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Hi Everyone, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene brought birders one of the most spectacular birding days in New York State history with a dizzying barrage of southern terns and other rarities. Real-time posting of sightings to the NYSBIRDS_L listserve were at an all time high, giving a large number of observers a chance to follow events as they unfolded and provided impetus for others to head out into the field before it was too late. The postings also worked well in terms of relaying information about access, when so many beaches, parks and roadways were closed by the authorities. As a consequence, an unprecedented number of people got to see some, if not many, of the key birds. Hooray!! Now the storm is well north of us and the clean up is in full swing. Sadly many folks are experiencing terrible flood damage and continuing power or cable outages. Before we all move on to other things I would urge all observers to set aside an hour or two to collate photos and formulate descriptions of the rarer storm-associated birds so that these can be archived in the permanent record. This is best done whilst the memories are fresh. Many of the internet postings were simply bulletins and need to be fleshed out in terms of detail. To facilitate the process I provide a list of NYSARC reviewable species that were reported on the day. If this is not complete, please let me know. Given the sheer numbers of some 'rarities', I think it will be helpful to subdivide the list into HIGH and MEDIUM priority. HIGH means that there are few previous accepted records of the species in New York State and that detailed documentation if at all possible with supporting photographs is strongly desired. Perhaps not by coincidence this category includes species that are challenging to identify. MEDIUM priority is a notch down from this and involves birds that were present in good numbers but having details would enrich the archive and make it easier for editors and other commentators to tabulate the counts. The focus is on the 'downstate' region and there may be some storm-driven birds 'upstate' that also warrant review. *** HIGH PRIORITY - detailed reports and/or photos on ALL sightings requested *** BLACK-CAPPED PETREL LEACH'S STORM-PETREL BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETREL WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD SOUTH POLAR SKUA ARCTIC TERN *** MEDIUM PRIORITY - given the circumstances it is appropriate to combine descriptions of multiple individuals from a single locality but please explain the basis for your identification to specie level and provide pertinent information such as assessments of age or plumage *** AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER SOOTY TERN BRIDLED TERN SANDWICH TERN Other species such as Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Royal Tern and so on are sufficiently regular on the coast that the do not need NYSARC review unless they are from 'upstate'. The upstate/downstate boundary is very difficult to define in bird terms but in the case of this storm might be considered as north of Rockland and Westchester Counties. However, regional editors and eBird reviewers south of this line may well solicit details. Reports and photographs can be sent directly to the Jeanne Skelly (Secretary of NYSARC) via our email address ( nysarc3['at' symbol]nybirds.org) or through the on-line reporting form. For a comprehensive list of review species and information on preparing reports, please visit the NYSARC homepages on the NYSOA web site. http://nybirds.org/NYSARC/index.htm The storm provided a wonderful classroom for learning to identify some rarely encountered pelagic species. I would venture that many readers have never studied both Sooty and Bridled Terns in similar circumstances before. What was immediately apparent is that separating the two 'tropical terns' in the field is not as easy as one would assume from the books or from visits to the tropics. For example, the light and distance had significant effects on how dark the birds looked and their flight profile also changed with the wind conditions. So think carefully about what led you to pin a specific name onto a bird and if you are not entirely sure then it is appropriate to label the bird a Sooty/Bridled. Likewise, storm-petrels are notoriously difficult when view at a distance, especially when they have been pummeled for hours, if not days, by the storm. Again please think very carefully about the details you saw, the details you did not see and how you formulated your identification. In other words what details enabled you to rule out other possibilities? A detailed description of the bird and the logic behind the identification is ESSENTIAL INFORMATION that your report should be built around. All too often submissions provide very minimal descriptions of the bird(s) in question and there is a risk the Committee will be unable to accept the sighting. There can be no better way to to fix the lessons of the storm in your memory, and become a better birder in the process, than to write them down. Isn't this how we learn pretty much every skill in life? Preparing a written report has the added bonus of creating a 'souvenir' of the event which you can turn to in future years to bring back fond memories of a truly great birding day. So with that we look forward to hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me, Jeanne or any member of the Committee (Tom Burke, Andy Guthrie, Tom Johnson, Willie D'Anna, Jeff Bolsinger and Dominic Sherony) if you have questions about the reporting process or the species we would like collect reports for. Angus Wilson Chair, New York State Avian Records Committee (NYSARC) New York State Ornithological Association (NYSOA) -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
