On the passing of Sy Schiff of Baldwin (Long Island, NY) at 93, a flood of memories: especially from longer-ago days when I birded central Long Island shores much more regularly and so often encountered Sy, with his easy-going but always-helpful manner. Many were times he may have simply said “it might be worth checking at the 3rd jetty”, or “It will show, if you’re patient” and other such quietly offered words of advice; I certainly added to my life, New York, and Long Island bird lists with his able assistance, and had a sense of someone who really enjoyed what he was out in the field for. Thanks to Shaibal Mitra for letting us know, sad news but also of a long and productive life. Condolences to his family and friends.
… Of New York birding & birds, what a fantastic find by Linda Scrima on January 16th, & happily re-found by (ultimately, many) others and her on Sunday, 1/17 in the Black Dirt region of Orange County NY - that Ferruginous Hawk is apparently the eastern-most documented record (records from Kentucky & Virginia are rather farther-westerly); a very rare sight anywhere remotely that far east; it seems that scores & scores of birders eventually connected with it (at various nearby locations), on Sunday. … Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1/18 - In Manhattan, N.Y. County (N.Y. City), a Greater White-fronted Goose was continuing at the Central Park reservoir. Over at Carl Schurz Park, a Western Tanager as well as Orange-crowned Warbler each continued - as many including me have found, that warbler sometimes ‘hiding’ in the fenced (& off-limits) Gracie mansion shrubberies and grounds at the northern edges of Carl Schurz Park, which is off of East End Ave. & runs from E. 84th - 90th Streets. Of local interest, a Baltimore Oriole was well-photographed in upper Manhattan on Friday, 1/15. There are still many, many lingering species into this second half of January in N.Y. County. -- Tom Fiore, manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
