Extralimital - pale falcon brings excitement on a wet and gloomy day - 13 Dec 09

Around noon today, Tony Lauro found a large pale falcon hunting over the fields between Sound Avenue, Hulse Landing Road and Route 25A in Calverton near Riverhead (Suffolk Co.). Hugh McGuinness and I beat our way through the Sunday traffic and ever worsening rain to find Tony and a small crowd of Long Island birders looking at the falcon perched on a tall powerline pole. It was a fantastic looking (1st-year?) bird, very pale gray bordering on white. The falcon made a couple spectacular dives in pursuit of Mourning Doves and had apparently been doing this for a while. The tentative identification made by Tony and endorsed initially by all of us was a pale-morph GYR FALCON.

However, some felt that subtle aspects did not quite fit our expectations for a Gyr but more on this later. Our elation was short lived when we got a better chance to study the legs, which had been obscured in most viewsby the tops of the poles or by the bird's tail. Little-by-little we realized that it likely had leather ankle bracelets and this was confirmed as it came into land after one of its sorties. Drat! An escaped falconry bird. Tony Lauro took the disappointing news with grace and most folks soon headed for their cars to escape cold and unrelenting rain. Hugh and I lingered for a bit trying to get photo-documentation of the offending leg ornaments. Over the next 20-30 mins we witnessed a couple more flights including an amazing high speed streak right over the farm buildings were hiding behind. Escape or not, this is one fast bird!

Hugh first raised the possibility of a hybrid, possible a Gyr x Saker cross, rather than a pure Gyr, based on the sleeker profile and noticeably pale head. From on our collective but very limited experience, we also considered the constant activity of the bird to be a bit unusual. Was the bird really big enough to be a Gyr, even a male? Shouldn't it be hunting ducks rather than doves? Obviously these are subject criteria and as has been mentioned before, identification of hybrids (there are several popular combinations) is difficult. More research is clearly needed. The yellow rather than blue feet may also indicate a hybrid assuming that the aging is correct. There are two lessons here, first that large falcon ID is not necessarily straightforward and second, that birds need to be studied carefully; even something as seemingly obvious as the presence of leather straps around both legs may not be revealed immediately.


Anyway, we all enjoyed the bird tremendously and thank Tony for not only getting the word out immediately but for staying on the bird to make sure we all saw it - a true gentleman!

Greenland White-fronted and Canada Geese - 12 Dec 2009

Between errands I checked some of the fields around Bridgehampton, Mecox, Wainscott and Sagaponack for flocks of geese. In general, the numbers seem a bit low but perhaps the current cold spell will change that. The highlights of my search were two geese of Greenlandic origin. The first was a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, seen with c.250 Canada Geese in a field off Wainscott Hollow Road. There is some controversy about the field ID of eastern North American and Greenland populations but to my eyes, the bird shows characters attributed to the Greenland subspecies including a bright orange bill and heavy belly barring. It was quite aggressive, constantly snapping at any Canada Goose that came near and managed to keep a goose free zone around itself much of the time. The geese were feeding on freshly harvested maize on the east side of the road and the white-fronted seemed particularly adept at lifting the flattened steps to uncovered discarded cobs.

Shortly before that I found a marked Greenland-origin Canada Goose at the small pond in the apple orchard off Horsemill Lane in Mecox. This bird was banded as part of an exciting project studying the recent and rapid colonization of western Greenland by Canada Geese. This expansion is believed to be to the detriment of the nesting Greater White-fronts which are smaller and easily displaced from optimal nesting areas. The Canada Geese originate and return to the Atlantic coastal states of North America, whereas the white-fronts winter in western Europe, primarily Ireland and Scotland.

The individual I saw today (marked with a yellow plastic collar and leg band with G24 in black letters) is apparently an adult male that was first captured near Isunngua in western Greenland ('Lake T') on 17 July 2008. He (and for once I can justify using a pronoun to describe a goose) was not reported in the winter of 2008/09 but has already been sighted by Shawn Deuel in the Sagaponack area (9 and 27 Oct 2009). I'm not sure how many birds were marked by the project in the summer of 2008, but the team marked 118 Canada Geese and eight White-fronts in the summer of 2009. Finding these birds on the wintering grounds offers a fantastic opportunity for birders in New York and neighboring states to contribute to this important research.



You can read all about the project here.

Kittiwakes and Little Gull off Montauk Point & extremely late Northern Rough-winged Swallow in Deep Hollow - 29 Nov 2009

The largest number of 'small, non-Laughing' gulls that I've seen out here in a while were off Montauk Point (Suffolk Co.) this morning.There were more than 300 Bonaparte's Gulls with at least 45 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES (max count for single sweep, 50:50 ads:1st winters) and a striking 1st-winter LITTLE GULL. I counted only 15 Laughing Gulls, a very low number for this date. I arrived at slack tide which was probably not ideal as the many of the gulls stopped feeding around 10 am and either settled on the water or flew northward into the center of Gardiners Bay. Many of the Red-throated Loons also took to the air and headed in the same direction. Other than these gulls, I couldn't pull out any other birds of note. Plenty of loons, eiders and scoter but no alcids yet.

At Deep Hollow, the CACKLING GOOSE continues on the south pasture and has been joined by an adult SNOW GOOSE. Whilst looking for through the geese I noted a swallow flying low over the pasture, sometime alighting on the fences. Initially the light was really poor (straight into the sun) but eventually I got good looks confirming that it was a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. Exceptionally late from a coastal standpoint. It soon disappeared but later I relocated it over the ponds on the north side of Rt 27. Needless to say I thought about but quickly ruled out, Brown-chested Martin - a more outlandish but not entirely unreasonable possibility given the recent sighting from MA and the late fall bird from Cape May NJ a few years back. Otherwise, passerines seemed few and far between today despite the glorious weather.

