This morning I witnessed a very strong westbound movement movement of Canada Geese from Fort Tilden. The Geese were moving on an extremely wide front, and Geese were visible from north Brooklyn/Manhattan all the way to a mile or so out over the ocean, with most being fairly high. I tallied ~3,400 Geese while I was there, though I certainly missed many due to how spread out the flight line was. The only goose that looked different was a slightly smaller, and dark headed and billed goose in a flock of Canadas that defied immediate identification in the field (though I'll see if I can do anything from the (distant) photos). I didn't arrive at Tilden until an hour and a half after sunrise, well after the goose flight was already underway. There were also over 2,000 Red-winged Blackbirds that were heading west, though the passerine flight was not very diverse, even for this time of year. A latish Western Palm Warbler heading west was the most notable passerine there.
Later on I came across a FEMALE Eurasian Wigeon at the south end of East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, though I didn't venture beyond the south entrance to the pond in search of the male that has been around farther up the pond. 51 Hooded Mergansers were also a nice sight down at that end, though the rest of the refuge seemed fairly quiet. At Hendrix Creek in Brooklyn, I came across a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW loosely associating with a small flock of Slate-colored Juncos. It was around the small group of small pines just west of the Parks Department building (this is on the east side of Hendrix Creek, near the Gateway Plaza shopping mall). There were also 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets scattered around the area. The evening Ring-billed Gull show at Floyd Bennett Field is in full effect, as I counted ~2,400 there this evening, and there were also a few flocks of westbound Canada Geese flying high. I looked fairly carefully for Snowy Owl around Jamaica Bay and could not find any, and I hear that those at Breezy Point came up empty as well, so the 4 or 5 Snowy Owls that were seen in these areas yesterday seem to have moved out with the favorable migration conditions last night. 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/ --
