Common Eiders also have bred the past few years on Plum Island, as documented in regular surveys by Audubon NY volunteers. See our hot-off-the-presses report (and our older one) here:
www.nynhp.org/plumisland Cheers all, Matt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matthew D. Schlesinger, Ph.D. Chief Zoologist, New York Natural Heritage Program Adjunct Assistant Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 625 Broadway, Albany NY 12233-4757 Office: (518) 402-8939, Cell: (518) 478-5261 [email protected] www.nynhp.org -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shaibal Mitra Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 3:28 PM To: Birdingonthe.net <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Fw: [ebirdsnyc] King Eider at Caumsett SP ATTENTION: This email came from an external source. Do not open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails. First, to answer Ethan's question: Common Eiders breed on Long Island on small islands in the extreme eastern part of Long Island Sound, namely South Dumpling Island (and possibly nearby Flat Hammock Island), and also recently on Great Gull Island. http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y2001v51n2/y2001v51n2p583-585horning.pdf# http://www.nybirds.org/KBsearch/y2004v54n4/y2004v54n4rgn10.pdf# DiCostanzo & Kramer, 2015. "Common Eider on Great Gull Island: A new nesting locality for New York State." The Kingbird Volume 65, pages 286-287. These nestings began about a decade after the wintering population on Long Island increased abruptly, starting about 1990. Second, to connect this thread to the earlier notes about summering waterfowl such as scoters and Tundra Swan: Both Common Eider and King Eider tend to over-summer quite regularly, and did so even prior to the big increase in the numbers of wintering Common Eider in New York. It is difficult for newer observers to believe, but for more than a century, King Eider was more numerous on Long Island than Common Eider. Furthermore, King Eider shows a definite tendency to over-summer here at a rate far higher than its winter scarcity might suggest. I've personally seen two birds during the period June-August: at Jones Beach in August 1999 and at Jamaica Bay in July 2003. As a rough quantitative comparison, I've recorded just nine line-item records of Surf Scoter in summer on Long Island, out of ca. 500 total line-tem records, compared to four line-item records of two individual summering King Eiders among my total of ca. 70 line-items for King Eider on Long Island. I offer the line items because it would be time-consuming, even impossible, to parse out the number of independent records and individuals. But given that many of the winter records of Surf Scoter involved multi-thousands of individuals, and given that I've surely been much more diligent about recording all King Eiders I've seen than wintering Surf Scoters, it's quite clear that the likelihood of a given King Eider over-summering is much greater than that of a given Surf Scoter. Shai Mitra Bay Shore ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Ethan Maitra [email protected] [ebirdsnyc]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 10:02 PM Subject: [ebirdsnyc] King Eider at Caumsett SP It seems my previous post has failed to make it through, since it didn't pop up in my inbox (like it usually does), so I will just redo it. A birder went to Caumsett SP last Saturday and took a picture of an odd duck. Yesterday, it posted it on WhatBird (bird ID forum) so it could be identified. As a WhatBird member I replied saying it was a Common Eider (the expected Eider here, which is still odd this far west in July), but others pointed out it was actually an immature male King Eider. I asked where it was and the border replied with a map of Caumsett with the northeast shore (stopping just west of the pond) circled in red. I will try to chase the bird tomorrow, and others should too, since a King Eider is already rare in the winter when it's expected further north. A scope is likely needed, since it could be out in the Sound. Link to the WhatBird post (with map): http://www.whatbird.com/forum/index.php?/topic/152767-goose-duck/#entry928792 Also, where do Common Eiders breed on Long Island? ________________________________ Take a picture. Write a caption. Win a prize. Where’s Danny the Dolphin today?<http://www.csi.cuny.edu/wheresdanny/> -- 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/ -- -- 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/ --
