Sunday, 22 November 2009 -
Brooklyn's Floyd Bennet Field, Queens Rockaway peninsula, and the
'odd' site for a flycatcher:
A CATTLE EGRET continued on at Floyd Bennett Field, off easternmost
Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn. I didn't put in enough time to guage if many
other birds were around there but the place seemed sort of quiet in
general - this also true at the Rockaway peninsula (Queens Co.) outer
beach sites, in terms of ordinary & expected land bird variety or
numbers...
- - -
Which was made up for by the very high numbers of gulls swarming over
fish-feeding frenzy - a run of Striped Bass, Bluefish, and other
'game' fish that are running after a big move of smaller "bait" fish,
including at least 5 or 6 species according to some of the fisher-
folks out there catching the big ones (they hope). I was out along
the shore from Fort Tilden to Breezy & back to Riis Park in the period
from about 10am until after 1pm, with other birders also around the
same times and some having already left, or just arriving. (I also
found a few spots to sit with nice shelter & relatively wind-free in
the stretch along the Tilden shore road.) The gull flocks of which
there were up to 6 or more in about 3 linear miles, were at times as
close as 50-75 yards offshore but more often farther & some flocks,
including large flocks, were as far as could be reasonably scoped even
with good light.
In looking at ALL of these, I estimated 10,000+ gulls in all, far less
than 1/4 of that number at all close for good views, & even then not
all the time in the ~ 3 hours I watched. The first gull flock, which
was the one that (it seems) most birders, including me were mainly
focused on was moving a bit in this time-frame - it was closer to the
Tilden-Riis "border" then moved on towards the west end of Tilden
(near the "fisherman's parking" lot) & later back to the east again.
This particular flock seemed to average about 700 birds, virtually all
gulls.
There were loons in great numbers in the area as well but they could
easily be counted separately, & it seemed there was very little
seaduck movement, although a group of 8 COMMON EIDER did go by at
about 10 a.m. towards Breezy Pt., where they re-settled. There were
also rather few scoters, both white-winged & "dark-winged" in small
groups of 5 to about 15 in that same time, most farther or much
farther than the gulls worth studying or the loons that were easily
seen in closer. Also seen were up to 10 Long-tailed Duck (in flight) &
a few Red-breasted Merganser seen as well. The number of Atlantic
Gannets were in the hundreds but many were quite distant, in my
observations.
There were also separate, distinct flocks of gulls (and some simply
larid flocks: although I never saw any definite tern, there was a
brief look at what appeared to be a Royal Tern moving thru at one
point - but with the feeding at full frenzy I actually lost the red-
billed larid, not to be seen again. A gull I did see well enough, all
white-winged & size of Ring-billed, was moving in the direction of
Breezy Pt. around 10:30 or so, & I was able to watch it well for 3
minutes or so, an ICELAND GULL, in what seemed 2nd-winter plumage, and
certainly not only my first of the season but the first I've heard of
locally on the shore here - even farther east, perhaps? An adult
Lesser Black-backed Gull was present off the "Silver Gull" cabanas,
seen west towards the Breezy Point side, after noon.
The BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES were reasonably straightforward to ID,
although in the first moments of seeing the swarming gulls I wasn't
sure I would pick anything out, or at least not so quickly... but
these smaller gulls did stand out nicely, with decent lighting in the
late morning sun angle. I estimated at least 25, more likely 30+
kittiwakes in the 2 flocks that worked between Breezy & Riis (with one
flock having as I noted as many as 700 birds, the other noticably
fewer in most of the time observed) as well as up to 80+ Bonaparte's
Gulls with these flocks or at least on the periphery... in addition,
at one point, an interesting swarm of small gulls got going well west
of Tilden, with up to 40 Bonaparte's & very few larger (Ring-billed)
gulls in the swarm - that was part of what prompted me to try also
going over to Breezy Point, & walk east & west from the access road
there as well. The more "pure" flock of Bonaparte's did not hold
together there however, & I walked the beach a while just to see what
other vantage points offered. The best (closest views) seemed to stay
with the flock out along Tilden, more or less. What took place well
after noon would be interesting to hear, too.... which also brings up:
WHY so many kittiwakes in particular, in THIS close?? Why NOW, this
weekend? Some fish are coming in close but that is not that unusual,
certainly far less so than the kittiwake spectacle. What's got into
these (usually, in our area) much more pelagic small gulls known as
kittiwakes? What precedent is there - I've not looked at old records
in the "Birds of NY State" or elsewhere yet, & that may help with what
I'm asking.
