In Prospect Park (Kings County) this morning (in only the first couple of hours) the breakdown was similar to what has been reported in Central Park and the Barrier Beach from today. It is certainly interesting how these numbers mirrored what Shai observed on the coast.
9 Solitary Sandpipes flew by, including a flock of 6, all but one were around the Lake right after daybreak. I had ~50 Chimney Swifts come in from the south over the Lake just after dawn as well. Flyover Cliff, Tree, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, as well as several Barns. The most numerous Warbler species I found (~45) was, like Shai, Magnolia Warbler, and Black-throated Blue (especially females) also put on in very good showing, as well as Common Yellowthroats. 9 Canada Warblers were probably by far the most I've seen in the Park in a single day. A couple of flocks of Cedar Waxwings, as well as a bunch of Kingbirds, although it would be hard to separate the new arrivals from the birds already having arrived in the Park on previous nights. Eastern Wood-Pewees were more numerous, while Blackpoll Warblers were noticeably less numerous than they had been. Also of interest: 2 Lincoln's Sparrows 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk (immature in wing molt) 1 Olive-sided Flycatcher 2 Tennessee Warblers 2 Bay-breasted Warblers 3 Blackburnian Warblers I would have liked to have stayed in the Park longer and maybe would have seen some of those birds Shai had heading west, but I had to head north of the City for the day, which didn't turn out that badly because I was able to squeak in a stop at Doodletown (Rockland County) before sunset, where my highlights were: 13 Cerulean Warblers 4 Hooded Warblers Tennessee Warbler Nashville Warbler Olive-sided Flycatcher Yellow-billed Cuckoo Solitary Sandpiper Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -----Original Message----- From: Shaibal Mitra <shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu> To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu) <NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu> Sent: Sat, May 15, 2010 6:47 pm Subject: [nysbirds-l] Stellar Flight on Barrier Beach Evidently, the passage of last night's cold front was such that many Neotrops were tempted a-flight by southwest winds early in the eve, drifted out over the New York Bight, then caught out when the winds turned northwest. Under these conditions, nocturnal migrants drop in as soon as they reach the beach, then bounce along from east to west through the morning. This morning's flight at Robert Moses SP was probably the best I've seen there since the epic flight of 10 May 2002. Although much smaller than that flight, I counted approximately three warblers per second from 8:30-9:00. Pat had seen birds passing at a similar rate earlier in the morning, and birds continued passing at an impressive rate until 9:30. For those not familiar with these re-orientation flights, it's worth noting that some species (e.g., flycatchers and thrushes) tend not to participate in the post-dawn westward bouncing, even though they might have come ashore in big numbers. As expected, I didn't connect with many of these birds as I monitored this morning's flight. I was surprised, however, at the poor showing made by some of the larger, stronger flyers (e.g., RB Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole) that are often very numerous in these kinds of flights. Anyway, some highlights were: 5 Solitary Sandpipers--three singles and one pair, all flying westward 1 Black-billed Cuckoo 3 RT Hummingbirds 250 Chimney Swifts--by far my highest count ever from the barrier beach; all flying westward, as were all the swallows listed below 21 Eastern Kingbirds--all flying westward 1 Blue Jay--usually absent from the barrier beach 1 Purple Martin 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 8 Bank Swallows 9 Cliff Swallows 400 Barn Swallows 58 Cedar Waxwings 20 species of warblers, including 110 Magnolia, 70 BT Blue, and 33 Canada I was able to identify only ca. 20% of the warblers that flew by--about 300 of the ca. 1,500 warblers I saw. We wound up seeing 103 species between RMSP and Jones Beach, and our only woodpecker of the day was a Red-Headed that Pat saw at Jones Beach just before we quit! Shai Mitra Bay Shore Think green before you print this email. -- 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/ -- -- 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/ --
