There was an impressive and somewhat unexpected flight of large alcids off
the south shore this afternoon, with groups of birds flying westward
sometimes in fairly large groups (max. 65). Many were quite far out and thus
only identifiable as large alcids, but all of the closer birds were all
clearly *RAZORBILLS*. As indicated below, I counted more than 700 in a 1
hour sample. The one exception was a trio of tiny *DOVEKIES* flying together
with three Razorbill. A good number of *BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES*, a species
that often feeds over Razorbills, were also drifting west. Some of these
birds seemed to be coming up off the water and I suspect there were
considerable numbers of alcids, scoter and gulls on the water about a mile
or more offshore and essentially invisible unless they took flight. Perhaps
this is why there were comparatively few Razorbills off Montauk Point this
morning, as per Doug Futuyma's report? Winds were from the northwest (~10-15
mph) and visibility was excellent with minimal heat shimmer. It will be
interesting to know how far west the flight extended (e.g. Shinnecock Inlet,
Smith Point SP or Robert Moses SP).
A 1 hour (2:15-3:15 pm) spot count from the beach in Amagansett tallied the
following:
Red-throated Loon - 3
Horned Grebe - 15
Northern Gannet - 18
Common Eider - 12
Black Scoter - 10
White-winged Scoter - 360
Surf Scoter - 25
scoter sp. - 200
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
*RAZORBILL* (or large alcid) - *703*
*DOVEKIE* - *3*
Herring Gull - 15
Great Black-backed Gull - 5
Ring-billed Gull - 4
Bonaparte's Gull - 59
*BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE* - *49* (only one 1st-basic, rest ads.)
Also of note were two *HARBOR PORPOISE* feeding a short distance off the
beach in Napeague (White Sand Motel). A Red-throated Loon was fishing with
them and seeing the loon alongside emphasized just how small these porpoises
are compared to dolphins. Lastly, the adult *LESSER BLACK-BACKED
GULL*('Larry') continues at Lazy Point on the NW side of Napeague
Harbor. There
were no geese on the field at Further Lane when I passed by and nothing of
note among the geese I could see on the lawns around Hook Pond.
--
Angus Wilson
New York City & The Springs, NY, USA
http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES
ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
