Now for a happier post. For the first time in years, I tried hawk watching at Fort Tilden in early September. It was a bit different than back in the day. The highlight was a surprisingly good flight of Ospreys for what I consider still an early date - 102 counted, until I had to leave at 2 P.M. It used to be that Kestrels were relied on for anything resembling a decent flight this early. But only 3 of them among the 9 non-Osprey raptors. Why so many Ospreys so soon (246 at Cape May)? I hope it's because there are more of them. Whatever the reason, it makes me think about the contributions to our database that could be made by more frequent coverage at Fort Tilden (at least on northerly winds). If anyone is interested in watching for hawks there, please contact me.
And there's more than hawks to be seen. Copying and pasting below my notes entered at hawkcount.org . Fair numbers of Tree Swallow, still some Barn Swallows, and even 1 Cliff Swallow. Fair numbers of Chimney Swift and Cedar Waxwing on the move. Also seen were 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, and a flock of about 20 Bobolink. A couple of Royal Terns over the ocean. Developing Dragonfly flight: species noted in order of abundance: Green Darner, Wandering Glider, Black Saddlebags, Spot-winged Glider, Carolina Saddlebags, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Swamp Darner, Blue Dasher. Lots of butterfly activity. Red Admiral and at least on Question Mark migrating south, 3 Cloudless Sulphurs emigrating north. Few Monarchs at this point. Lots of Buckeyes around. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
