My purely subjective impression – which runs counter to web ‘wisdom’ of increasing species populations – is that the number of Bonies around NYC (exclusive of eastern LI, where I don’t go) has been down for about 2-3 years. Anybody agree?
From: bounce-125034145-3714...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-125034145-3714...@list.cornell.edu> On Behalf Of Thomas Fiore Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2020 11:48 AM To: NYS Birds <NYSBirds-L@cornell.edu> Cc: Peter W. Post <pwp...@nyc.rr.com> Subject: Re:[nysbirds-l] nysbirds-l] N.Y. County incl. Manhattan, NYC - 10/12 - Bonaparte's Gulls / (etc.) Thanks, Peter - I had not realized there were records for those kinds of numbers or frequency all the way into New York County waters in that period; I’d understood them as more so in Kings County/Brooklyn waters, & of course elsewhere in the wider region, referring in particular to Bonaparte’s Gull, rather than the rarer two species of gull you also referenced. If only this were so cuurently! I wonder then, when the last of sightings of Bonaparte’s Gull in New York County waters were which included even -for example- 100+ individuals, much less thousands on one day. Thank you for the historical information! Tom Fiore manhattan - - - - - On Oct 13, 2020, at 11:19 AM, Peter W. Post <pwp...@nyc.rr.com <mailto:pwp...@nyc.rr.com> > wrote: Tom: Bonaparte’s Gull were historically common to abundant in New York County. Into the 1960’s they occurred as spring and fall migrants and winter visitors in New York Harbor and along the Hudson River. Up to 5,000+ birds could be seen on a single day as far north as the George Washington Bridge. Mixed in among them was an occasional Black-headed or Little Gull. It was during that time period that Black-headed Gulls occurred in Central Park and Little Gulls could regularly be seen in May from the Staten island Ferry (where they would feed with Bonaparte’s Gulls in the Rip Tide off the south shore Governor’s Island). Peter (Post) - - - - - - - On Oct 13, 2020, at 7:12 AM, Thomas Fiore <tom...@earthlink.net <mailto:tom...@earthlink.net> > wrote: Monday, “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”, Oct. 12th New York County (in N.Y. City) 3 Bonaparte’s Gulls were noted moving south down the Hudson river, in early afternoon (A. Farnsworth) - although a very ‘rare’ sighting for the county, this species is almost certainly annual of occurrence in the county, and the Hudson river possibly the best site to be on the watch for them on passage. (They are 'extremely rare' as stop-in-&-stay-a-while visitors to the county, in terms of the historic records but again, it’s worth keeping eyes open for this & other unexpected larids, and especially at these times of the year when much movement is occurring). -- NYSbirds-L List Info: <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> Surfbirds <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> ABA Please submit your observations to <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
