Re: [nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/25

[Andrew Baksh]

Like Michael, I also read Tom's report with interest. Over several seasons, I 
have observed the W-E phenomenon taking place on Coastal Queens and reported as 
such.

Last year in particular, this occurrence took place on several occasions with 
massive amounts of Scoters moving W-E and later on a somewhat reversal taking 
place, all observed along Riis Park to Breezy Point Tip.

I agree that the more we share these types of observations across sites the 
more we will learn or at least become more confused on the flights and what 
triggers changes in the flight movement.

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of 
others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick 
Douglass

風　Swift as the wind
林　Quiet as the forest
火　Conquer like the fire
山　Steady as the mountain
Sun Tzu  The Art of War

> (\__/)
> (= '.'=)
> (") _ (") 
> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! 

Andrew Baksh
www.birdingdude.blogspot.com

> On Oct 26, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Michael McBrien  wrote:
> 
> I find Tom's notes of flight direction to be pretty intriguing. It's always 
> fascinating to take part in observing these morning flights, but it can be 
> even more interesting to see how the flight direction varies over different 
> sites. 
> 
> This reverse S-to-N flight is obviously most famous along the west shore of 
> Cape May, but seems to be regular in smaller locales also - like Tom noted in 
> CP.  On my patches in Bristol County, Rhode Island, I watch flights going S 
> to N on any morning of suitable winds ...presumably due to birds reversing up 
> the peninsula instead of making the jump across the bay.
> 
> From the records of many diligent observers, the fall flights along the south 
> facing shores of the LI barrier beaches and the Great South Bay are 
> consistently E to W. Yesterday, I watched a flight on the south shore of Cape 
> Cod, along a similar east-west running coast in Hyannisport, and was fairly 
> shocked to see consistent movement W to E over the course of an hour of 
> watching. 
> 
> These flights never cease to amaze me in their dynamic nature and in how they 
> vary based on location.  It seems their direction is a function of more 
> variables than may meet the eye (geography, weather, shorelines, etc) and I'm 
> sure a lot can be learned from comparing them over various locations.
> 
> 
> Mike McBrien
> East Patchogue, NY & Bristol, RI
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 26, 2016, at 8:01 AM, Thomas Fiore  wrote:
>> 
>> Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
>> Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 -
>> 
>> and it may be happening all over again this day (a good migration, that 
>> is)...
>> 
>> A bit of a surprise -for the date- was a Spotted Sandpiper moving around the 
>> Meer, in the park's north end, early on Tuesday; seen mostIy at the western 
>> section and moving about thanks to the usual off-leash dogs and other 
>> human-induced activity, at that hour.
>> 
>> 2 first-year-&-female Prairie Warblers were photo-documented by Linda 
>> LaBella on Monday, 10/24, in the north end of the park, this is a 'late-ish' 
>> date for Central where the species does not occur too often this late, in 
>> contrast to some locations where perhaps more-attractive habitat can find 
>> them (rarely) much later; an excellent late-October find in Central.
>> 
>> The one Red-headed Woodpecker I found on Tues. was the young bird at the 
>> east edge of Sheep Meadow, which did give a short, soft call as I passed by 
>> in late morning;  I was not in the Ramble a great time, & another Red-headed 
>> could well continue there (in addition to the possibility that others are 
>> lurking in any various part of the park, awaiting discovery).  In addition 
>> at the east side of Sheep Meadow, were 50-60+ Black-capped Chickadees very 
>> busily foraging in the trees, part of a fresh new flight of them on the day; 
>> several hundred more chickadees, presumed all the expected species, were in 
>> nearly every other part of the park, with obvious movement by them in the 
>> first hour or two of the day; Myrtle Warblers were also on the move, again, 
>> with a fairly strong flight (though nothing in numbers compared with other, 
>> prior days of this month) of many, many hundreds, these were seen from the 
>> Great Hill quite early and they, along with a mix of other migrants, were 
>> moving in scattered directions, and some at varying elevations above ground, 
>> a "complex" morning flight, with some migrants meeting up with ones having 
>> made the big turn that some do as they 'meet up' with (get very near to) the 
>> very tall buildings just south of the park's southern perimeter (and of 
>> course to some extent at the SW & SE sides of the park as well; this 
>> phenomenon readily observed by those keenly watching for it and positioned 
>> within 

Re: [nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/25

[Andrew Baksh]

Like Michael, I also read Tom's report with interest. Over several seasons, I 
have observed the W-E phenomenon taking place on Coastal Queens and reported as 
such.

