A large flight of black-legged kittiwakes was observed along the Long
Island barrier beaches today. Several hundred or more birds were
streaming west in the morning, observed from Mecox (Suffolk Co.)
Robert Moses State Park, and Jones Beach State Park. Around 10:30,
Tom Burke told me he had seen 150-200 birds at Jones Beach, and that
similar numbers were seen by observers at the other locations. I was
birding Floyd Bennett Field at the time. I headed to Riis Park, where
all the gulls were way offshore. Then I went to the Fisherman's
Parking Lot at Ft. Tilden (Queens Co.), and hit pay dirt. There were
thousands of gulls way offshore, and hundreds more closer in. I was
able to identify about 3 dozen kittiwakes, The light was terrible, so
there were probably many more. 6 or 7 of the birds were within
100-200 yards from shore, including one immature. The closer birds
were basically hanging around, feeding, sitting on the water, and
being chased by herring gulls. This is a very unusual location to see
kittiwakes, and the flight itself is also very unusual, especially
given the benign weather conditions. There were 100 or more
Bonaparte's gulls in the area, as well as laughing gulls, and many
northern gannets.
P.S. The cattle egret is still at Floyd Bennett.
Seth Ausubel
Forest Hills, NY
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