[nysbirds-l] Subject-line of my post dated 10/6/16
Should have ended with the words...towels in your car. Bob -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Subject-line of my post dated 10/6/16
Should have ended with the words...towels in your car. Bob -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Nighthawks at Melville Park
Went back to the stone bridge at Frank Melville Park in Setauket this evening for the third night out of the last four to look for nighthawks. Spent a little more than an hour there and saw 31 nighthawks overhead, although that may represent a slight overcount since the trees along the western edge of the pond blocked the ability to see movement clearly and birds I thought were new, undetected birds may have been birds that swung back around. Like the report for Caumsett that Dave Klauber provided, the nighthawks at Melville were very high, some barely distinguishable although I was using 12X binoculars.. a very different experience from the other night when the birds were skimming over the pond surface. Arie Gilbert and his friend Bob (don't remember last name) arrived toward the end of the watching period and saw a dozen or so of the birds... Another wonderful night enjoying goatsuckers. John Turner -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Nighthawks at Melville Park
Went back to the stone bridge at Frank Melville Park in Setauket this evening for the third night out of the last four to look for nighthawks. Spent a little more than an hour there and saw 31 nighthawks overhead, although that may represent a slight overcount since the trees along the western edge of the pond blocked the ability to see movement clearly and birds I thought were new, undetected birds may have been birds that swung back around. Like the report for Caumsett that Dave Klauber provided, the nighthawks at Melville were very high, some barely distinguishable although I was using 12X binoculars.. a very different experience from the other night when the birds were skimming over the pond surface. Arie Gilbert and his friend Bob (don't remember last name) arrived toward the end of the watching period and saw a dozen or so of the birds... Another wonderful night enjoying goatsuckers. John Turner -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Nighthawks at Caumsett State Park Suffolk County
Late this morning there was a small flock of Nighthawks flying very high over the northern part of Caumsett, as viewed from just west of the parking lot. Very well spotted by the Feustels. They seemed to be staying in the area for the 20 - 30 minutes that we watched them -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Nighthawks at Caumsett State Park Suffolk County
Late this morning there was a small flock of Nighthawks flying very high over the northern part of Caumsett, as viewed from just west of the parking lot. Very well spotted by the Feustels. They seemed to be staying in the area for the 20 - 30 minutes that we watched them -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Queens Club Big Sit - Date Change
The Queens County Bird Club's 3rd annual Big Sit at the Battery Harris Hawkwatch Platform at Fort Tilden is going to be this coming Sunday, changed from Saturday. Hopefully, we'll be able to take advantage of the north winds forecast for Sunday to break last year's record of 76 species. If you are interested in attending please stop by and stay as long as you like. (And bring snacks and warm beverages!) We'll be there from shortly before dawn and until dusk. Good Sitting and Birding, Corey Finger Sent from my iPhone -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Queens Club Big Sit - Date Change
The Queens County Bird Club's 3rd annual Big Sit at the Battery Harris Hawkwatch Platform at Fort Tilden is going to be this coming Sunday, changed from Saturday. Hopefully, we'll be able to take advantage of the north winds forecast for Sunday to break last year's record of 76 species. If you are interested in attending please stop by and stay as long as you like. (And bring snacks and warm beverages!) We'll be there from shortly before dawn and until dusk. Good Sitting and Birding, Corey Finger Sent from my iPhone -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/5-4-3-&-2
