omissions

It's a bit on the late side, but it has been pointed out to me that I neglected to mention one very significant sighting in last weekend's ELIAS walk at Cupsogue. This was a Western Willet, a bird that sports the stupendous scientific moniker of Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornata. This subspecies is very easy to identify, especially when you see it in the company of Eastern Willets, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus. The bird we saw was obviously larger and lighter than the local willets (they normally have very different ranges and habitats since the Western Willet breeds inland over a wide range in the west while the Eastern Willet is coastal at all times of the year). Even though this is a not technically a separate species, it is a notable separate and easily identifiable form and may easily become an armchair lifer one of these days.

Another omission was from my list of southern birds moving north was brought to my attention by Mike Bottini. He reminds me that the Northern Cardinal should have been on the list (I did intend to put it there but apparently forgot). This is such a common bird everywhere that it seems impossible that it was a great rarity in the middle of the last century. I remember hearing stories about birders rushing out to see a Cardinal and add it to their list as if it were Ivory-billed Woodpecker or a Roseate Spoonbill! Apparently in the 19th century and into the early years of the 20th, Cardinals were occasional nesters on Staten Island and in the Hudson Valley but they were always rare on Long Island. Then, by mid-century the birds had disappeared from the New York area altogether. Perhaps there was a warming trend sometime before 1900 and a cooling trend in the early 20th century. Walt Whitman wrote a very touching poem about a lone mockingbird on Long Island singing for its lost mate (he thought it was the female pining for her husband but never mind). There are other examples of southern birds at the edge of their range appearing, disappearing and then appearing again with the changes in the climate (Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, etc.). All these birds are, more of less, residents -- that is, they winter as well as breed here. Cold winters can be a problem for these birds but the milder winters of recent years have been in their favor. And make no mistake, the winters are now much milder than they used to be. Shinnecock Bay used to freeze so solid that ice-sailing was a popular local sport and a big teen daredevil stunt was to drive a car out on the ice into the bay! It's been a long time since anything like that ways possible!

Speaking of singing females, Mike also reminds me that the female Cardinal is one of the few songbirds species in which the female sings as well as the male!

Eric Salzman