Monday, 26 October, 2009 - Rockaway peninsula including Fort Tilden & J. Riis Park, Queens; & Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, in N.Y. City
Highlights at Riis Park (visited first in a.m.) included 2 Nelson's Sparrows (subviragatus) and a generally good flight of more-often seen late October migrants and arrivals. Various sparrows and kinglets appeared to rule the land-bird flight; also seen in impressive number were Hermit Thrush. The light wind freshened from the east after noon, with a modest southward movement of N. Gannet and Scoter seeming to begin about then off Riis/Tilden - but a dedicated seawatch was not conducted despite the potential. Some 60+ high-flying swallows working south over F.B. Field in Brooklyn later all appeared to be Tree Swallow. A bit of a.m. raptor flight starting along the outer beach seemed to slow as wind shifted. A full list of species seen at these sites is below. Common Loon (several) Atlantic N. Gannet (several, & more moving/p.m.) Double-crested Cormorant (100+ fly-bys) Great Blue Heron (fly-by) Canada Goose Atlantic Brant (2,000+ and many fly-over flocks) American Black Duck Mallard Green-winged Teal (F.B. Field, small r-a-g pond) Greater Scaup (a few small flyover flocks) Surf Scoter (multiple fly-bys, & 1 on sea) Dark-winged Scoter species (multiple fly-bys) Long-tailed Duck (2, on the sea) Red-breasted Merganser (multiple, distant) Sharp-shinned Hawk (multiple fly-bys, a.m.) Cooper's Hawk Peregrine Falcon (juv., hunting F.B. Field) Killdeer Sanderling (very common along outer beach) Laughing Gull (few on water + 15 roosting) Bonaparte's Gull (2 fairly distant at sea) Ring-billed Gull (many) Herring Gull (common) Great Black-backed Gull (many) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Downy Woodpecker Northern [Yellow-shafted] Flicker (40+) Eastern Phoebe (38, actual 'shore' count) Blue Jay (in modest numbers) American Crow (few) Horned Lark (4 fly-bys from Tilden) Tree Swallow (70+++) Black-capped Chickadee (2, Tilden) Red-breasted Nuthatch (1) Carolina Wren (several) House Wren (1 seen well, Riis Park) Winter Wren (1 heard calling, Tilden) Golden-crowned Kinglet (80+++, by shore especially) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (fairly common, as with above) Hermit Thrush (40+, shore areas alone) American Robin (200+, all areas) Gray Catbird (several) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (1, Tilden) European Starling Cedar Waxwing (60+, a.m. fly-bys) Myrtle/Yellow-rumped Warbler (nearly abundant) Palm Warbler (just 3) Eastern Towhee (8+) Chipping Sparrow (40+) Field Sparrow (15+) Savannah Sparrow (25+) Nelson's Sparrow (2, 'subvirgatus',Riis [Neponsit]) Song Sparrow (common/abundant) Lincoln's Sparrow (1 seen well, F.B. Field) Swamp Sparrow (150+ thru all sites today) White-throated Sparrow (300+, all sites) White-crowned Sparrow (scarce - 2 imm.) Dark-eyed [Slate-colored] Junco (200+, all sites) Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird (few fly-bys) Eastern Meadowlark (1, nice views, Riis ballfield) Common Grackle (40+ fly-bys, Tilden) Brown-headed Cowbird (several shore sites) Purple Finch (2 fly-overs, heard calling) House Finch (few noted) American Goldfinch (20+ fly-bys, & fewer feeding) House Sparrow Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan __________ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
