This morning, 90 minutes of seawatching from Shinnecock Inlet and Tiana Beach produced but a lone shearwater sp., evidence that the recent anomalous distribution is continuing. We did however have 7 Parasitic Jaegers from Tiana Beach, 3 of which teamed up to harass a Herring Gull very close to shore. These birds were hanging around, not moving decidedly in one direction.
Seth Ausubel Mary Normandia > On Jun 19, 2017, at 11:45 AM, David Nicosia <[email protected]> wrote: > > The last few days have featured a very strong high pressure system south of > Newfoundland and a prolonged easterly flow toward the Mid Atlantic Coast > which then curves to southerly up the coast from the Bahamas to the New > England coast. The placement of this high pressure system and its strength is > anomalous for this time of year owing to the southward displacement the jet > stream for June. There has been an easterly wind anomaly of between 25 and 30 > mph that is strongest from well offshore right to Long Island. This could > explain some of what you have observed. > > On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 10:59 AM, Shaibal Mitra <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > As we were leaving, we saw Pete Morris arriving, and we couldn't resist > joining Doug and him for some more effort. > > Compiling observations for the day yields the following remarkable numbers > for Robert Moses SP yesterday: > > Great Shearwater 669 > Cory's Shearwater 48 > Manx Shearwater 8 > Sooty Shearwater 9 > Wilson's Sturm-Petrel 6 > Northern Gannet 5 > Parasitic Jaeger 1 > Black Scoter 4 > > To put the Great Shearwater total in perspective, my previous high count from > land on Long Island over 21+ years was 45, on 23 June 2001, at Democrat > Point. The general pattern is for Great to be vastly outnumbered by Sooties > during good early season flights, then by Cory's on good days later. In fact, > in my Long Island seawatching experience, the overall frequency and abundance > of Great from land has generally been very similar to that of the > perceived-as-rare Manx: one or a few single-digit counts per year, versus > many more and larger counts of Sooty and Cory's. > > We await more data from other areas, but it is already obvious that the > numbers of Greats from the Jones Inlet area were far in excess of any counts > there in recent memory, and it appears that numbers from further east on the > island were unexpectedly low (usually they increase steadily eastward). The > occurrence of exhausted birds (including the Brown Booby) suggests a > prolonged storm far offshore during prior days that was positioned in such a > way as to trap birds in the New York Bight (if weather-savvy folks could > check on this, I'd appreciate it). Locally at least, the wind speeds were > never in the range that would cause shearwaters any difficulties. > > Shai Mitra > Bay Shore > ________________________________________ > > Following up on Steve's report and after hearing about the Jones Beach > flight, Shai and i returned to Robert Moses and put in another hour > (4:22-5:22). Spectacular views on many birds as they passed by close to shore. > Great Shearwater 177 > Cory's Shearwater. 5 > Manx Shearwater. 4 > Sooty Shearwater. 1 > Parasitic Jaeger. 1 > Black Scoter. 4 > No. Gannet 2 > > Doug Futuyma just arrived to take up the vigil here. > > Patricia Lindsay > Bay Shore > Sent from my iPhone > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > [[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>] on behalf of Steve > Walter [[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>] > Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2017 4:40 PM > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [nysbirds-l] Robert Moses S.P. Sea Watching 6/18 > > I spent the morning sea watching at Robert Moses State Park Field 2 from > about 6:30 (not seriously until the fog eased around 8:30) to 12:30 (when the > fog thickened again). Also joining in the effort were (until about 10:30) > Brent Bomkamp, Pat Palladino, and Taylor Sturm, and (from about 11 to 12) Pat > Lindsay, Shai Mitra, and Peter Morris. Actually, I have to give them more > credit than that, as they picked out a lot more birds than I did. But I think > I did a decent job of being the scribe. So here is what I scribed. > > Great Shearwater – 119 > Cory’s Shearwater – 23 > Sooty Shearwater – 1 > Shearwater sp. – 21 (most earlier on when denser fog added to the ID > difficulty; Brent thought one may have been a Manx, but too difficult to > confirm). > Wilson’s Sturm-Petrel – 6 > > One amusing sequence involved two Great Shearwaters, closer in than expected, > and a swimmer, further out than expected. The shearwaters slowed down to > investigate the swimmer, with the second one actually landing very close to > him. It flapped its wings at him (or something like that) a bit before moving > on. > > Afterwards in the parking lot, a few Larus fuscus americanus (well, they > might be in a few thousand years). > > I didn’t know about the Brown Booby until I was already at Robert Moses. As > I’ve mentioned before, I get the reports off the archives. I don’t know how > well that always works. I’m pretty sure I checked last night and the booby > reports hadn’t made it to the archives yet. I know that when I looked this > morning, it was obvious why I choose not to get the e-mails. I see a lot of > reports of things like Yellow Warbler getting in the way of the reports I > really need. Why? Okay, Steve, be nice, stop your rant right there. > > > Steve Walter > Bayside, NY > http://stevewalternature.com <http://stevewalternature.com/> (currently > featuring the Henslow’s Sparrow) > > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> > > -- > > > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > Archives: > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> > Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