Last year in particular, this occurrence took place on several occasions with 
massive amounts of Scoters moving W-E and later on a somewhat reversal taking 
place, all observed along Riis Park to Breezy Point Tip.

I agree that the more we share these types of observations across sites the 
more we will learn or at least become more confused on the flights and what 
triggers changes in the flight movement.

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of 
others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick 
Douglass

風　Swift as the wind
林　Quiet as the forest
火　Conquer like the fire
山　Steady as the mountain
Sun Tzu  The Art of War

> (\__/)
> (= '.'=)
> (") _ (") 
> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device! 

Andrew Baksh
www.birdingdude.blogspot.com

> On Oct 26, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Michael McBrien  wrote:
> 
> I find Tom's notes of flight direction to be pretty intriguing. It's always 
> fascinating to take part in observing these morning flights, but it can be 
> even more interesting to see how the flight direction varies over different 
> sites. 
> 
> This reverse S-to-N flight is obviously most famous along the west shore of 
> Cape May, but seems to be regular in smaller locales also - like Tom noted in 
> CP.  On my patches in Bristol County, Rhode Island, I watch flights going S 
> to N on any morning of suitable winds ...presumably due to birds reversing up 
> the peninsula instead of making the jump across the bay.
> 
> From the records of many diligent observers, the fall flights along the south 
> facing shores of the LI barrier beaches and the Great South Bay are 
> consistently E to W. Yesterday, I watched a flight on the south shore of Cape 
> Cod, along a similar east-west running coast in Hyannisport, and was fairly 
> shocked to see consistent movement W to E over the course of an hour of 
> watching. 
> 
> These flights never cease to amaze me in their dynamic nature and in how they 
> vary based on location.  It seems their direction is a function of more 
> variables than may meet the eye (geography, weather, shorelines, etc) and I'm 
> sure a lot can be learned from comparing them over various locations.
> 
> 
> Mike McBrien
> East Patchogue, NY & Bristol, RI
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 26, 2016, at 8:01 AM, Thomas Fiore  wrote:
>> 
>> Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
>> Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 -
>> 
>> and it may be happening all over again this day (a good migration, that 
>> is)...
>> 
>> A bit of a surprise -for the date- was a Spotted Sandpiper moving around the 
>> Meer, in the park's north end, early on Tuesday; seen mostIy at the western 
>> section and moving about thanks to the usual off-leash dogs and other 
>> human-induced activity, at that hour.
>> 
>> 2 first-year-&-female Prairie Warblers were photo-documented by Linda 
>> LaBella on Monday, 10/24, in the north end of the park, this is a 'late-ish' 
>> date for Central where the species does not occur too often this late, in 
>> contrast to some locations where perhaps more-attractive habitat can find 
>> them (rarely) much later; an excellent late-October find in Central.
>> 
>> The one Red-headed Woodpecker I found on Tues. was the young bird at the 
>> east edge of Sheep Meadow, which did give a short, soft call as I passed by 
>> in late morning;  I was not in the Ramble a great time, & another Red-headed 
>> could well continue there (in addition to the possibility that others are 
>> lurking in any various part of the park, awaiting discovery).  In addition 
>> at the east side of Sheep Meadow, were 50-60+ Black-capped Chickadees very 
>> busily foraging in the trees, part of a fresh new flight of them on the day; 
>> several hundred more chickadees, presumed all the expected species, were in 
>> nearly every other part of the park, with obvious movement by them in the 
>> first hour or two of the day; Myrtle Warblers were also on the move, again, 
>> with a fairly strong flight (though nothing in numbers compared with other, 
>> prior days of this month) of many, many hundreds, these were seen from the 
>> Great Hill quite early and they, along with a mix of other migrants, were 
>> moving in scattered directions, and some at varying elevations above ground, 
>> a "complex" morning flight, with some migrants meeting up with ones having 
>> made the big turn that some do as they 'meet up' with (get very near to) the 
>> very tall buildings just south of the park's southern perimeter (and of 
>> course to some extent at the SW & SE sides of the park as well; this 
>> phenomenon readily observed by those keenly watching for it and positioned 
>> within about 50-500 yards of the park's southern 

Re: [nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/25

[Michael McBrien]

I find Tom's notes of flight direction to be pretty intriguing. It's always 
fascinating to take part in observing these morning flights, but it can be even 
more interesting to see how the flight direction varies over different sites. 

