I spent nearly 3 hours birding a couple local (Islip/East Islip) patches this morning in hope that the prime weather conditions for migration overnight would bring some of the species seen in the city parks yesterday out my way.
A lack of migrant song wafting through an opened window this morning at 6:30 didn't bode well. There had been several Yellow-rumps, a N. Parula, and a Baltimore Oriole in my yard on Friday - how could there be nothing this morning? But my hopes rebounded some during my visit to Seatuck Environmental Center (Islip), where FOY BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT were joined by Yellow, B&W, and Yellow-rumped warblers. These were all in close proximity to the nature center building. Tree Swallows occupied most of the houses studding the marshes to the south. Also there were 1 Greater Yellowlegs and 2 Snowy Egrets. Just 1.5 miles to the east at South Shore Nature Center, passerine action was even more pronounced. By the time I left at 10:15 I'd encountered a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, 2-3 NASHVILLE WARBLERS, and a male SCARLET TANAGER, all FOY for me. Also present were 1 House Wren, 1 Blue-headed Vireo, 1 N. Parula, 1 BTG Warbler, 2 Yellow Warblers on territory, 2 Pine Warblers, 2 B&W Warblers and a few Yellow-rumps. Barn Swallows swirled overhead. Other notables included a Swamp Sparrow and Catbirds in good numbers. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --