Back around the end of September there was a thread on this list regarding recent incursions into NYS, not only of classic irruptives such as Pine Siskins and Red-breasted Nuthatches, but also of more cryptic migrants, such as Downy Woodpeckers. In one of my contributions I included a link to the 15 August eBird checklist in which I surmised that DOWOs were on the move (see comments under Purple Finch):
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19474995 Since that time, the data have strongly confirmed that not only Downy Woodpeckers, but also Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches (and even Northern Cardinals!), are all staging major irruptions this year. For instance, here is a paragraph from a note to the list from 25 Oct: "I was part of a group that conducted a stationary morning flight count [at Robert Moses SP, Suffolk County], and my companions will attest that our total of 5 Hairy Woodpeckers had me freaking out a little bit.... Among other relatively (or allegedly) sedentary species moving this morning were 12 Downies, 20 Red-bellies (possibly a local daily max), and a White-breasted Nut, and our total of 28 Northern Cardinals in obvious morning flight was a true spectacle of nature!" I'm writing now to follow up on this theme with some more data, albeit slightly extralimital. On Monday 10 November, 12 observers conducted the 19th annual Block Island Veterans Day count, a CBC-style effort, which, along with the CBC and a third count in February, is intended to bracket changes in bird numbers over the course of the winter. In addition to many other interesting birds, the highlight this year was an unambiguous affirmation of the irruptions described above. Because Block Island's breeding populations of Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatch are trivial, it is easy to discern when larger numbers arrive from afar. This year we broke records for all four of the species in question: 16 Red-bellied Woodpecker (previous max = 8) 40 Downy Woodpecker (previous max = 38) 11 Hairy Woodpecker (previous max = 4) 6 White-breasted Nuthatch (previous max = 5) Although our tally of 76 Northern Cardinals was not particularly large, I witnessed 12 of these birds massing along the edge of the woody vegetation along a point on the west side of the island after sunrise, repeatedly pushing out into the last clumps of rose among the dune grass, then retreating. It seemed clear to me that they wanted to head over toward Montauk or perhaps the mainland shore: https://picasaweb.google.com/109808209543611018404/RhodeIslandBirds#6080946210780622194 For those who are interested, full preliminary totals for this year's Block Island VDC can be seen here: http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=807710&MLID=RI&MLNM=Rhode%20Island Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ Celebrate International Education Week (IEW)><http://www.csi.cuny.edu/international/events/education_week.html> November 13-21 at the College of Staten Island> -- 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/ --
