It's true of any land bird migrating through Long Island that you're going to see the westward movement. Most birds are attempting to head northeastward in spring and land birds, well, they have land to fly over once on the island. So the migration is going to be on a broad front and not very noticeable, except in isolated situations. Back in the 1990's. I experimented with spring hawk watching at Fort Tilden. Hawks that migrated through the spring concentrating effect of the New Jersey coastline / Sandy Hook (and were not afraid of water crossings (such Ospreys, Harriers, falcons)) could be seen coming across and continuing in a northeast heading. Even at this point, they could be seen fanning out. So birds crossing a mile to the east or west would not be detectable, limiting the overall observable numbers. I almost never saw anything head east along the coast, so that's not going to leave much of a visible migration at places such as Jones Beach.
Of course, birds wanting to head south are going to run into the coast, avoid a long water crossing, and be concentrated and quite visible as they follow the coast westward. That's what we see in the fall. If this effect is seen in the spring, does it necessarily mean the birds are looking to go back south? I don't know, but I am pretty sure this effect directly correlates with strong cold fronts and unseasonable cold outbreaks. I was introduced to this phenomenon on May 12, 1996 (if I remember correctly). Being later in the season, there was a larger pool of insectivores in the north. There was a dramatic flight that I observed from the Rockaways (and others did from Jones Beach) which included multiple swallow species, Chimney Swifts, and Eastern Kingbirds. Steve Walter From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shaibal Mitra Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 8:36 AM To: NYSBIRDS ([email protected]) Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Hooded W. at Oakland Lake and other stuff In my experience, visible spring migration of Barn Swallows along the central ocean coast of Long Island (Jones Inlet to Shinnecock Inlet) is almost invariably from east to west (the only exceptions seem to involve rare occasions when very small numbers of birds are observed bucking easterly headwinds during poor weather). This may seem odd, especially for an allegedly diurnal migrant, but the general pattern holds true for visible mass movements (whether construed as genuine migration or reorientation) of almost all landbird species along this coast during spring. Spring migration for Barns Swallows is also surprisingly late here, peaking in mid May and continuing through the end of the month. Here are a few selected records to illustrate these points: 23 Apr 07 Fire Island 35 e to w 2 May 10 Moriches-Shinnecock Inlets 176 e to w 10 May 09 Shinnecock Inlet 197 e to w 12 May 05 Fire Island 1,000 e to w 15 May 10 Fire Island 400 e to w 31 May 09 Fire Island 22 e to w Bull (1964) lists a high spring count of of 250 at Long Beach on 30 May 1917 but doesn't state the direction of movement. Shai Mitra _____ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Steve Walter [[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2013 9:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [nysbirds-l] Hooded W. at Oakland Lake and other stuff > Of interest was a modest westward movement of Barn Swallows, perhaps a cold triggered reverse migration (as has been observed before). _____ <http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2012/features/am ericas_bestbangforthebuck_co039461.php> Washington Monthly magazine ranks the College of Staten Island as one of "America's Best-Bang-for-the-Buck Colleges" -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- 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/ --