Wednesday-5th, Tues.-4th., Mon.-3rd, & Sunday-2nd of October, 2016 Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - There has been a lot of migration in these past 4 to 5 days, and while yet again much went past Manhattan, onward in the night, there have been a good many & various stop-ins, with species variety remaining good, & numbers of some migrants either still rather good, or for some, increasing, and for a few, increasing greatly, as compared with just the previous week here. A very strong flight of sparrows & kin have been arriving & moving through - there've been at least twelve members of this group reported, with one being a fairIy rare bird in CentraI, and that one not abIe to be re-found some hours after the initial sighting - a LARK Sparrow, mentioned for Tuesday, 10/4, at the north end of the park, as noted by one of our sharp-eyed young birders & then sought by just a few who got word of that sighting - which was specifically from an area that's been good over the years for a variety of sparrows, the "knoll", a small rise at the northeast corner just outside the North Meadow ballfields, in the park's north end - this site good for a Vesper Sparrow, found on Wed. afternoon, by B. Inskeep, and seen later there as well. All the other sparrows & kin are more-expected and all showed increased numbers as of Wednesday, 10/5 - Eastern Towhee (both sexes), Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White- throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, & Dark-eyed Junco, all seen in much greater numbers than they'd been thus far this season - with White-throated Sparrow leading the pack in numbers, well into the many hundreds, park-wide & as noted by many. Song Sparrow, often a bit overlooked here as a migrant, is still some time away from a typical period of stronger arrival numbers, but Eastern Towhee put in an excellent showing with dozens of fresh arrivals, park-wide (as often is so, most evident in the north woods, where less-disturbed by human activity), and White-crowned Sparrow numbers perhaps quadrupling overnight, park-wide on Wed. (a few areas had up to 5 or 6 in view at once). Dark-eyed Junco numbers were up into high double-digits with scattered groups of 8, 10, or more in specific areas. On Tuesday, at least 20 warbler species were present in the park, and as has been so for more than a week, the Palm was & continues to be the most numerous warbler species, park-wide, the majority noted being of the "eastern" or "yellow" form. There have been good movements of warblers & other passerines and assorted other "land" birds in early- morning ongoing flights, with many hundreds of Myrtle warblers passing, and a mix of many other species as well - on Wednesday morning, the passage of Yellow-shafted Flickers was impressive, with far more than 250 passing over the Great Hill in the first 20 minutes of the day, & many, many more than that moving in the first 2 or 3 hours of the day - this not even close to a maxima of this common morning-flight indicator species for this time of year. (in other words, impressive, but not jaw-dropping by any means!) Some of the many other species for which numbers increased as of Wednesday: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (over 100 found park-wide, with 20+ in the Pinetums east & west areas alone), Eastern Phoebe (just one example, 14 of this species seen simultaeneously at one point, in the morning, at the west section of the Pool, near W. 100-103rd Streets), Golden-crowned Kinglet (with more than 12 in the Pinetums east & west areas, & 20+ in the north end of the park), Hermit Thrush (more than 60, park-wide), & the sparrows (& kin) as noted above. Among the species seen, by more than 200 observers in total, and including the excellent bird-walk leaders who work with & for such non- profit organizations as the Linnaean Society of New York, the NY chapter of the Audubon Society (NYCAS), the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and other fine walk-leaders and participants who emphasize courtesy, care, & respect for the birds, birders & all the many other park-users: Common Loon (fly-overs, a few in this period) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture (fly-overs) Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal (readily seen at the Meer, often in SE quadrant lately) Ruddy Duck (continuing dozen at the reservoir, often NE quadrant) Osprey (fly-overs) Bald Eagle (fly-over) Northern Harrier (fly-over) Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot (1, Meer) Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Laughing Gull (still showing at reservoir at times, & a few fly-overs; intermittently) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon
[nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/5-4-3-&-2
Wednesday-5th, Tues.-4th., Mon.-3rd, & Sunday-2nd of October, 2016 Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - There has been a lot of migration in these past 4 to 5 days, and while yet again much went past Manhattan, onward in the night, there have been a good many & various stop-ins, with species variety remaining good, & numbers of some migrants either still rather good, or for some, increasing, and for a few, increasing greatly, as compared with just the previous week here. A very strong flight of sparrows & kin have been arriving & moving through - there've been at least twelve members of this group reported, with one being a fairIy rare bird in CentraI, and that one not abIe to be re-found some hours after the initial sighting - a LARK Sparrow, mentioned for Tuesday, 10/4, at the north end of the park, as noted by one of our sharp-eyed young birders & then sought by just a few who got word of that sighting - which was specifically from an area that's been good over the years for a variety of sparrows, the "knoll", a small rise at the northeast corner just outside the North Meadow ballfields, in the park's north end - this site good for a Vesper Sparrow, found on Wed. afternoon, by B. Inskeep, and seen later there as well. All the other sparrows & kin are more-expected and all showed increased numbers as of Wednesday, 10/5 - Eastern Towhee (both sexes), Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White- throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, & Dark-eyed Junco, all seen in much greater numbers than they'd been thus far this season - with White-throated Sparrow leading the pack in numbers, well into the many hundreds, park-wide & as noted by many. Song Sparrow, often a bit overlooked here as a migrant, is still some time away from a typical period of stronger arrival numbers, but Eastern Towhee put in an excellent showing with dozens of fresh arrivals, park-wide (as often is so, most evident in the north woods, where less-disturbed by human activity), and White-crowned Sparrow numbers perhaps quadrupling overnight, park-wide on Wed. (a few areas had up to 5 or 6 in view at once). Dark-eyed Junco numbers were up into high double-digits with scattered groups of 8, 10, or more in specific areas. On Tuesday, at least 20 warbler species were present in the park, and as has been so for more than a week, the Palm was & continues to be the most numerous warbler species, park-wide, the majority noted being of the "eastern" or "yellow" form. There have been good movements of warblers & other passerines and assorted other "land" birds in early- morning ongoing flights, with many hundreds of Myrtle warblers passing, and a mix of many other species as well - on Wednesday morning, the passage of Yellow-shafted Flickers was impressive, with far more than 250 passing over the Great Hill in the first 20 minutes of the day, & many, many more than that moving in the first 2 or 3 hours of the day - this not even close to a maxima of this common morning-flight indicator species for this time of year. (in other words, impressive, but not jaw-dropping by any means!) Some of the many other species for which numbers increased as of Wednesday: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (over 100 found park-wide, with 20+ in the Pinetums east & west areas alone), Eastern Phoebe (just one example, 14 of this species seen simultaeneously at one point, in the morning, at the west section of the Pool, near W. 100-103rd Streets), Golden-crowned Kinglet (with more than 12 in the Pinetums east & west areas, & 20+ in the north end of the park), Hermit Thrush (more than 60, park-wide), & the sparrows (& kin) as noted above. Among the species seen, by more than 200 observers in total, and including the excellent bird-walk leaders who work with & for such non- profit organizations as the Linnaean Society of New York, the NY chapter of the Audubon Society (NYCAS), the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and other fine walk-leaders and participants who emphasize courtesy, care, & respect for the birds, birders & all the many other park-users: Common Loon (fly-overs, a few in this period) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture (fly-overs) Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal (readily seen at the Meer, often in SE quadrant lately) Ruddy Duck (continuing dozen at the reservoir, often NE quadrant) Osprey (fly-overs) Bald Eagle (fly-over) Northern Harrier (fly-over) Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot (1, Meer) Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Laughing Gull (still showing at reservoir at times, & a few fly-overs; intermittently) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon
[nysbirds-l] Tale of a "greedy" birder : why you should always carry a jug of water & a roll of paper
Wednesday morning, while again getting a late start, the "lure of the west" prevailed, although unlike Tuesday AM, I decided to start this day at Hempstead Lake State Park. Within a few minutes of my arrival, Ed B.(not sure of the spelling) showed up, and we proceeded to bird together. Ed had visited H.L.S.P very recently, knew where the birds had been, and therefore, as they say in the navy, "took the Conn". He, of course, knew that the stream was dry, but I was blown away - never saw it this bad ! We started at the north end, following the stream south until, as Ed hoped, we ran into a batch of warblers hawking insects among the exposed aquatic vegetation. We had 3, possibly 4 Palm Warblers, a 1st year female Parula, plus both a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Swainson's Thrush, seen by Ed, but not by me. We were probably about 75' from where the widest part of the stream makes a right hand turn, and gets much narrower as it heads to the south, when I failed the "judgement/greed test" ! Ed, who only had low shoes on, let me know he was turning back because of the mud, and was going to walk around to continue following the stream. To his credit, he had warned me, by way of a story re: a birding friend of his, but it fell on deaf ears ! I,on the other hand, had my 16" Muck Boots on..."so damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" ! There came a time when I realized the mud was a bit much, and after my last step forward, I tried lifting the other leg to start turning back, but it was in too deep to raise, before losing my balance, which caused me to come crashing down - on all fours, with the one foot out of its boot, but still in a black sock, which had been white just a few seconds before ! After regaining ownership of my boot, and trudging out to dry land, I hobbled up to my car, and started the cleansing process ! Putting H.L.S.P. behind me, I went down to Jones Beach State Park, starting at the Coast Guard Station. A rough count of A. Oystercatcher (by 5 & 10's) was ~ 300. One of these birds had a single red band above both knees. Please pass on any information you may have on this banding procedure. Did not find the previously reported Caspian Terns, but did see at least 12-15 Foster Terns. Also seen were 4 Western Willets ! All of the birds seen at the C.G.S.were also viewed by Bobby Kurtz, who stopped in, after the R.M.H.W. The J.B. Water-Tower held 2 adult Peregrines, both resting on same perch, on the north side (in shade, at time of observation). Also, had a juvenile Peregrine on the R.M.Parkway. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Tale of a "greedy" birder : why you should always carry a jug of water & a roll of paper
Wednesday morning, while again getting a late start, the "lure of the west" prevailed, although unlike Tuesday AM, I decided to start this day at Hempstead Lake State Park. Within a few minutes of my arrival, Ed B.(not sure of the spelling) showed up, and we proceeded to bird together. Ed had visited H.L.S.P very recently, knew where the birds had been, and therefore, as they say in the navy, "took the Conn". He, of course, knew that the stream was dry, but I was blown away - never saw it this bad ! We started at the north end, following the stream south until, as Ed hoped, we ran into a batch of warblers hawking insects among the exposed aquatic vegetation. We had 3, possibly 4 Palm Warblers, a 1st year female Parula, plus both a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Swainson's Thrush, seen by Ed, but not by me. We were probably about 75' from where the widest part of the stream makes a right hand turn, and gets much narrower as it heads to the south, when I failed the "judgement/greed test" ! Ed, who only had low shoes on, let me know he was turning back because of the mud, and was going to walk around to continue following the stream. To his credit, he had warned me, by way of a story re: a birding friend of his, but it fell on deaf ears ! I,on the other hand, had my 16" Muck Boots on..."so damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" ! There came a time when I realized the mud was a bit much, and after my last step forward, I tried lifting the other leg to start turning back, but it was in too deep to raise, before losing my balance, which caused me to come crashing down - on all fours, with the one foot out of its boot, but still in a black sock, which had been white just a few seconds before ! After regaining ownership of my boot, and trudging out to dry land, I hobbled up to my car, and started the cleansing process ! Putting H.L.S.P. behind me, I went down to Jones Beach State Park, starting at the Coast Guard Station. A rough count of A. Oystercatcher (by 5 & 10's) was ~ 300. One of these birds had a single red band above both knees. Please pass on any information you may have on this banding procedure. Did not find the previously reported Caspian Terns, but did see at least 12-15 Foster Terns. Also seen were 4 Western Willets ! All of the birds seen at the C.G.S.were also viewed by Bobby Kurtz, who stopped in, after the R.M.H.W. The J.B. Water-Tower held 2 adult Peregrines, both resting on same perch, on the north side (in shade, at time of observation). Also, had a juvenile Peregrine on the R.M.Parkway. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
