This morning, while birding at Breezy Point, Bob Gochfeld, Elizabeth Poole, and I found a surprising and spiffy Common Yellowthroat in adult male plumage. It was along the 4-wheel drive road to the beach about a couple of hundred yards south of the Fisherman's Lot, and was associating with about 10 Myrtle Warblers.
On another note, I've set up a couple of rare bird text message alert systems for Long Island and Brooklyn/Queens. Systems like this one are currently being used very successfully in several birding communities in the region, including Cape May (NJ), Ithaca (NY), Pennsylvania (Statewide RBA), and several other regions of New Jersey, as well as in Tampa Bay (FL). Some details on other ones can be found on Bob Fogg's website here: http://keekeekerr.com/TextAlerts/ The purpose of these systems is to disseminate news of rarities in the most timely manner possible, and in Cape May I've seen this help people see rarities that have not stuck around for very long on countless occasions. One very good application for a system such as this one would be for the Pink-footed Goose which is currently leading people on wild...yeah...chases around Suffolk County right now. Any news of this rarity that is disseminated quickly, either negative or positive, would greatly help many people plan their searches accordingly and coalesce around the bird quickly once it is pinned down. It also takes away the need to have internet access at all times when in the field in order to see a rarity someone else has found, or be "in the loop" and get a personal call or text from people. This also makes it much easier for finders of rarities to be able to spend less time getting the word out, and more time looking at the actual bird(s). I encourage all active Long Island (Yes, all 4 counties) birders who have text message capability to join the appropriate system. Before joining, please read the description pages AND the directions. Details can be found here: Long Island Rarity Text Alerts Good Birding! -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- 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/ --
