Dovekie off Montauk Point - 14 Mar 2010

The passing storm left the South Fork of Long Island (Suffolk Co.) bruised and battered, with flooded roads, lots of damaged or felled trees and a few downed telephone lines. The ocean swell was majestic as viewed from the Montauk Point restaurant overlook, with 20-30 ft rollers passing over the reef in front of the lighthouse. Viewing conditions were OK at first but as the wind dropped a light fog settled in over the entire area. Surfers found good waves off Culloden Point on the north side of the peninsula.

The highlight of my morning was a DOVEKIE that flew right into Turtle Cove (south side of Point), made a wide circle and flew out again! It was close enough to see the tiny bill and dusky underwings. I scanned the area for a further hour but did not relocate it. Other birds of note off the Point were 3 RAZORBILL, 2 different adult KUMLEIN'S ICELAND GULLS and a 4th-winter type LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Many large gulls were cruising up and down the shoreline making quick work of edibles that had been ripped up off the bottom. Three Bonaparte's Gulls off Camp Hero were only ones I saw today.

Of local interest, thirty-three RING-NECK DUCK were on Tuthill's Pond (almost connected to the ocean by flooding) and four CANVASBACK were on Fort Pond. The 2nd basic-type GLAUCOUS GULL that I saw yesterday was back on Further Lane in East Hampton and 4 TUNDRA SWAN were with 3 Mute Swan in fields between Highland Terrace and Sag Main Street in Sagaponack.

Nor'easter brings Glaucous and Iceland Gulls to the South Fork - 13 Mar 2010

Todays Nor'easter pounded the eastern tip of Long Island and birds were few and far between. The storm still rages as I type. The high winds, heavy rain and volume of spray/sand in the air made seawatching a challenge to say the least. When I could see beyond the crashing surf, there seemed to be little activity. On the ponds, waterfowl numbers seem low and I could not find anything of note among the lingering flocks of Canada Geese.

Not too surprisingly, most of the Great Black-backed Gulls had moved inland off the beaches to wait out the weather and flocks stood huddled in fields and other open areas. Looking through these, I found an adult GLAUCOUS GULL on Bridge Lane in Sagaponack, and just before dusk a 2nd basic-type GLAUCOUS GULL on Further Lane in East Hampton. This latter bird, a predominantly white individual, flew in as I was watching an adult KUMLEIN'S ICELAND GULL bathing in a rain water pool. A couple of Bonparte's Gulls were on Shorts Pond in Bridgehampton, the first time I've seen the species there. Ironically, we've reached a point where I find the absence of any Lesser Black-backed Gulls among these storm displaced gulls more surprising than if one or two were present.

Flyby Thick-billed Murre off Montauk Point - 8 Mar 2010

Yesterday, I seawatched from Montauk Point (Suffolk Co.) for a couple of hours (Sun 7 March, 7:11-9:15 am). Numbers were low but the diversity was good. Strong sunshine made the viewing to the south difficult.

The highlight was a THICK-BILLED MURRE that came round the point from the south and headed out over Block Island Sound. This was at 7:22 am. The solid dark hood was immediately apparent but it was only until the bird was directly east of me that I could see its short bill, seemingly unmarked underwings/flanks and dumpy profile. The upperparts looked similar in color to the Razorbills but truthfully, the light was probably not good enough to distinguish black from dark brown. One thing I noticed was the slightly slower cadence of the wing beats compared to a Razorbill that followed essentially the same track a few minutes later. Altogether, I counted 46 RAZORBILLS, with a maximum of 20 together in a flock that plopped down on the water over the reef. There were 11 additional 'large alcids' that were too distant and poorly lit to identify safely.

Other birds of note were a 1st-year BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, growing numbers of LONG-TAILED DUCK (otherwise scarce from this spot) and several flights of CANADA GEESE (>600) and ATLANTIC BRANT (74 total in six flocks) headed NE towards RI and MA. Several flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds took flight from the point and headed out over the sound. One exception in this migration pattern was an American Crow that I watched for a while as it made a beeline from Block Island west toward the Point. Once it made land fall, the crow turned north and followed the coastline with what seemed like genuine purpose (a messenger crow perhaps?).

