There was a great land bird flight this morning at Ft. Tilden, Queens County. The flight was viewed mostly from the hawk watch platform west of the ball fields from 7:45-10:00. The highlights were 4 Cave Swallows seen flying west between 9:00 and 9:25 a.m., and 9 Red Crossbills seen in flight at 7:45 a.m. and identified by their calls. Red-winged Blackbird was by far the dominant species in the flight (6000 estimated), but the diversity was very good (estimates below). The ground was covered with hundreds of Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Also of interest were 42 migrating Wood Ducks, and 700 Northern Gannets.
Additional estimates: Northern Harrier 3, Sharp-shinned Hawk 15, Cooper's Hawk 6, American Kestrel 4, Merlin 3, Red-bellied Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 25, Horned Lark 1, Tree Swallow 6, Eastern Bluebird 85, American Robin 425, American Pipit 3, Cedar Waxwing 125, Yellow-rumped Warbler 350, Rusty Blackbird 45, Common Grackle 225, Brown-headed Cowbird 50, Purple Finch 95, House Finch 40, Pine Siskin 45, American Goldfinch 225. Observers: Seth Ausubel, Corey Finger -- 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/ --
