Yesterday at around noon Heydi Lopes and I were at Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn. From Dead Horse Point looking west Heydi shouted to me when she spotted the same phenomenon. A huge flock of gannets were diving, sometimes en masse, in the bay just offshore between Manhattan Beach and Coney Island. It was difficult to get an accurate count, but it was easily several hundred individuals. Curious what fish were running that lured them from the ocean into the bay. It was the largest gathering of gannets that I've seen in Kings County. I tried to digiscope a short video but the distortion in the results make it difficult to watch.
Good birding, Rob http://citybirder.blogspot.com @thecitybirder > Subject: Gannet swarm in Raritan Bay > Date: Sat Mar 19 2016 16:33 pm > From: hosesbroadbill AT gmail.com > > While not rare, there are currently 1000's of Gannets in Raritan Bay. > I am at the end of Oakwood Beach in Staten Island and everywhere I scan > the sky and water is filled with Gannets. Mostly distant. Off of Jersey > (Perth Amboy) there are clouds of them. > Very cool to see. > > Isaac Grant > Senior Loan Officer -- 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/ --