white primary coverts. Thus, it would not show aligned growth bars (which were 
posited as possible points of weakness for the damaged feathers on this 
individual).

The question of how this bird's plumage came to such a state intrigues me. It's 
difficult for me to imagine people keeping this species, which sounds basically 
like a chainsaw, as a cage bird, but I've been told never to underestimate 
people's capacity for treating animals unreasonably. On the other hand, these 
dates are exactly when this species is expected in the East as one of our most 
regular long-distance passerine vagrants.

I wonder whether rather than "captivity" per se, this bird somehow got into 
something like a greenhouse, chicken coop, or other confinement that resulted 
in the feather damage.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-124977092-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124977092-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Paul R Sweet 
[sw...@amnh.org]
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 8:50 AM
To: nysbirds-l@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird

Thanks as always for the excellent post Tom. One thing that I have not seen 
mentioned on this forum is that the Flushing Meadows Yellow-headed Blackbird 
has clearly spent time in captivity. The clean cuts to the flight feathers and 
the cage wear on the tail are classic indicators of a caged bird. I’ve heard 
some mention on other forums of fault bars, this is not what we are seeing. 
Gabriel Willow has some flight shots on his ebird list that show this well 
https://ebird.org/checklist/S73707073

Good birding, Paul

Paul Sweet
Collection Manager
Department of Ornithology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, NY 10024

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3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01

Please submit your observations to eBird:
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--

RE:[nysbirds-l] Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird

[Shaibal Mitra]

Hi Paul and all,

Given that growth (or fault) bars and their interpretation are probably 
unfamiliar to many readers, this bird offers a learning opportunity. If a bird 
experiences nutritional or other stress while its flight feathers are actively 
growing, faint bars (thin bands of weaker feather structure perpendicular to 
the shafts) appear on the growing feathers at positions associated with each 
feather's stage of growth when the stress occurred. These are often visible on 
the fully grown wings and tail of a bird, and their alignment or lack of 
alignment is often indicative of age: adult passerines obviously can't shed and 
replace all their wing feathers at once (though it's not unusual for adults to 
lose their tail feathers simultaneously), so they replace their wing feathers 
in sequence, often just prior to southbound migration. Thus, the growth bars of 
adults of these species are not aligned, falling instead in different positions 
based on how well grown each feather was when the stress(es) occurred. 
Conversely, juvenile birds grow their first set of flight feathers 
simultaneously, resulting in alignment of growth bars, if present.

The Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird is an adult, based on its almost entirely 
white primary coverts. Thus, it would not show aligned growth bars (which were 
posited as possible points of weakness for the damaged feathers on this 
individual).

The question of how this bird's plumage came to such a state intrigues me. It's 
difficult for me to imagine people keeping this species, which sounds basically 
like a chainsaw, as a cage bird, but I've been told never to underestimate 
people's capacity for treating animals unreasonably. On the other hand, these 
dates are exactly when this species is expected in the East as one of our most 
regular long-distance passerine vagrants.

I wonder whether rather than "captivity" per se, this bird somehow got into 
something like a greenhouse, chicken coop, or other confinement that resulted 
in the feather damage.

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-124977092-3714...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124977092-3714...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Paul R Sweet 
[sw...@amnh.org]
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 8:50 AM
To: nysbirds-l@cornell.edu
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Queens Yellow-headed Blackbird

Thanks as always for the excellent post Tom. One thing that I have not seen 
mentioned on this forum is that the Flushing Meadows Yellow-headed Blackbird 
has clearly spent time in captivity. The clean cuts to the flight feathers and 
the cage wear on the tail are classic indicators of a caged bird. I’ve heard 
some mention on other forums of fault bars, this is not what we are seeing. 
Gabriel Willow has some flight shots on his ebird list that show this well 
https://ebird.org/checklist/S73707073

Good birding, Paul

Paul Sweet
Collection Manager
Department of Ornithology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, NY 10024

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RE:[nysbirds-l] Kingbird Mailing Problem

[Shaibal Mitra]

I'm writing with an update regarding the Kingbird mailing problems. 

In following up with people waiting for long overdue hard copies, we learned 
that some (but not all) involved people who had unknowingly renewed their 
memberships under "digital only."

