The 9th Annual Seatuck LI Birding Challenge was conducted on 17 September this year, in very pleasant weather. Cool and cloudy to start in the morning, the day warmed up into the mid 70s under mostly sunny skies, with low humidity. With northeast winds early, followed by a warm, sunny afternoon, the day was not especially conducive for active migration, despite the perfect date, but many migrants were nonetheless detected, perhaps remaining after the good flights of the previous two days. Enthusiasm was high all the way to the five o’clock hour when the compilation and celebrations began at the lovely Scully mansion, in person for the first time since 2019. A special treat this year was Enrico’s presentation about the history of how this precious parcel of land came to be preserved, followed by a tour of the mansion.
Competing this year were seven teams with a total of 28 participants. Retaining the “covid era” rules for limited-area coverage as part of the new norm, we had two Island-wide teams, single teams representing Queens, Nassau, and Western Suffolk County, and two teams in Eastern Suffolk. The overall total of 166 species was very close to our long-term average of 167. It included three new species, Long-tailed Duck, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Black-headed Gull, bringing the cumulative list to 247 species over the nine years. Few if any real rarities were recorded, and the highlights recounted by the various teams mostly involved enjoyable experiences with species expected as to date and location, and with team-mates. Many participants noted the relative abundance of Cape May Warblers this fall, and the two teams that visited Jamaica Bay appreciated the excellent conditions at the East Pond this year. Pteam Ptarmigeddon competed island-wide and took first place for the overall species total for a remarkable sixth time. Their total of 131 species included 7 “saves” (species not seen by any other team). The High Flyers had the second highest species total, 110 in Queens County, and contributed 4 saves. The Aphid Eaters, working Nassau County, had 99 species and 6 saves, and the Four Harbors Herons came in with 90 species in Nassau and Suffolk (so nominally island-wide), including two saves. Captree Counters Imperiál came in with 108 species within the Western Suffolk category and won the “Hunters’ Hoard” prize for most saves, 12 in all. The Savage Trackers and Erin G’s junior team birded Eastern Suffolk County; each contributed one save, and the Savage Trackers won the area prize with 42 species. At this stage in the evolution of the Challenge, it occurs to us that the collaborative dimension has been growing in importance, as regionally focused efforts complement each other and contribute toward the overall species total as a collective achievement each year, analogous to CBCs. Thanks to Enrico Nardone, Steve Walsh, and the Seatuck team for organizing and hosting this enjoyable friendly competition. For more information on this important organization and information on this annual event, go to www.seatuck.org/birding-challenge We hope to see everyone back next year, and as always, we welcome new teams to join us! Pat and Shai Bay Shore, NY -- 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/ --