I ended up watching the seabird flight from Robert Moses Field 2 for 4.5 hours starting at 5:50 AM. Highlights include:
104 Cory’s Shearwaters 49 Great Shearwaters 2 Sooty Shearwaters 1* Manx Shearwater 70+ unidentified shearwaters 2 Northern Gannets Fledgling Least and Common Terns Two Lesser Black-backed Gulls among the lot loafers *The first Manx Shearwater encounter was actually my first shearwater of the day, spotted heading east among the breakers very close to shore at 5:55. A second sighting occurred at 8:30, with prolonged views of an individual feeding in the surf east of the life guard shack. Based on the behavior observed in both instances, it’s likely that this was the same bird milling around and foraging. Overall, conditions were much more pleasant than the forecast predicted, with somewhat weaker wind and only brief patches of rain. This may have contributed to the flight slowing down fairly early, but occasional pulses of activity continued throughout the morning. Many of the birds were quite close to shore. Wind direction and strength are maintaining...efforts this evening and tomorrow may well be worthwhile. Cheers! -Tim H -- 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/ --