James Knox and I spent the the first half of Oct 29th and most of Oct. 30th scanning the Hudson River for storm birds. Unfortunately, viewing access became a real challenge as NYPD closed off the entire end of Dyckman St. and were heavily patrolling both Inwood Hill park and the Dyckman Ball Fields by 11:30am on the 29th and by noon on the 30th. I mention this only because it was apparent that many other locations along the Hudson and East Rivers granted views as good as ours but with fewer, or in some cases, no access restrictions. In fact I just got word that they are all currently closed off to the public as of 10:30am today. Something to consider as birder's will no doubt be scouting for optimal viewing locations around NYC today and in expectation of future storms. The highlights of the species seen include: 2 Jaeger Sp.(likely both Parasitic),1 Red Phalarope, 3 Royal Terns and 7 Bonaparte's Gulls. Owing to the fact that the Jaeger was a lifer for me and I have extremely limited experience with this genus, I am reluctant to Identify beyond Sp. However, James and I were able to observe one of the birds in direct comparison to Ring-billed Gulls and to which it was clearly smaller, both in terms of wing-span and length. A small flock of 4-5 of these mobbed the the obviously exhausted Jaeger and forced it to alight on the water where it remained, bobbing in the chop approximately 100 yards from the Palisades for a good 45min. We then observed it take flight northbound on the Hudson and then land again beyond view about a mile away. Also observed was a similarly plumaged bird flying southbound at a clip and just a foot or so above the river an hour earlier. Both appeared to be primarily black at that distance, showing white primary bases, a white belly but lacking any obvious white or even paleness to the nape/neck/throat. Actually the head/chest appeared uniformly blackish. As there were no reports of Long-tailed, and at least one bird was too small to be a Pomarine, I'm left with Parasitic. Interestingly, I was unable to come across any images of Jaegers showing this specific plumage aspect. I'd really appreciate any insight regarding this topic from more experienced birders. We also had a Red Phalarope peeling down the middle of the Hudson and out running a Liberty Line ferry making its way back to NY Harbor. Judging from the timing of things, I imagine this is the same bird that Joe DiCostanzo first viewed from his window looking down on Spuyten Duyvil Creek. These observations were made from the northern point of the Dyckman Ball Fields. We eventually made our way down to the 125th St. Pier, which was taped off but not policed which had a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls feeding in the vicinity. The Royal Terns were observed moving north along the Palisades side of the river from the Dyckman Pier on the 29th before access was denied. Here is the complete list of species observed, mostly from the Dyckman Pier/Ball Fields except where otherwise indicated:
10/29/12 Common Loon Double-crested Cormorant Great Egret (Spuyten Duyvil Creek) Black-Crowned Night-Heron (7 observed by James at Sherman Creek) Mallard White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Canada Goose Brant Great Black-backed Gull Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull Royal Tern American Robin Common Grackle 10/30/12 Common Loon Red-throated Loon Double-crested Cormorant Mallard American Black Duck Red-breasted Merganser Black Scoter Canada Goose Brant (100's) Dunlin Red Phalarope Jaeger Sp. Great Black-backed Gull Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull Laughing Gull Bonaparte's Gull Forester's Tern Common Tern (observed by James, 125th St. Pier) Bald Eagle Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Peregrine Falcon American Robin Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Yellow-rumped Warbler Song Sparrow Field Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Pine Siskin Brown-headed Cowbird European Starling Safety and Luck to all, Nadir Souirgi -- 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/ --