This reverse S-to-N flight is obviously most famous along the west shore of 
Cape May, but seems to be regular in smaller locales also - like Tom noted in 
CP.  On my patches in Bristol County, Rhode Island, I watch flights going S to 
N on any morning of suitable winds ...presumably due to birds reversing up the 
peninsula instead of making the jump across the bay.

>From the records of many diligent observers, the fall flights along the south 
>facing shores of the LI barrier beaches and the Great South Bay are 
>consistently E to W. Yesterday, I watched a flight on the south shore of Cape 
>Cod, along a similar east-west running coast in Hyannisport, and was fairly 
>shocked to see consistent movement W to E over the course of an hour of 
>watching. 

These flights never cease to amaze me in their dynamic nature and in how they 
vary based on location.  It seems their direction is a function of more 
variables than may meet the eye (geography, weather, shorelines, etc) and I'm 
sure a lot can be learned from comparing them over various locations.


Mike McBrien
East Patchogue, NY & Bristol, RI




> On Oct 26, 2016, at 8:01 AM, Thomas Fiore  wrote:
> 
> Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
> Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 -
> 
> and it may be happening all over again this day (a good migration, that is)...
> 
> A bit of a surprise -for the date- was a Spotted Sandpiper moving around the 
> Meer, in the park's north end, early on Tuesday; seen mostIy at the western 
> section and moving about thanks to the usual off-leash dogs and other 
> human-induced activity, at that hour.
> 
> 2 first-year-&-female Prairie Warblers were photo-documented by Linda LaBella 
> on Monday, 10/24, in the north end of the park, this is a 'late-ish' date for 
> Central where the species does not occur too often this late, in contrast to 
> some locations where perhaps more-attractive habitat can find them (rarely) 
> much later; an excellent late-October find in Central.
> 
> The one Red-headed Woodpecker I found on Tues. was the young bird at the east 
> edge of Sheep Meadow, which did give a short, soft call as I passed by in 
> late morning;  I was not in the Ramble a great time, & another Red-headed 
> could well continue there (in addition to the possibility that others are 
> lurking in any various part of the park, awaiting discovery).  In addition at 
> the east side of Sheep Meadow, were 50-60+ Black-capped Chickadees very 
> busily foraging in the trees, part of a fresh new flight of them on the day; 
> several hundred more chickadees, presumed all the expected species, were in 
> nearly every other part of the park, with obvious movement by them in the 
> first hour or two of the day; Myrtle Warblers were also on the move, again, 
> with a fairly strong flight (though nothing in numbers compared with other, 
> prior days of this month) of many, many hundreds, these were seen from the 
> Great Hill quite early and they, along with a mix of other migrants, were 
> moving in scattered directions, and some at varying elevations above ground, 
> a "complex" morning flight, with some migrants meeting up with ones having 
> made the big turn that some do as they 'meet up' with (get very near to) the 
> very tall buildings just south of the park's southern perimeter (and of 
> course to some extent at the SW & SE sides of the park as well; this 
> phenomenon readily observed by those keenly watching for it and positioned 
> within about 50-500 yards of the park's southern edge, in a good vantage with 
> views of much of the buildings and especially the mid-stories of them - the 
> phenomenon may be seen with a lot of early morning/diurnal flight, and it may 
> appear that a majority of thusly-affected birds will make a "U" turn, and 
> then fly strongly away, north or generally northerly, with an impression that 
> many, even most seem to go on for quite some distance, perhaps even to & 
> beyond the northern end of the park - however this is not the only & perhaps 
> not the greatest factor in "reverse" or "wrong-way" movement seen in this 
> park & one must understand the complexities involved in the nearness of 2 
> major waterways, the East & Hudson river estuaries laid parallel with the 
> "north-south" length of this park, & much more generally with the importance 
> of open waters in the vicinity, the western Long Island Sound & the shores - 
> and adjacent ridges - of southern New England running directly into eastern 
> Westchester County & then Bronx County, for some of how birds may be moving, 
> those which did not make a crossing of Long Island Sound to fly along or 
> closer to the 4 NY counties of Long Island itself (Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, 
> and Kings 

Re: [nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/25

[Michael McBrien]

I find Tom's notes of flight direction to be pretty intriguing. It's always 
fascinating to take part in observing these morning flights, but it can be even 
more interesting to see how the flight direction varies over different sites. 

