Multiple Peregrines and continuing shorebirds - 24 Aug 2010

A sure sign of autumn, PEREGRINE FALCONS are beginning to make their presence known. Vicki Bustamante noted her first of the season over Big/Little Reed Ponds today and John Shemilt reports that a peregrine has been making a nuisance of itself at Mecox Inlet since Monday. It was sitting on the flat this evening, taking flight occasionally to chase after terns. Luke Ormand has been seeing another off-and-on in the Shinnecock area, either around the Ponquoge Bridge, on the marshes along Dune Road. Two weeks ago, whilst seawatching, Andy Guthrie and I spend several minutes puzzling over a mysterious pinprick hanging in the air above some distant shearwaters. Eventually it dawned on us that the mystery bird was a Peregrine, evidently eating prey on the wing. It is actually not that unusual to see them many miles offshore, where they hunt terns, storm-petrels and so on.

Among the commoner gulls, terns and shorebirds at Mecox John Shemilt noted at least 7 BLACK TERNS and 3 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS on Monday (23 Aug) and on Tuesday found 3 RED KNOT on the flat. In Deep Hollow, Montauk, Vicki Bustamante found 5 Killdeer, 4 Semipalmated Plovers and 3 Least Sandpipers on the wet areas around Rusty's (south side of Rt 27) but was surprised to find no shorebirds on the pond on the north side. I had a similar experience last weekend, finding an expansive muddy edge and only 3 Spotted Sandpipers to show for it. A mile and a half to the west at Rita's horse pasture, Vicki found 8 Greater Yellowlegs, one Lesser Yellowlegs and a handful of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers.

The cut at Mecox has closed and presumably the pond will be filling fast with all this rain. Oyster Pond in Montauk is already very full having never opened and this could be an exciting spot if it were to self-breach. I currently don't know the status of Sag or Georgica.

Marbled Godwit and Little Blue Heron at Mecox Inlet - 22 Aug 2010

Wet and windy conditions can often provide exciting birding. Yesterday's storm front seemed to shake things up nicely and gave the first real taste of fall. A nice variety of shorebirds and terns were recorded at Mecox Inlet yesterday morning by various observers. Andy Guthrie (visiting from Rochester) and I witnessed a MARBLED GODWIT literally drop out of the sky onto the sand flat. It spent less than an hour probing the wet sand and gulping down edible items before taking to the wing again and heading east. Other shorebirds and terns came and went as we watched. Our tally of WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS grew from 4 when we arrived to a respectable 29, partly through our move to a better viewing spot and partly perhaps through new arrivals. Likewise, after we'd been watching for about 2.5 hours a flock of 17 LESSER YELLOWLEGS and 5 STILT SANDPIPERS (2 ads and 3 juvs.) suddenly came into view. Among the peep, Andy picked out an adult WESTERN SANDPIPER. In all, we found 15 species of shorebird but missed some expected species like 'Western' Willet, 'Eastern' Willet (yes, I consider them distinct species) and American Oystercatcher. More than 40 FORSTER'S TERNS including several fairly fresh juveniles were on the flat or feeding over the bay. Two BLACK TERNS appeared out of nowhere, sat for a bit and then vanished - probably moving out over the ocean. It was surprising we did not find any Royal Terns given that there are good numbers of these down at Moriches Inlet. Large number of BLACK TERNS continue at Napeague Harbor but the strong winds precluded a careful count on Sunday afternoon.

A surprise was a juvenile LITTLE BLUE HERON that whizzed over the pond headed west without stopping. This is always a tricky identification because of the similarity to juvenile Snowy Egret which are common in the area at this time of year. Subtle differences in structure are important and the base of the bill and loral feathers tend to be more gray/blue on LBH whereas SE tends to be greeny-yellow. In our case, we both picked up on the slightly different way the bird carried itself in flight (I initially thought it might be a Cattle Egret) and more importantly we could see the bluish tips of the primary feathers as it passed - a great field mark if you can get it.