But we know that in other cases hard copies are really out there somewhere. 
Yesterday (21 September) we finally received our own missing hard copy of The 
Kingbird via USPS!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-124927292-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124927292-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra 
[shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 8:57 AM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Kingbird Mailing Problem

Many of the participants in this forum are also members of the New York State 
Ornithological Association and are familiar with its quarterly journal, The 
Kingbird. Even those who are not members might be interested to know more about 
the organization and its publications, which members currently may choose to 
receive digitally or in print (but not both, for logistical reasons):

https://nybirds.org/

Kingbird Volume 70 Number 2 was published digitally on 12 August and mailed on 
13 August, but it has come to our attention that many members expecting hard 
copies still haven't received them. The problem appears to be with the USPS, 
because people who have not received copies are set up on our mailing list 
exactly like those who have received them. We apologize for the inconvenience 
and would like (a) to learn the full scope of the problem; and (b) provide 
digital access to as many affected members as possible.

If you have been expecting a hard copy of Kingbird 70-2 and have not received 
it please email me and copy Patricia Lindsay at gelochelidon AT gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Shaibal S. Mitra
Editor, The Kingbird
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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RE:[nysbirds-l] Kingbird Mailing Problem

[Shaibal Mitra]

I'm writing with an update regarding the Kingbird mailing problems. 

In following up with people waiting for long overdue hard copies, we learned 
that some (but not all) involved people who had unknowingly renewed their 
memberships under "digital only."

But we know that in other cases hard copies are really out there somewhere. 
Yesterday (21 September) we finally received our own missing hard copy of The 
Kingbird via USPS!

Shai Mitra
Bay Shore

From: bounce-124927292-11143...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124927292-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra 
[shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 8:57 AM
To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Kingbird Mailing Problem

Many of the participants in this forum are also members of the New York State 
Ornithological Association and are familiar with its quarterly journal, The 
Kingbird. Even those who are not members might be interested to know more about 
the organization and its publications, which members currently may choose to 
receive digitally or in print (but not both, for logistical reasons):

https://nybirds.org/

Kingbird Volume 70 Number 2 was published digitally on 12 August and mailed on 
13 August, but it has come to our attention that many members expecting hard 
copies still haven't received them. The problem appears to be with the USPS, 
because people who have not received copies are set up on our mailing list 
exactly like those who have received them. We apologize for the inconvenience 
and would like (a) to learn the full scope of the problem; and (b) provide 
digital access to as many affected members as possible.

If you have been expecting a hard copy of Kingbird 70-2 and have not received 
it please email me and copy Patricia Lindsay at gelochelidon AT gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Shaibal S. Mitra
Editor, The Kingbird
--

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/

--

[nysbirds-l] Kingbird Mailing Problem

[Shaibal Mitra]

Many of the participants in this forum are also members of the New York State 
Ornithological Association and are familiar with its quarterly journal, The 
Kingbird. Even those who are not members might be interested to know more about 
the organization and its publications, which members currently may choose to 
receive digitally or in print (but not both, for logistical reasons):

https://nybirds.org/

Kingbird Volume 70 Number 2 was published digitally on 12 August and mailed on 
13 August, but it has come to our attention that many members expecting hard 
copies still haven't received them. The problem appears to be with the USPS, 
because people who have not received copies are set up on our mailing list 
exactly like those who have received them. We apologize for the inconvenience 
and would like (a) to learn the full scope of the problem; and (b) provide 
digital access to as many affected members as possible.

If you have been expecting a hard copy of Kingbird 70-2 and have not received 
it please email me and copy Patricia Lindsay at gelochelidon AT gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Shaibal S. Mitra
Editor, The Kingbird
--

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] Kingbird Mailing Problem

[Shaibal Mitra]

Many of the participants in this forum are also members of the New York State 
Ornithological Association and are familiar with its quarterly journal, The 
Kingbird. Even those who are not members might be interested to know more about 
the organization and its publications, which members currently may choose to 
receive digitally or in print (but not both, for logistical reasons):

https://nybirds.org/

Kingbird Volume 70 Number 2 was published digitally on 12 August and mailed on 
13 August, but it has come to our attention that many members expecting hard 
copies still haven't received them. The problem appears to be with the USPS, 
because people who have not received copies are set up on our mailing list 
exactly like those who have received them. We apologize for the inconvenience 
and would like (a) to learn the full scope of the problem; and (b) provide 
digital access to as many affected members as possible.

If you have been expecting a hard copy of Kingbird 70-2 and have not received 
it please email me and copy Patricia Lindsay at gelochelidon AT gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Shaibal S. Mitra
Editor, The Kingbird
--

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/

--