Black-legged Kittiwakes and male King Eider off Main Beach in East Hampton - 28 Nov 2009

The South Fork of Long Island was buffeted by strong WNW winds (22-36 mph) this morning as the front pushed out yesterdays wet weather giving blue skies by late morning. I seawatched for an hour and a half (8:38-10:08 am) from Main Beach in East Hampton and noted a good showing of BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES (28 total) and assortment of waterfowl passing offshore headlined by a full adult male KING EIDER flying east. A 2nd winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL briefly joined the regular species feeding in the surf as the tide dropped. The kittiwakes passed westward in small groups mixed with Bonaparte's and Laughing Gulls. Here's my tally:

Red-throated Loon - 46
Common Loon - 9
loon sp. - 12
Northern Gannet - 595
Brant - 3
Canada Goose - 8
Wood Duck - 2
Mallard - 1
Green-winged Teal - 3
Greater Scaup - 1
Common Eider - 9
KING EIDER - 1 (ad. male flying east)
Long-tailed Duck - 42
White-winged Scoter - 49
Surf Scoter - 55
Black Scoter - 865
dark winged scoter - 380
Hooded Merganser - 12
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - 28 (6 ads & 22 juvs)
Bonaparte's Gull - 80
Laughing Gull - 36 (mostly ads)
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1 (2nd winter)
Herring Gull - 60
Great Black-backed Gull - 45
Ring-billed Gull - 75

Continuing Gannet flight - 27 Nov 2009

The seabird flight this morning was headlined by an unbroken eastward stream of Northern Gannets, along with two flocks of Atlantic Brant totaling 60 birds, my f.o.s. Iceland Gull (an immaculate 1st winter) and Common Goldeneye. A 1 hr count (9:40-10:40 am) logged the following:

Red-throated Loon - 120 (most flying east)
Common Loon - 16
Northern Gannet - 1,452 (all ages, majority adults)
Great Cormorant - 7
cormorant sp. - 14
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - 1 (ad.)
Laughing Gull - 1
ICELAND GULL - 1 (1st winter, west along surfline)
Atlantic Brant - (33 & 27 east)
Common Eider - 2
Black Scoter - 70
Surf Scoter - 5
White-winged Scoter - 20
scoter sp. - 75
Common Goldeneye - 2
Long-tailed Duck - 9

With the exception of a PEREGRINE over Hook Poind, there was little of note at Hook, Sagg Mains and Mecox Inlet. No sign of the Cattle Egret reported last week from the farms in Mecox.

Being thankful for Parasitic Jaeger, Kittiwake and loons: 26 Nov 2009

This morning I seawatched from a number of spots between Amagansett and Montauk Point. Flat calm and overcast conditions made for excellent viewing. The unusual dispersal of COMMON EIDERS is still much in evidence, with birds (sometimes in their hundreds) at every stop. Perhaps as a consequence, there were relatively few eider over the reefs at the Point. Alternatively, the absence of food in the traditional areas explains the western shift in distribution. Loons were also very much in evidence, with a nice flight of Red-throated Loons along the ocean until mid-morning. Squadrons of Northern Gannets pushed east in the direction of Block Island with almost no feeding activity. The CACKLING GOOSE continues on the pasture at Deep Hollow as does the adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL on the shore of Fort Point Bay. No Horned Grebes yet nor Razorbill - perhaps still a little early.

Here is my culmulative tally:

Common Loon - 345
Red-throated Loon - 659
loon sp. - 30
RED-NECKED GREBE - 1 (Fort Pond Bay)
Northern Gannet - 3,200+ (persistent flght, the majority heading east into RI waters or beyond)
Great Cormorant - 6 (Fort Pond Bay & Montauk Inlet jetties)
Double-crested Cormorant - 24
Brant - 33 (headed east)
Common Eider - 1,044 (widespread)
Red-breasted Merganser - 42
Long-tailed Duck - 2
Black Scoter - 1,490
Surf Scoter - 1,400
White-winged Scoter - 74
scoter sp. - 300
PARASITIC JAEGER - 1 subad. (flying east, seen from Atlantic Avenue, Amagansett)
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE - 8 (6 juv. and 2 ad., flying east, seen from Amagansett & Napeague)
Bonaparte's Gull - 28
Laughing Gull - 22
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL - 1 ad. (Fort Pond Bay)

GRAY SEAL - 2 (Hither Hills State Park & Montauk Point)
Harbor Seal - 4 (Fort Pond Bay, Ditch Plains & Montauk)

Recent sightings of Pink-footed Geese on Long Island - New or returning?

Waterfowl can sometimes be tracked by noting differences in the patterning on their bills. This was pioneered by Sir Peter Scott and the Wildfowl Trust in the UK in the study of wintering Bewick's (Tundra) and Whopper Swans. I wondered if this same technique could be applied to gray geese, so began looking at the bill patterns of the recent spate of sightings from Long Island and New England. Click on the image for a slightly bigger version. I think we can say that the Pink-footed Goose at Sunken Meadow State Park, Suffolk, is almost certainly a different individual from the bird that spent several weeks in and around Kissena Park in Flushing, Queens during the winter of 2008/09. Whether it can be distinguished from the bird that wintered around Stony Brook (2007/08 and only a few miles east of Sunken Meadow) is harder to discern but needs more study. Likewise, the Montauk bird (2007/08, more than 40 miles further east and coincident with the Stony Brook bird) is fairly similar. I have been images of that bird but will need to dig them out. My thanks to Paul Gildersleeve and Ed Coyle for use of their images.