Inspired by Shai’s Friday post about doing a rarity round up, I covered a lot of ground along the south shore this weekend. Though I failed to locate any Hammond’s-tier vagrants, there were some nice seasonal irregularities and uncommon species to be found these past few days. I’m not going to steal anyone else’s highlights for this write-up, just posting notes as potential CBC intel or for the sake of county/year/month(?) listers. Apologies for length and formatting.
-single Northern Parulas at JFK Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary and Cow Meadow Park -drake Blue-winged Teal also at JFK, associating with Green-wings and other ducks -American Bittern in the marshes north of Gilgo Beach -Parasitic Jaeger, young Common Tern, Iceland Gull, and close, sizable congregations of Bonaparte’s Gulls at the Jones West End jetty. No sign of rarer associates in several hours of searching -at least one continuing Cackling Goose at Hendrickson Park The parulas represent the only Nassau records past the first week of November according to eBird, though I wonder if other archival data to the contrary exists. Along with a few additional individuals between Brooklyn and Montauk, and a smattering of other lingering wood-warblers from Prothonotary to Wilson’s, we have a number of potential new late regional records in progress or approaching. One hopes that the conspicuous presence of Bonaparte’s Gulls will continue after too many years of near absence in our area, potentially sticking for the count and drawing in some goodies in the process. In the more immediate future, strong winds with a southeasterly component on Tuesday could produce interesting sightings for those who can watch. As an aside, early predictions about a certain irruption seem to be on very much point. This is an event worth documenting and admiring respectfully, even if the specific details are not to be shared here. It’s always a spectacle, at any rate. Cheers! -Tim H -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --