Third Annual Seatuck Long Island Birding Challenge, 24 September, 2016 The Long Island Birding Challenge is maturing into an exciting annual competition. This year, 35 birders in six senior teams and three high school teams took up the challenge and fanned out across Long Island from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. A total of 166 species plus two genera not identified to species were found, our highest count yet. Only 38 of these were seen by all senior teams (and many of these by the high school teams as well), illustrating the diversity of species present. There were 38 species seen by just a single team (saves!), nine more than last year. An additional 21 were "almost saves” seen by only two parties. (See details below.)
After the rain and wind event of the Challenge's first year, and the hot, summer-like conditions last year, we were fortunate to have wonderful fall weather leading up to and into the day of the count, and neotropical migrant diversity remained high--no doubt the reason we saw 20 more total species than last year. For the third year in a row, Pteam Ptarmigeddon won the competition, this year with 118 species. In second place were the Captree Counters with 117, followed by the William T. Hornadays with 110. And once again, the top high school team was Team Mennecke, with 32 species. All team totals were up from the last two years, illustrating the luck of having favorable weather, and, more than likely, the two years of experience in planning strategy and routes. What surprises will the Fourth Challenge bring? Thanks to all who participated and a special thanks once again to the Seatuck folks for hosting this exciting event. We hope to see everybody next year! Patricia Lindsay and Shai Mitra ***** Saves: species seen by only one team: Snow Goose (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) White-winged Scoter (Captree Counters) Northern Bobwhite (W. T. Hornadays) Ring-necked Pheasant (Chickadee Chasers) Common Loon (W. T. Hornadays) Northern Gannet (Captree Counters) American Bittern (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Clapper Rail (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) American Golden-Plover (Captree Counters) Red Knot (Captree Counters) Baird’s Sandpiper (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) White-rumped Sandpiper (Four Harbors Herons) Long-billed Dowitcher (Captree Counters) American Woodcock (W. T. Hornadays) Parasitic Jaeger (Captree Counters) Lesser Black-backed Gull (W. T. Hornadays) Common Nighthawk (W. T. Hornadays) Traill’s flycatcher sp. (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Great-crested Flycatcher (Four Harbors Herons) Eastern Kingbird (Seatuck Tag Salers) White-eyed Vireo (Chickadee Chasers) Blue-headed Vireo (Four Harbors Herons) Warbling Vireo (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Philadelphia Vireo (Four Harbors Herons) Eastern Bluebird (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Veery (W. T. Hornadays) Ovenbird (Chickadee Chasers) Blue-winged Warbler (Four Harbors Herons) Cape May Warbler (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Canada Warbler (Captree Counters) Wilson’s Warbler (Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Saltmarsh Sparrow (Chickadee Chasers) Clay-colored Sparrow (Chickadee Chasers) Field Sparrow (Four Harbors Herons) Dark-eyed Junco (Seatuck Tag Salers) Lincoln’s Sparrow (W. T. Hornadays) Rusty Blackbird (Chickadee Chasers) Purple Finch (Chickadee Chasers) ***** Seen by only two teams: Northern Pintail (Captree Counters and Four Harbors Herons) Greater Scaup (Four Harbors Herons and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Wild Turkey (W. T. Hornadays and Team Mennecke) Spotted Sandpiper (Four Harbors Herons and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Willet (Captree Counters and Four Harbors Herons) Ruddy Turnstone (Captree Counters and W. T. Hornadays) Pectoral Sandpiper (Captree Counters and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Black Skimmer (Captree Counters and Four Harbors Herons) Eastern Screech-Owl (Pteam Ptarmigeddon and Seatuck Tag Salers) Chimney Swift (Chickadee Chasers and W. T. Hornadays) Eastern Wood-Pewee (Chickadee Chasers and W. T. Hornadays) Common Raven (Four Harbors Herons and W. T. Hornadays) Marsh Wren (Chickadee Chasers and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Swainson’s Thrush (Chickadee Chasers and W. T. Hornadays) Wood Thrush (Chickadee Chasers and W. T. Hornadays) Blackburnian Warbler (Four Harbors Herons and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) Chestnut-sided Warbler (Captree Counters and W. T. Hornadays) Black-throated Blue Warbler (Captree Counters and Chickadee Chasers) Prairie Warbler (Chickadee Chasers and Four Harbors Herons) Indigo Bunting (Four Harbors Herons and W. T. Hornadays) Ammodramus sparrow sp. (Captree Counters and Pteam Ptarmigeddon) -- 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/ --
