Just an addendum to Shai Mitra's report of the enormous flux of passerines at Robert Moses SP this morning. I did a sea watch for about an hour (9:50 to 10:50). A steady southwestward flux of Gannets and white-headed gulls, mostly Herring, filled the sky. In a single sweep of the panorama, I estimated about 270 Northern Gannets, and I made several one-minute counts that averaged about 20 Gannets passing a fixed point per minute. Two similar counts of large gulls (mostly Herring) averaged 40 per minute -- very inadequate samples, but probably not far off the mark. At least 350 Double-crested Cormorants passed by, and several flocks of scoters that included some Surf and Black. I noted a few dozen Bonaparte's Gulls, and Shai spotted a distant Black-legged Kittiwake in his short visit. Throughout my watch, a steady stream of Yellow-rumped Warblers passed along the beach, punctuated by flocks of Pine Siskins and Purple Finches.
Doug Futuyma -- 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/ --