This reverse S-to-N flight is obviously most famous along the west shore of 
Cape May, but seems to be regular in smaller locales also - like Tom noted in 
CP.  On my patches in Bristol County, Rhode Island, I watch flights going S to 
N on any morning of suitable winds ...presumably due to birds reversing up the 
peninsula instead of making the jump across the bay.

>From the records of many diligent observers, the fall flights along the south 
>facing shores of the LI barrier beaches and the Great South Bay are 
>consistently E to W. Yesterday, I watched a flight on the south shore of Cape 
>Cod, along a similar east-west running coast in Hyannisport, and was fairly 
>shocked to see consistent movement W to E over the course of an hour of 
>watching. 

These flights never cease to amaze me in their dynamic nature and in how they 
vary based on location.  It seems their direction is a function of more 
variables than may meet the eye (geography, weather, shorelines, etc) and I'm 
sure a lot can be learned from comparing them over various locations.


Mike McBrien
East Patchogue, NY & Bristol, RI




> On Oct 26, 2016, at 8:01 AM, Thomas Fiore  wrote:
> 
> Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
> Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 -
> 
> and it may be happening all over again this day (a good migration, that is)...
> 
> A bit of a surprise -for the date- was a Spotted Sandpiper moving around the 
> Meer, in the park's north end, early on Tuesday; seen mostIy at the western 
> section and moving about thanks to the usual off-leash dogs and other 
> human-induced activity, at that hour.
> 
> 2 first-year-&-female Prairie Warblers were photo-documented by Linda LaBella 
> on Monday, 10/24, in the north end of the park, this is a 'late-ish' date for 
> Central where the species does not occur too often this late, in contrast to 
> some locations where perhaps more-attractive habitat can find them (rarely) 
> much later; an excellent late-October find in Central.
> 
> The one Red-headed Woodpecker I found on Tues. was the young bird at the east 
> edge of Sheep Meadow, which did give a short, soft call as I passed by in 
> late morning;  I was not in the Ramble a great time, & another Red-headed 
> could well continue there (in addition to the possibility that others are 
> lurking in any various part of the park, awaiting discovery).  In addition at 
> the east side of Sheep Meadow, were 50-60+ Black-capped Chickadees very 
> busily foraging in the trees, part of a fresh new flight of them on the day; 
> several hundred more chickadees, presumed all the expected species, were in 
> nearly every other part of the park, with obvious movement by them in the 
> first hour or two of the day; Myrtle Warblers were also on the move, again, 
> with a fairly strong flight (though nothing in numbers compared with other, 
> prior days of this month) of many, many hundreds, these were seen from the 
> Great Hill quite early and they, along with a mix of other migrants, were 
> moving in scattered directions, and some at varying elevations above ground, 
> a "complex" morning flight, with some migrants meeting up with ones having 
> made the big turn that some do as they 'meet up' with (get very near to) the 
> very tall buildings just south of the park's southern perimeter (and of 
> course to some extent at the SW & SE sides of the park as well; this 
> phenomenon readily observed by those keenly watching for it and positioned 
> within about 50-500 yards of the park's southern edge, in a good vantage with 
> views of much of the buildings and especially the mid-stories of them - the 
> phenomenon may be seen with a lot of early morning/diurnal flight, and it may 
> appear that a majority of thusly-affected birds will make a "U" turn, and 
> then fly strongly away, north or generally northerly, with an impression that 
> many, even most seem to go on for quite some distance, perhaps even to & 
> beyond the northern end of the park - however this is not the only & perhaps 
> not the greatest factor in "reverse" or "wrong-way" movement seen in this 
> park & one must understand the complexities involved in the nearness of 2 
> major waterways, the East & Hudson river estuaries laid parallel with the 
> "north-south" length of this park, & much more generally with the importance 
> of open waters in the vicinity, the western Long Island Sound & the shores - 
> and adjacent ridges - of southern New England running directly into eastern 
> Westchester County & then Bronx County, for some of how birds may be moving, 
> those which did not make a crossing of Long Island Sound to fly along or 
> closer to the 4 NY counties of Long Island itself (Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, 
> and Kings Counties, the latter best