The forty-four participants on the 2015 Montauk CBC battled strong W to NW winds all day yesterday (Saturday 19 Dec 2015). Winds were such that the Gardiner’s Island party was unable to make the bay crossing due to safety concerns, thereby eliminating one of the six count territories.
Despite the challenges, the provisional species total came to 111 species, with at least 4 additional species for count week. Highlights included the ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER discovered by John Gluth in the Fort Hill Cemetery above Montauk Village (one prior from 2007), a GREEN HERON found in the Napeague strip by Chase Cammerota (only one prior from 1973), 3 DOVEKIE, CLAPPER RAIL, 3 VIRGINIA’S RAIL, a drake KING EIDER off the Camp Hero bluffs, SHORT-EARED and SNOWY OWLS in Napeague and COMMON REDPOLL in Montauk. Numbers were generally low to middling with a handful of painful misses, not least because nobody could survey Gardiner's Island. The compilation dinner was held in the Ashawagh Hall in Springs, a new and comfortable venue. Our thanks to Naoko Tanese for preparing the dinner. Unfortunately, the Western Kingbirf that had lingered at Montauk Point for couple of weeks was not found on count day and the last reports we are aware of were from Tuesday 15 Dec, just before count week period. Our sincere thanks to the territory captains (Doug Futuyma, Vicki Bustamante, Tom Burke, Shai Mitra, Patricia Lindsay, Derek Rogers and Frank Quevedo) for their leadership in the field and of course to all the participants who braved the weather to help us cover this unique count circle. Angus Wilson and Karen Rubinstein, Co-compilers -- 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/ --
