At approx. 11:00AM this morning I discovered an Ash-throated Flycatcher on the Fisherman's access road. Specifically, at the point where the access road opens up to reveal Jones Inlet on the right. The bird was feeding low along the shrub line on the south side of the road, hawking insects and eating the fruits of Bayberry, and being harassed by a Mockingbird (anybody up for opening a season on Mockingbirds?). Typical of the fall Ash-throated Flycatchers I have observed in the past the bird never perched higher than five feet off the ground. The overall shape of the bird was a small-billed, long tailed, slim Myiarchus. The head showed a crest, and the throat was whitish and the upper breast was a whitish gray. The lower belly and undertail coverts were yellow, the yellow being more intense than most fall Ash-throated's I have seen, which may have been a function of the overcast day, which tends to enhance color (just as a bright sun washes color out). The entire undertail was reddish brown and the terminal portion of the undertail was a darker reddish brown than the rest of the tail. The whitish-gray upperparts eliminated Great Crested and the small bill eliminated both Great-crested and Brown-crested Flycatchers (M. crinitus and M. tyrannulus), while the entirely reddish underparts on the tail rule out Dusky-capped Flycatcher (M. tuberculifer). At one point the bird did pose for me at distance of less than twenty feet, but unfortunately, my camera chose this moment to malfunction (the battery was not seated properly, hence no power). Attempts to relocate the bird were unsuccessful,one birder missed seeing the bird by five minutes. Wednesday weather looks pretty miserable -perhaps the bird will stick around.
Also in the general area was an Orange-crowned Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The two Marbled Godwits continue, feeding on the mud flats on the south side of Meadow Island. As Shane Blodgett indicated in an earlier post, there was a major seabird movement this morning along the south shore that included Red-throated Loon, Scoter and Gannet. I joined Shai Mitra earlier in the morning at Fire Island Field 5 to witness the spectacle. Suffice to say that RTL numbers were in the thousands as were total Scoter numbers. One would think that with all these birds present something interesting would appear. However, other than six flyby Razorbills that were seen shortly after Shai left, nothing notable appeared. Ken Feustel -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