The wind and rain made songbird observations difficult but these were undoubtedly on the move also. A continuous ribbon of Tree Swallows and Red-winged Blackbirds, with a few Bank Swallows mixed in, streamed westwards along the dune line for much of the morning.

The heavy rain will no doubt fill Mecox rather quickly. Sag Pond was brimming on Sunday and might open with the excess water if the town doesn't do so first. Reports on the state of these and other saltwater ponds (e.g. Georgica, Oyster) would be appreciated. Any areas where water has collected (e.g. flooded farm fields) could be productive for migrant shorebirds. This is definitely the time to look for 'grasspipers' including American Golden-Plover and Buff-breasted Sandpiper which pause for breath on the east coast before making a non-stop transoceanic flight to southern South America.

Mecox Inlet open - 21 Aug 2010

Mark Vagianos informed me that the Mecox cut was opened by the town on Tuesday afternoon (17 Aug). By Thursday (19 Aug) there was a nice flat and John Shemilt found 3 STILT SANDPIPERS among the regular species. Hopefully the flat will persist and this spot is worth checking at any time. Indeed, shorebirds, terns and gulls passing along the beach are likely to drop in to any of the majors ponds is there is sufficient sand for them to land undisturbed. Sometimes birds will drop down for just a few minutes before moving on. I don't know the status of the other ponds.

Last Sunday (15 Aug), Andy Guthrie and I saw a BROWN PELICAN on the east side of Moriches Inlet (just out of region) at about 6:00 pm but there have been no reports since. The bird could well still be in the area somewhere. A couple of COMMON EIDER were at Shinnecock Inlet and good numbers of shearwaters were offshore, mostly too far to identify with certainty. Watching from Triton Lane off Dune Road, we noted about 20 close in CORY'S SHEARWATERS and a couple of GREAT(ER) SHEARWATERS. A single MANX SHEARWATER was seen by us and others off the restaurant/bar at in Cupsogue County Park, again just out of region. BLACK TERNS are moving through the area and we noted three flying east just past the surf line.

Landbird and shorebird migration is getting into full gear and this is a good time to start checking favorite spots on the South Fork. Weedy fields might hold migrants such as Bobolink or Lark Sparrow which have been noted elsewhere. Warblers are beginning to pass through the city parks, so a few might make it out here especially as the next front passes. All reports appreciated.

Black Tern bonanza in Napeague Harbor and accumulating Mecox shorebirds - 21 Aug 2010

There was evidently some migration on Friday night with numbers of American Robin, Northern Oriole, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Tree Swallow on the move early Saturday morning. A subadult BALD EAGLE was soaring over Shadmoor State Park just before 9 AM and seemed to drift west.

As happened last year, spectacular numbers of BLACK TERNS have gathered in Napeague Harbor and around Hick's Island. I am not aware of any comparable congregations elsewhere in New York State. A quick count this morning tallied a minimum of 113 birds and a more systematic count in the afternoon increased this total to 165-170, with a mix of fresh juveniles and adults in various stages of pre-basic molt. Two adults were still in essentially full-alternate (breeding) plumage. The terns are easily visible from the end of Lazy Point Road looking towards the fish hatchery pontoons but other good spots are to look due west from the vantage points along Napeague Harbor Road on the east side of the harbor or north from near the Art Barge. A PEREGRINE FALCON was hunting turns over harbor and used the radio tower as a resting point. In the morning a WHIMBREL was flushed off the eastern end of Hick's Island by fisherman and headed to the southern end of the harbor.

Hugh McGuinness birded the flats at Mecox finding 16 Green-winged Teal, 45 Forster's Terns, 1 BLACK TERN, 19 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, 1 PECTORAL SANDPIPER, and 11 Lesser Yellowlegs.

Andy Guthrie and I joined the CRESLI whale watch out of Mecox. It seems that most (actually all) of the whales that had been seen earlier in the month have moved further offshore but we encountered a very playful pod of 40 or so Short-beaked Common Dolphins including some tiny calves about 17.5 miles due south of Ditch Plains. Several Leatherback Turtles and Basking Sharks have been noted on recent whale watches, a testament to the amount of plankton in the warm water that is bathing the area. Bird numbers were low, the highlights being an adult PARASITIC JAEGER a mile or two east on Montauk Point and small numbers of the expected pelagic species: CORY'S SHEARWATER, GREAT SHEARWATER and WILSON'S STORM-PETREL. Four BLACK TERNS were noted between Montauk Inlet and Shagwong Point. Offshore migrants included a Semipalmated Plover and Barn Swallow.

I also checked the ponds and fields in Deep Hollow for shorebirds without finding much. However, a WHITE-EYED VIREO in the scrub at the beginning of the Old Montauk Highway opposite the Dude Ranch was a nice surprise. Lastly, there is a nice edge of wet mud on Rita's Pond, with 5 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Semipalmated Plover, 3 Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Least Sandpiper.

Black Terns and shorebird migration - 14 August 2010

I was out briefly last Sunday (8 Aug 2010). There are still good numbers of terns around, with at least 12 BLACK TERNS in Napeague Harbor. [Last summer the Napeague Black Tern 'flock' grew to a maximum of 261 on 30 August - by far the largest concentration in the state.]

A couple of CORY'S SHEARWATERS were noted off Amagansett on Sunday evening and 3 were visible from the bluffs at Camp Heron near Montauk Point. A ragged 1st-summer LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was a notable flyby at Amagansett. This is a good time to look for shorebirds around the edges of ponds, on beaches and on exposed sandflats. The water is quite low on the pond at Rita's Horse Farm east of Montauk Village (visible through the fence on Rt 27) where there were 6 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 2 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and a SPOTTED SANDPIPER on Sunday. The main pond at the ranch in Deep Hollow had 4 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS but little else.

[Speaking of shorebirds, up to 4 Marbled Godwits have been seen on the flats behind Cupsogue County Park (Westhampton Dunes) which is just out of area. This prairie-nesting species might be worth keeping an eye out for anywhere along Dune Road. Same goes for Whimbrel.]

John Shemilt noted a young BALD EAGLE over the Shinnecock Canal on Saturday (7 Aug), possibly the bird he'd seen in Noyac a week earlier. Has this bird summered?

Way offshore John had a frustrating encounter with a NODDY that disappeared before he could get a photograph. This topical tern-like bird has not been recorded in New York State waters and is extremely rare north of Florida. In general, seabird numbers seem to be low out along the continental shelf, at least compared to last summer. Whale watchers traveling with CRESLI and the Viking Fleet out of Montauk have had an excellent season and some trips have encountered good number of shearwaters (including several MANX SHEARWATER) as well as hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of Wilson's Storm-Petrels near the whale activity. Jack Passie has also noted numbers of shearwaters in the fishing areas between Montauk Point and Block Island.

My apologies for the spotty reporting - the demands of work and travel have kept me away for most of the summer. None-the-less your sightings and notes are being carefully gathered and will all go into the end of the year report. Additional reports are most welcome. Autumn migration is just around the corner and hopefully I can get back to issuing summaries on a weekly basis. Updates on the state of the ponds (open/closed etc) would be appreciated.

Record numbers of Leach's Storm-Petrels on Continental Shelf - 5 July 2010

We've received very few reports in the past several weeks but that's not really so surprising. It's a busy time for many of us and normal birding routines are hampered by various parking restrictions and the general influx of humanity. Still, we'll soon be back into shorebird season and this is a good time of year to watch for unusual landbirds that are wandering out of their normal range. Uncommon warblers for example are regularly found in mid-to-late summer, well ahead of what is considered fall migration. Please let me know when any of the major ponds (e.g. Mecox, Sag, Georgica and Oyster) are opened.

In Hither Hills, Vicki Bustamante has been seeing GLOSSY IBIS almost daily in the pools by the side of Montauk Highway just before the old and news roads slip. There have been as many as 7 individuals here and 3 lingering GREEN-WINGED TEAL. At least one TURKEY VULTURE continues in the Montauk/3rd House area and another lingers in Napeague. Could some be nesting out here? On Friday 18 June, Anthony Collerton noted a COMMON NIGHTHAWK over his house on Great Oak Way in Northwest Woods.

Shearwaters have generally remained offshore, with only a scattering of sightings from the beach. Montauk Point and Shinnecock Inlet seem to be the best spots. On Friday (2 July) Bruce Horwith and Derek Rogers encountered both GREAT and CORY'S SHEARWATERS within a mile of Montauk Point.

On Saturday (3 July) I traveled offshore with John Shemilt and his intrepid crew (Keegan and Christopher), in search of tuna and other warm water species. Departing from the Shinnecock Inlet a little after midnight, we were over the 100 fathom line by dawn. We steady made our way into deeper water (500 then 1000 fathoms) and worked east to Block Canyon, finding extensive areas of warm Gulf Stream water (80-81F). By 6 am we had encountered our first LEACH'S STORM-PETREL and saw them throughout our time in the deep, coming home with a grand total of 83 - a record count for New York State. The totals for other pelagic birds were as follows: 61 GREAT SHEARWATERS, 21 CORY'S SHEARWATERS, 4 SOOTY SHEARWATERS, 1 MANX SHEARWATER, 128 WILSON'S STORM-PETREL and 1 COMMON TERN (in the outer portion of Block Canyon). On the ride home we ran past several groups of SHORT-BEAKED COMMON DOLPHINS engaged in active feeding frenzies attended by a scattering of shearwaters. These were about 17-20 miles offshore. The mammalian highlight by a good margin was a pod of up to 35 ATLANTIC SPOTTED DOLPHINS that came up to us in the outer portion of Block Canyon (c. 1000 fathoms and 80.1 F water) and rode the bow waves for a bit. Sometimes known as 'Gulf Stream Dolphin', this is a classic warm and very deep water specialist and as a consequence is less frequently encountered in New York State waters. These were the first I've seen north of the Carolinas. The pod included a number of spottless youngsters, with some tiny calves that must be only a month or two old.

This morning (5 Jul), Anthony Graves (fide Luke Ormand) found a TRICOLORED HERON feeding on the east side of Oakland, just west of the Shinnecock Inlet. The bird may linger in the area and is worth watching for, especially on the low tide when it is likely to be most active.

Speaking of herons, on Tuesday 29 June Eric Salzman noticed a very interesting egret on Weesuck Creek in Quogue that sported a couple of long head plumes reminiscent of a Little Egret (an Old-World counterpart of Snowy Egret that is as yet undocumented in the state). Luke Ormand and Eileen Schwinn went searching for the egret later that day and Luke managed some distant but informative photographs. To my eye at least, everything looks perfect for a Snowy Egret except for these odd head feathers. Without better views it's impossible to pin a firm name on the bird: it could be a Snowy x Little hybrid or just a Snowy with unusual nuptial plumes. Anyway, something else to keep an eye out for if you are birding in the area and a good reminder of why we should be scrutinizing each and every Snowy Egret.

Royal Tern, Cory's Shearwater, Long-tailed Duck, Bald Eagle - 13 June 2010

A brief seawatch this morning (7:54-8:54 AM) from the beach in Amagansett (Suffolk Co.) produced 6 CORY'S SHEARWATERS, 8 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, 4 COMMON LOON, 53 Northern Gannet, 1 Laughing Gull and 1 adult ROYAL TERN catching small baitfish just beyond the surfline. The Royal Tern was unexpected with Caspian more likely out here in the spring/early summer, but the bird was quite close and I was able to see that it's red-orange bill lacked a dark tip, was less massive than expected for Caspian and that dark markings on the underside of the primaries were restricted to the tips giving a discrete training edge.

