Yesterday (January 20) I seawatched for an hour or so from the beach at Fort Tilden, along the Queens barrier beach. There was an interesting mix of birds heading west, including *RAZORBILLS (19 *westbound, and at least *8* on the water), Bonaparte's Gulls (29 westbound), Red-throated Loons, and some species that might have been getting frozen out of interior bodies of water, such as Horned Grebes (~30 in active westbound migration (including a group of 8 and two groups of 4), a few Greater Scaup, a Common Goldeneye, and a pair of Gadwall. Complete list from Fort Tilden is here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21440920
A little bit later, at Hendrix Creek in Brooklyn, I had a quick look at 6 Redpolls, which unfortunately were very uncooperative. I only got a photo of three as they flew away (I never observed them on the ground), and two of those were definitely *COMMON REDPOLLS*. This morning, on the trails around the Saltmarsh Center at Marine Park, I had at least *2 Orange-crowned Warblers*, though I had a suspicion that there may have been more. The habitat also has dozens of wintering Song and American Tree Sparrows, and I tallied near double digits of Swamp Sparrows. Despite searching carefully, I found no Redpolls here, which were the object of this morning's expedition, given the excellent and extensive small finch habitat. Lastly, here are some representative photos of the first-cycle "Short-billed" (American) *MEW GULL* (Larus canus brachyrhynchus) that the "Mew" Gull whisperer of New York Bay, Shane Blodgett, deftly found this afternoon. There are some good, close photos in there, as well as some a little more distant that will give an idea of what to look for when sorting through the hundreds, or thousands, of Ring-billed Gulls that are usually in the area. It was fairly distinctive even when seen naked eye or at a reasonable distance, with a very brown appearance both in flight and when perched. It's a fairly remarkable find, given that it is the first record of this taxon for downstate New York: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29840397@N08/ Good Birding -Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY. -- 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/ --
