Despite arriving roughly an hour after sunrise, I was able to witness a very entertaining morning flight at Fort Tilden in Queens. I spent almost 2 hours at the old hawkwatch platform on top of Battery Harris, and was joined for much of the time by Seth Ausubel and Gene Herskovics. The highlights of the (east-to-west) flight were: ~1350 Yellow-rumped Warblers ~45 Rusty Blackbirds 7 American Pipits 1 Baltimore Oriole 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers (reasonably good bird for the barrier beach) 6+ Blackpoll Warblers There were also decent numbers of Palm Warblers (both Yellow and Western), American Robins, and Northern Flickers moving. Raptors were also moving in numbers from the time I got there, dominated by Sharp-shinned Hawks (~40 from the platform, with another 20 or more elsewhere on the base), but with several Osprey, and less than 5 each of American Kestrel, Merlin, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, and Cooper's Hawk.
There were icterids moving in increasing numbers through the morning, but interestingly all the Rusty Blackbirds went by early, as did a handful of Common Grackles and decent numbers of Brown-headed Cowbirds. After that the flight was 99% Red-winged Blackbirds. Tree Swallows also started an east-to-west flight about 3 hours after sunrise, but only 3-4 were tallied before that time. After leaving the platform, we went over towards the main entrance and, between the weedy area behind the baseball fields and the SE corner of the base, found one each of Lark Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, and Lincoln's Sparrow. Numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Song Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Eastern Phoebes, Chipping Sparrows, and Savannah Sparrows dominated. Other noteworthy sightings here included a Black-throated Green Warbler, and a Northern Parula. There was an additional Vesper Sparrow back at the Fisherman's Parking Lot. At Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, highlights were as follows: Clay-colored Sparrow (Between the Aviator Field and the Cricket Field) 2 Vesper Sparrows (1 at the Cricket Field, and 1 at the same location as the CCSP above) Nashville Warbler (Community Gardens) Blackpoll Warbler (Community Gardens) Groups of (in descending order of frequency) migrating Double-crested Cormorants, Brant, and Canada Geese were evident throughout the day. Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
