I did something of a whirlwind tour of the South Fork today, befitting the strong winds that made viewing difficult in places. At Sag Pond, the only birds of any note were a pair of Northern Pintail; no notable gulls were evident. A single Snow Goose accompanied Canada's at Deep Hollow. A half-hour watch from the Montauk Point restaurant yielded thousands of Black and Surf Scoters but little else: 9 Common Eider, 2 Northern Gannet, Nd 1 Red-throated Loon. At the several other Montauk-area sites, the only other notable sighting was a Snowy Owl on Hicks Island, seen from Lazy Point. At Hook Pond in Easthampton, the Great Egret and 6 Canvasback that Bob Adamo reported yesterday, and 2 Red-necked Grebes, one in almost full breeding plumage, the other not. Two more Red-necked Grebes, likewise in very different plumage, were on Sam's Creek, seen from Job's Lane on the eastern approach to Mecox Bay. Flocks of Canada Geese on Daniel's Lane and Cook's Lane (off Scuttlehole Road) Appeared unispecific, but may be worth checking in future. Short's Pond had only Ruddy and 2 Ring-necked Ducks. An immature Iceland Gull flew past Shinnecock Inlet, and another was on the bay shore just east of Tiana.
Recent discussions of the scheduled Murder of American Crows led me to reflect on the greatly reduced abundance of this species in our area, probably caused partly by West Nile Virus. But that is surely not the only cause. For several years, there was a large winter roost along Rte 347 near Lake Grove, in which American Crows had been largely replaced by Fish Crows two winters ago. This winter, there was no roosting aggregation at all, nor any sign of crows heading toward an unknown roost in that region. Like many birders, I usually make little effort to keep a daily tally of "common" species, including American Crow, but today I did keep an approximate count. From 6 a.m. To 5 p.m., covering 210 miles, I saw 190-210, of which about 2/3 were in small flocks moving from roosting to feeding areas in the early morning. I'm sure that 10 or 15 years ago, I would have seen several times that number. We should recognize, I think, that bird abundances are changing dramatically, and that we can play an important role in "citizen science" by helping to document these changes. We all know that some species that were rare 50 years ago in our area are now common (Northern Mockingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker), but some species that we ignore because they are common may well become rare in the near future. (Consider American Kestrel.). Whether by Christmas Counts, e-bird entries, or other means, our data on Herring Gulls, American Crows, Black-capped Chickadees, and other "common" species may prove valuable in the future. Doug Futuyma Stony Brook Sent from my iPhone -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