The other gulls seen included 90+ Laughing Gulls, although never more
than 30 in one area & flocks were spread far enough to be able to
count some separately. There was a point at which I was able to see
distinct gull feeding-swarms in 6 separate locations centered on
Tilden's section of shore - with a flock at Breezy in the west, & 3 in
the vicinity of Riis at the same time as the 2 flocks off Tilden,
including the larger group that it seems some other birders also
scanned more than elsewhere, which made sense in terms of the desire
to see kittiwakes. Of course the bulk of gull species seen were made
up of Ring-billed & Herring, with fair numbers of Great Black-backed
as well. The true numbers of smaller gulls alone may well be far
higher than what's being seen from shore, even if a very dedicated
watch were done....
it's intriguing that an easterly wind flow has begun to set up even
Sunday and may continue a day or more on the seashore, perhaps most
pronounced as far east as one can get in NY...
- - -
The Queens (County) ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER was reported in good time
& there were some p.m. birders (not known to me) at the Jamaica Bay
refuge who offered the site directions via their mobile-internet
devices/phones, so that I tried my luck much later on for the
flycatcher - which was still in the reported area not far from the "A"
subway train stop at Aqueduct Racetrack, off N. Conduit Ave. - a funny
place to find such a bird at all... however, that reminded me of a
Western Kingbird I'd found in the mid-1990's in Sunset Park (the
neighborhood, not the actual, small city park) in a vacant & rather
dismal-looking lot off Third Ave. in Brooklyn, a bird which for
reasons only it knew actually stayed put there a while although not,
as far as I heard, thru to the CBC week in that place nor even in
B'klyn that year.
As for this Sunday's bird, it appears to be an Ash-throated all right
(and the timing is "date-correct" for NYC) and while my own views were
less than 100% satisfactory, I was not as patient as I could have
been. The bird certainly had a good day to feed on insects, whereas
the next week onward may not be at all ideal for a primarily
insectivorous species... it will be interesting to hear if this bird
"sticks" at all, or moves on. The flycatcher was nicely photographed
by Rudy Badia - we can thank Rudy for finding & identifying the
flycatcher - & 12+ additional birders were able to view it on Sunday
afternoon. The site can be easily reached by subway & car; see the
original post for basic site directions. The bird was present thru the
afternoon. Oh, I never did get into the refuge proper at J. Bay...
suddenly had an urge to had to see about the A train from Aqueduct...
a jazzy bird - a funky setting.
- - -
Land birds at the Rockaway peninsula appeared to be in extremely
minimal number & variety - although one never knows where small
pockets of activity may produce some surprise! It was so "quiet" for
such, that a single Flicker (N./Yellow-shafted) gave a jolt - an
actual bird in a tree! As did the single Dark-eyed (Slate-colored)
Junco seen... & the 3 sparrows - that's 3 individual sparrows (all
Song)... etc. At Breezy there were at least a few small flocks of
Horned Larks, Snow Buntings (counted just 14) & some American Pipits
that got up now & then. As a tantalizer for a second or so, 2 Tree
Swallows were in view near a wet spot close to the true point, & I'd
guess that more swallows could be out that way if vigorously searched
for. Despite the mild weather, the swallows may have had such good
pickings by the wet swale that they needed not to get into the wind.
A Merlin & Sharp-shinned Hawk were most definitely not able to get all
small land-birds to 'hide' that well. Even a Peregrine near the Marine
Parkway bridge was not responsible for all that quietude, on land. It
was a bit eerie on such a mild day. It's interesting that many
birders are reporting a relative dearth of land-birds, particularly in
coastal sites recently, & it should be equally interesting to see if
cold fronts of the sort one expects by about now, bring in new batches
of typical, and perhaps, atypical migrants & visitors... speaking of,
...Thanks to ALL who responsibly report their sightings here, &
elsewhere.
Good birding,
Tom Fiore,
Manhattan
_________
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES
Archives:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
