I observed a good westbound push of passerines from the Fort Tilden hawkwatch platform this morning, highlighted (as expected this year) by a strong push of Pine Siskins. Other species seen moving west in good numbers were: -Yellow-rumped Warbler (difficult to get a total count of, as they were everywhere, both on the ground and moving west), -American Goldfinch (there were very few early, and then they picked up and became possibly the dominant passerine towards the end of my time there), -Purple Finch, House Finch, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Flicker, and a smattering of American Robins. -On the non-passerine front, American Kestrels were putting on a good show for the last hour I was there, and the flight was still going strong when I left.
Other notables: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Westbound early in the morning) Blue Grosbeak (Probably two, one of which was photographed at the Community Garden around noon) Broad-winged Hawk (Unusual on the coast. Juvenile bird seen twice) Bald Eagle (2 individuals, including one moving slowly west high over the hawkwatch) Eastern Meadowlark (on one of the ballfields in the main part of the base) Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Mockingbird (1 of each of these uncommon coastal migrants were seen actively migrating from the hawkwatch. Complete eBird checklist with numbers here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11766302 Yesterday morning at Coney Island Creek Park in Brooklyn, Shane Blodgett and I witnessed a good micro-fallout, which included the spot's first recorded Nelson's Sparrow (as far as I know) in the dunes there, as well as 7 species of Warbler (dominated by Yellow-rumpeds, which were moving through the dunes and flying over). Checklist for that is here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11761720 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/ --