A 1st or 2nd-year BALD EAGLE was soaring over the 'Art Barge' in Napeague mid-morning together with a TURKEY VULTURE. There have been several sightings of young eagles in the Napeague area this spring/summer and so perhaps an individual is attempting to summer locally.

Yesterday afternoon, I tried seawatching from various spots in and around Montauk but had to contend with several heavy downpours and generally hazy conditions. Although there were plenty of gannets (>100/hr), I saw no shearwaters at all. Single WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS were off Montauk Point and Amagansett. Interestingly on the north side of the peninsula, there were 9 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS working the flat water between Culloden Point and Gardiner's Island. I don't recall seeing storm-petrels this far in Gardiner's Bay before. Small numbers of Common Eider linger off the Point and around the Montauk Inlet, where there was also a female LONG-TAILED DUCK. I had seen this bird the weekend before in same area. A 3rd-summer LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was among the ratty subadult Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls loafing around the inlet.

Summer seabirds and some interesting nesting activity - 5 June 2010

Last Saturday morning (29 May 2010), Hugh McGuinness led a SoFo field trip to Shinnecock and Dune to view shorebirds feeding on horseshoe crab eggs. During the trip they found a YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON and a PEREGRINE FALCON. Shorebird diversity was lower than expected, perhaps due to the state of the tide.

Around midday on Saturday (29 May) I looked at various spots in Montauk. Jack Passie had noted 6 GLOSSY IBIS in the roadside pools at the edge of Hither Hills and they were still there when I whizzed past. [Note Vicki Bustamante has also seen these birds several times in the week since.] Landbird variety at the Point seemed limited to nesting species, as did the shorebirds on the pools at Teddy Roosevelt and Rita's. I seawatched for an hour (11:50 am -12:50 pm) from the bluffs at Camp Hero. They was a moderate amount of activity with gulls and terns working the bait fish (any idea what these are likely to be?) and I noticed a subadult PARASITIC JAEGER station a mile or less SE of the lighthouse, intercepting the terns as they headed back towards Great Gull Island. There were a few ROSEATE TERNS (10+) mixed in with the 400 +++ Common Terns and I picked out 2 BLACK TERNS in their handsome breeding plumage. All told, there were 5 SOOTY SHEARWATERS milling around and a couple of these followed the Donna May in around the Point. Scanning down the wake, I counted 6 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS weaving between the gulls. NORTHERN GANNETS seemed to be moving through and I counted 124 in the hour. In Deep Hollow, 2 TURKEY VULTURES and a SPOTTED SANDPIPER were the only birds of note. The larger pond at Teddy Roosevelt contains a Muskrat and 2 medium-sized Snapping Turtles. Vicki Bustamante counted 8 TURKEY VULTURES over the park on Wednesday (2 Jun 2010). Whether these larger kettles reflect migrants or just the local birds getting together is anybody's guess but the occasional appearance of a Black Vulture or two certainly supports the idea of new birds wandering back and forth along the peninsula.

An evening seawatch from Amagansett (5:38-6:38 pm) was chilly with the wind blowing in from the SW and I was surprised there weren't more birds. The only birds of note were two PARASITIC JAEGERS, both headed east. Another seawatch on Monday night (5:50-6:50 pm) produced 2 WHITE WINGED SCOTER and a SURF SCOTER but no tubenoses. The most interesting birds were 2 probable ARCTIC TERNS traveling eastward along the shore with an adult Common Tern. An adult and a 1st-summer ('Portlandica'), their flight was more buoyant than the nearby Common Tern and they appeared shorter winged. Both lacked the dusky outer primaries visible on the Common Tern but had dark tips that gave the impression of a pale window in the middle of the wing. Regretably, I was not able to photograph them but as mentioned before, Arctic Terns probably occur in small numbers along the shore as suggested by the string of sightings at Moriches Inlet over the past several summers.

