Rockaway peninsula's western portion, mainly Fort Tilden and Breezy Point Friday, 5 September, 2012
Fog was already completely dispersed at the shore along the Rockaway peninsula at first light, however there had almost certainly been some fog overnight as some surfaces were very wet, maintaining that moisture as sun came up and was up, for an hour or so. In any event, there were many thousands of migrants on the ground & in the shore vegetation, with many hundreds in the lightest bits of scrub within yards of the surf as it grew light out. Most of those birds retreated to more extensive cover in the first 30 minutes or so of daybreak. Somewhat notable among these birds were numbers of thrushes, including especally Swainson's Thrush, as well as far lesser numbers of Hermit & Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and accompanied by the unique alarm-type calls, a few Wood Thrush, a species I've not seen a great many of right at the edge of a dune line before! In numbers, the thrushes seen in this early a.m. "retreat" were far outnumbered by Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers & sparrows, especially Song, Savannah, & more than all the others, White-throated Sparrows, Also fairly common among these early retreaters were both species of Kinglet with Ruby-crowned much more numerous than Golden-crowned, and Eastern Phoebe - although the latter seemed much less concerned about where they positioned themselves so long as some prey (insects) were available, and ahead of what falcon & accipiter flight came along, mainly a bit later. For the morning, at least 225 Pine Siskins went by, and a lesser but still impressive number of Purple Finch. American Goldfinch were also present but it was less clear if there was much of a flight of that species, or if many were already in the area, or simply had set down ahead of first light while the former 2 finch species arrived and moved along mostly by day. There was a good movement of Blue Jay, but quite far removed from several superb flights of that species I and others have witnessed streaming past the outer barrier beach peninsula of the Rockaways, crossing to New Jersey on very favorable winds, in years past (and usually a bit later in this month). Still, there were hundreds of Blue Jays moving today at the Rockaways. A fairly good Yellow-shafted Flicker flight, but far from a spectacular one, and as the sun came up higher, Tree Swallows in numbers but again not all that impressive compared with truly huge flights of that species. Gray Catbirds were all about, and Palm Warblers were in the hundreds in the first hour alone. Of less-numerous sparrows, a single Nelson's was at a marshy area on the north side from Fort Tilden (an area partially under habitat restoration) and there were a handful+ of Lincoln's (without any search for them) as well as Field and Chipping (a lack of the latter in any big numbers at least where I was walking), and White-crowned made a very good showing with at least several dozen. Dark-eyed Junco did not seem numerous, while Eastern Towhee was. The one notable warbler I saw typically popped up into view (at sunrise) and then was not seen again by me: Yellow-breasted Chat, which was near the western end of Fort Tilden (not far from the parking lot there); other warblers included some N. Parula, Magnolia, Blackpoll & more than a pile of Common Yellowthroats. In flight were a goodly number of non-Yellow-rumped (warbler sp.) that were in many cases out by the beach - flying SW - and/or flying at elevations of 150-200 feet or more above ground. There was at least one Yellow Warbler later on that even gave a bit of song and at least one well-seen (in vegetation, not in flight) Tennessee Warbler. Of things calling a lot, Red-breasted Nuthatches were pretty evident and many stopped off in the pines, as well as for briefer stays in just about any vegetation. Birds got shyer, naturally as some modest falcon movement started up, and i did not stay on the platform atop the bunker to judge how much of an actual raptor migration took place out there. The wind did seem to pick up a bit as the morning went along. Over the water, birds (mainly larids, with a fair movement ongoing all morning of Laughing Gulls, seemingly mostly streaming on southerly headings) were not generally close to shore at all, aside from the latter and some Double-crested Cormorant flocks. I did not attempt a dedicated sea-watch today, however. Also notable for modest lateness was a single Common Nighthawk at first light (or really a few minutes into it) that looked fairly intent on making NJ it's roost for the day, although i could not follow it all the way past the point from my position at that moment near the east end of Fort Tilden. As the morning progressed to the noon hour and after I also turned my attention to the excellent insect migration and feeding activity, with Monarch butterflies and Common Green Darner dragonflies easily winning the numbers competition in their categories. Good birding - looks and sounds like more thick migration here, in N.Y. City at this moment and even without a fog to set some down, there could be a lot happening shoreward again on Saturday and many days ahead! Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
