I have a few additions I have to Angus' report for the Montauk area. First there was a singing BOBWHITE at the Lighthouse, an apparent local first of the year. Other South Fork first of the year birds included Blue-winged Warbler and House Wren, both at Camp Hero, and a Parula Warbler at Long Pond, Sag Harbor in the afternoon.
Hugh Hugh McGuinness The Ross School 18 Goodfriend Drive East Hampton, NY 11937 hmcguinn...@ross.org On May 1, 2010, at 3:19 PM, Angus Wilson wrote: > Happily, the overnight influx of summer breeders and north-bound > migrants extended out to Eastern Long Island. Hugh McGuinness and I > spent the morning birding Montauk Point and adjacent Camp Hero SP > (Suffolk Co.). We found a good collection of migrants including Blue- > headed, Warbling and White-eyed Vireos, 6 sp. warbler (Black- > throated Green, Yellow, Black-&-White, Common Yellowthroat, > Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped), numerous Orchard and Baltimore > Orioles,Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Ruby-throated > Hummingbird, Chimney Swift, Bank Swallow, Rough-winged Swallow and > so on. Highlights were a young male BLUE GROSBEAK in Camp Hero and 2 > flyover BOBOLINK at the Point. A kettle of 11 Turkey Vultures over > the woods east of Oyster Pond represented a good count for out here > and at least one other was noted in Napeague. A Solitary Sandpiper > and Green Heron were on the ponds in Deep Hollow. > > There appeared to be a steady trickle of diurnal migrants during the > morning, predominantly Red-wing Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, > Blue Jays, Barn Swallows, American Robins and Fish Crows > (unexpected?), with smaller numbers of Eastern Kingbirds and > Baltimore Orioles. We noted several blackbird flocks heading out > over the water towards Rhode Island. As if following these diurnal > migrants, two Merlin also headed eastward over the point. > > We didn't spend much time seawatching but 3 HARLEQUIN DUCK in Turtle > Cove provided a nice treat for May. Common Loons (110+) were widely > scattered on the flat calm water and 3 very distant Razorbills > showed briefly among them. Small parties of Common Terns were > observed out in Block Island Sound feeding over groups of loons. An > ICELAND GULL was with other gulls on the Sound off Montauk Inlet. > > The geography of the eastern Long Island is such that the diversity > of northbound migrants falls precipitously as one travels east of > the North/South Fork split. An example of this pronounced gradient > effect is the fact we did not hear any thrushes in the woodland > around Montauk, but just 15 miles further west in Amagansett Karen > and Barbara Rubinstein found a good number of Wood Thrush in typical > nesting habitat. Along the same lines, Hugh noted Great-crested > Flycatchers at his house in Sag Habor first thing this morning but > we found none elsewhere. It will be interesting to see if these > species will have filtered east by tomorrow. > > -- > Angus Wilson > New York City & The Springs, NY, USA > http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- 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 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