As one might expect, offshore activity is generally better than onshore. On Tuesday 25 May, Jack Passie was fishing within a couple of miles of Montauk Point (N and E) and noted 10 or so GREATER SHEARWATERS (the first for NY waters this year), 10+ SOOTY SHEARWATERS, 2 WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS and hundreds of NORTHERN GANNETS. On Saturday (29 May 2010), John Shemilt took his boat out of the Shinnecock Inlet and headed towards the shelf edge and a fishing spot known as the Fishtails. He encountered 3 DOVEKIE (over the 40 fathom line, 42 nm SE of Shinnecock), 25+ SOOTY SHEARWATER, 15+ GREATER SHEARWATER, 5+ CORY'S SHEARWATER, 50+ WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, 1 LEACH'S STORM-PETREL (over the Fishtails), 2 RED PHALAROPE (c.65 nm SE of Shinnecock Inlet), 3 ARCTIC TERNS and at least 5 JAEGERS, one of which appeared to be a near-adult LONG-TAILED JAEGER. All-in-all, a terrific mix of pelagic species, including several statewide rarities (Leach's SP, Long-tailed Jaeger, Arctic Tern). The presence of lingering (summering?) Dovekie - something John discovered last summer - is particularly interesting. Additional runs through this area during the next few months may shed light on the scale of this previously undocumented phenomena. Large numbers of Dovekie nest in northern Greenland where the snow and ice does not melt until mid-June. Thus like Sanderling, Red Knot and Ruddy Turnstone, which also nest further north than most species, it makes sense for them to linger into our summer before heading north.

CHUCK-WILLS-WIDOWS continue to percolate into the region. As with any species on the edge of its range some individuals may have arrived a week or two ago but have subsequently made local movements having failed to secure mates at other spots. In East Quogue, Eileen Schwinn and several others have been hearing one singing nightly in woods off Old Country Road (near mailbox #113) since the weekend. On Wednesday (2 Jun 2010) Hugh McGuinness heard another vocalize briefly in the woods south of Long Pond, Sag Harbor, a non-traditional site. This is near the intersection of Sprig Tree Path and Widow Gavits Road. Karen and Barbara Rubinstein heard the Lazy Point Road (west side of Napeague Harbor) birds singing on Sunday night and I heard this bird again last night (4 June).

On Sunday morning I checked the three major Hampton ponds, which still have some sandflats and decent numbers of the common breeding and migrant shorebirds. Highlights were BLACK SKIMMERS (8 at Mecox, 1 at Sagg Main), summering BONAPARTE'S GULL (11 at Georgica), WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER (1 at Mecox), PURPLE SANDPIPER (1 at Georgica). At Sammy's Beach (head of 3 Mile Harbor in East Hampton), there seemed to be 3 if not 4 calling CLAPPER RAILS in the marsh. These can be easily heard from the sandy walking trail along the south edge of the dune. Anthony Collerton found these birds the week before and there seems a good chance the species will breed in the Town of East Hampton this year. Also present at Sammy's were a SALTMARSH SHARP-TAILED SPARROW, a GLOSSY IBIS and 6-10 ROSEATE TERNS. The mini-Prairie created by dredged sand is providing nesting habitat for several pairs of HORNED LARKS, which often sing from the fence posts lining the dirt road, and the short trees host several pairs of PRAIRIE WARBLER.

Yesterday (4 Jun 2010), Eileen Schwinn and Eric Salzman visited Gabreski Airport, finding VESPER SPARROW, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO and EASTERN MEADOWLARK among other grassland species along the north perimeter road.

Lastly, it's hard not to reflect on the scale of the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and how it may potentially impact the South Fork. We are linked to the affected areas in many ways, not least by the migrant shorebirds and larids (gulls and terns) and a variety of migratory fish including Bluefin Tuna that use the area as a stopover or spawning ground. The scale is so enormous that there is even the risk that oil will reach our own waters if the slick enters the Gulf Stream as predicted. Carl Safina, a contributor to this list, has made several TV appearances articulating the true scale of the environmental impact, a critical discussion that has not been covered that well by the mainstream media.