At Montauk Inlet, 6 GREAT CORMORANT (5 ad., 1 juv.) were on the jetty towers, 5 RAZORBILL passed offshore and a 1st-basic KUMLEIN'S GULL was roosting with other gulls on the spit just inside the harbor. An immature RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was soaring low over the trees on the west side of Fort Pond and 2 REDHEAD were with Ring-necked Ducks on Tuthill's Pond. The adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL continues the rocks on the west side of Fort Pond Bay. Eleven PURPLE SANDPIPERS were on the rocks east of Ditch Plains. Common Eider were present at every stop but I could not find a King among them.

Overall, numbers of Red-throated and Common Loons were down compared to the past few weeks but HORNED GREBES (total 155) made a good showing, typical of early March. A couple of weeks ago there were Bonaparte's Gulls all along the ocean front but these seem to have moved on.

Montauk area gulls - 21 Feb 2010

With a brisk WNW wind and brilliant sunshine I ended up doing a lot of beach walking today. There were at least 450 Bonaparte's Gulls working along the ocean between Montauk Village (Suffolk Co.) and Ditch Plains. Among them, I found an adult BLACK-HEADED GULL, likely the same bird I saw out here last weekend. It was feeding in the surf off the middle of Shadmore State Park. This winter I've noticed a marked paucity of first-year birds, today I counted only 14 (3%). A priori, this would suggest a poor 2009 breeding season but I know that the ratio of adults to young varies with location so it seems unsafe to draw conclusions from this one area. It would be interesting to know if others have observed something similar elsewhere?

Otherwise there wasn't too much to see. I even slogged all the way along the sand to the Warhol Estate but could not find a King Eider or a Harlequin Duck. The only birds of note along in this section were three RAZORBILL (a pitiful number this winter) and 12 PURPLE SANDPIPER, roosting on the large triangular bolder east of the Ditch Plains Trailer Park.

The 2 wintering adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were at their usual stations on Fort Pond Bay (rocks at the western corner) and on Lazy Point in Napeague. At Montauk Inlet, there were 3 KUMLEIN'S ICELAND GULLS, two first winter birds and a second winter. Lone Great Cormorants were on one of the jetty towers at the inlet and on the ice of Oyster Pond.

I spent a lot of time looking for vultures but saw none - too windy perhaps? Likewise I was unable to find the Great Egret that Carl Starace and party found at Napeague yesterday. The egret is a darn good bird out here in February - I haven't seen one since November.

Black-headed Gull and King Eider off Ditch Plains nr Montauk - 14 Feb 2010

The combination of a brisk and chilly wind and bright sunshine made for less than idea ocean viewing off Montauk Point (Suffolk Co.) this morning. Shortly after 8 am, I scoped from the restaurant overlook for a half hour but only managed 8 RAZORBILLS and a couple of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES. The only other birds of note were four American Wigeon and a lone Brant that nudged around the rocks below the overlook.

Things were a better off Ditch Plains (east of Montauk Village) with at least 22 Black-legged Kittiwakes and 60 or more Bonaparte's Gulls. The behavior of the gulls suggested they were feeding over Razorbills and after watching for while, I saw three of the alcids pick up and fly a few yards before flopping down into the choppy sea. An adult BLACK-HEADED GULL flying west long the surf line with a Bonaparte's made for a pleasant surprise, as did a female KING EIDER in Cavett's Cove - this requires a half mile hike east along the beach. A few PURPLE SANDPIPERS were on the weed covered rocks. Small numbers of Razorbills and kittiwakes were evident from a number of vantages along the south shore between Montauk and Amagansett and I suspect there are good numbers some distance offshore. Oddly, this was a day for Horned Grebe to stretch their wings - I saw at least 12 individuals in flight. As a nocturnal migrant, it is only once in a while that one sees Horned Grebe fly and more than once I've been momentarily baffled by the white secondaries and long foot projection of such birds.

Unfortunately, there was no repeat of the afternoon alcid flight from yesterday. A 45 min watch from Amagansett turned up a paltry four birds. Late in the afternoon, Hugh McGuinness and I counted 9 COMMON MERGANSERS in the patches of open water on Hook Pond in East Hampton as we looked through the roosting geese. A young male Northern Harrier made several circuits of the pond.

