The bad weather and southeast winds forecast for the next few days was sufficient motivation for me to travel to Robert Moses State Park this morning to do a sea watch. Although the winds were howling, the bird diversity and numbers were poor. Fair numbers of Gannets were busy feeding, plunge diving a short distance offshore. Gulls, both big and small, were virtually absent, and scoter numbers were paltry. After about five minutes of observation, I was surprised to observe a small black and white shearwater just beyond the breakers, heading east and laboring against the strong southeast winds. The small size, short-tail, entirely black above and white below, with white underwings that were slightly dusky near the tips identified this bird as a Manx Shearwater. This is not a late date for New York, with at least two December sightings as of 1997 (Bull’s Birds of New York State, 1997) and I would suspect, additional records since that time. In Massachusetts, where this species is more common, it has been observed in every month except February (Birds of Massachusetts, 1993). The observation struck me as unusual not only for the date but that the bird was observed from shore. My previous encounters with this species has been in Spring (May) and Fall (September).
Good Birding, Ken Feustel -- 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/ --