Large alcid flight off East Hampton including Dovekies - 13 Feb 2010

There was an impressive and somewhat unexpected flight of large alcids off the south shore this afternoon, with groups of birds flying westward sometimes in fairly large groups (max. 65). Many were quite far out and thus only identifiable as large alcids, but all of the closer birds were all clearly RAZORBILLS. As indicated below, I counted more than 700 in a 1 hour sample. The one exception was a trio of tiny DOVEKIES flying together with three Razorbill. A good number of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, a species that often feeds over Razorbills, were also drifting west. Some of these birds seemed to be coming up off the water and I suspect there were considerable numbers of alcids, scoter and gulls on the water about a mile or more offshore and essentially invisible unless they took flight. Perhaps this is why there were comparatively few Razorbills off Montauk Point this morning, as per Doug Futuyma's report? Winds were from the northwest (~10-15 mph) and visibility was excellent with minimal heat shimmer. It will be interesting to know how far west the flight extended (e.g. Shinnecock Inlet, Smith Point SP or Robert Moses SP).

A 1 hour (2:15-3:15 pm) spot count from the beach in Amagansett tallied the following:

Red-throated Loon - 3
Horned Grebe - 15
Northern Gannet - 18
Common Eider - 12
Black Scoter - 10
White-winged Scoter - 360
Surf Scoter - 25
scoter sp. - 200
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
RAZORBILL (or large alcid) - 703
DOVEKIE - 3
Herring Gull - 15
Great Black-backed Gull - 5
Ring-billed Gull - 4
Bonaparte's Gull - 59
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - 49 (only one 1st-basic, rest ads.)

Also of note were two HARBOR PORPOISE feeding a short distance off the beach in Napeague (White Sand Motel). A Red-throated Loon was fishing with them and seeing the loon alongside emphasized just how small these porpoises are compared to dolphins. Lastly, the adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL ('Larry') continues at Lazy Point on the NW side of Napeague Harbor. There were no geese on the field at Further Lane when I passed by and nothing of note among the geese I could see on the lawns around Hook Pond.

Unprecedented Razorbill flight off Montauk Point - 24 Jan 2010

Observers gathered at Montauk Point this morning were treated to an absolutely remarkable flight of RAZORBILLS. They were quite literally the most numerous bird on view, with the peak numbers passing between 7:30 and 8:30 AM. Tom Burke tried to keep a continuous count but began to flag at 2,500! Using a clicker I tallied 1,344 passing through my fixed scope view in a 20 min count and have thumb cramp sto prove it. All told, we estimated a minimum of 4,000 Razorbills, quite possibly more.

As I said, they were the most common bird. Small flocks were coming round the point from the south, but the majority seemed to be traveling towards west across Block Island Sound and then turning north to pass in front of the restaurant overlook. Significant numbers also followed a more direct line from the north end of Block Island towards Shagwong Point. Many birds passed right in front of the overlook giving superb views, sometimes landing in the water. For most of the time the light was very good and I feel confident that the vast majority of the birds could be accurately identified to species. In other words, we weren't missing other alcid species.

With so many Razorbills it was not surprising that the numbers of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES were equally special. Patricia Lindsay took charge of the tally and I believe she settled on something like 300 (!!), the vast majority (>90%) being adults. Other species seemed incidental by comparison but included a gleaming white GLAUCOUS GULL (2nd basic) roosting on the beach below the restaurant overlook, and the usual assortment of loons and seaduck. Two, possibly three, adult male KING EIDER were on the southside of the Point, as viewed from Camp Hero. Another male KING EIDER was off Ditch Plains. Two ICELAND GULLS and a handful of Razorbills (actually 45 or more) were off Montauk Inlet, the gulls frequenting the beaches on the west side of the inlet. Single adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS were in their usual spots on Fort Pond Bay in Montauk and Lazy Point in Napeague. Whilst counting waterfowl on Napeague Harbor, Hugh McGuinness and I picked up a single RED KNOT (very notable on the East End in winter) amongst a flock of Dunlin.

The goose flock on Further Lane was much depleted when we stopped there in the early afternoon and we could not pick out any unusual species. More geese were on the ice at Hook Pond along with 26 COMMON MERGANSER.

Co-observers of the morning flight included Hugh McGuinness, Tom Burke, Gail Benson, Patricia Lindsay, Doug Futuyma, Andrew Baksh, Dave Klauber and Seth Ausubel. A very exciting morning and I wouldn't be surprised if I've forgotten some noteworthy sightings.