fall migration 2015

This is likely to be the last post from me in a while as we have performed our own fall migration, closing up the East Quogue house and moving back to Brooklyn. Fall bird migration was not exceptional this year although we did get flocks of sparrows (mainly White-throated Sparrows but also Song and Swamp), American Goldfinches, American Robins, and Northern Flickers. Royal Terns, Great Blue Heron and Great Egrets continued on the creek and marsh right into November. And this was a big year for Blue Jays, due (no doubt) to the big acorn crop.

Best bird by far of the fall migration was a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER (a great rarity on Long Island). Olive-sided Flycatcher was another good bird frequenting the same habitat (mainly hurricane-killed Pitch Pines, closely resembling the burnt-over woods that they frequent in their norther homes). Amazingly enough, the flycatcher arrived in July and stayed most of the summer. A Golden-winged Warbler was a bird that I have not seen here in many years; other warblers included Commmon Yellowthroat, Am Redstart, Blue-winged, Yellow, Prairie, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, and Northern Waterthrush. Other northern visitors included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Blue-headed Vireo and both kinglets.

Eric Salzman

Nelson's Sparrow

A couple of Nelson's Sparrows in the marsh this morning were the first of the season for me. These were both from the Atlantic subspecies, identified by the blurry breast streaks on a well defined washed-out-orange upper breast, a well-defined bright white belly, gray nape and back with white back stripes and a rather shortish bill. They were accompanied by a very well-marked Marsh Wren.

There were only five yellowlegs on the Weesuck Creek bulkhead (opposite Aldrich Boat Yard) this morning but I thought at least one of them was a Greater; the others were then Lessers. 

The flock of White-throated Sparrows was in its usual place at the head of the marsh along with a handful of American Goldfinches. A few Royal Terns are still coming in up the creek; this southern coastal nester arrives in mid-summer and stays here well into the fall.

One bird I forgot to mention from yesterday's Dune Road expedition was a Brown Creeper on the trunk of a couple of scraggly Red Cedars at Ponquogue.

Eric Salzman

yellowlegs & mantids

I found out where the yellowlegs are hiding out: in plain sight on a bulkhead opposite Aldrich Boat Yard. As far as I can see across the creek, there are not 16 but 20 birds in the flock and they all look like Lesser Yellowlegs (there might be a couple of larger ones mixed in but that may be only an effect of distance).

There are still Royal Terns coming up the creek, Double-crested Cormorants are moving over the bay in silent V-shaped formations and a pair of Black Duck flushed up from the pond (is this a mated pair?). A Hairy Woodpecker was working dead pine bark on our side and there's at least one Eastern Towhee still calling at the head of the marsh where all the sparrows are congregated -- mostly Song and White-throated but a few Swamp still in the vicinity.


About that king-size mantid that was here the other day: Terry Sullivan thinks it's a Chinese Mantid, an invasive species that he photographed eating a Monarch Butterfly (ouch) in his yard in Sag Harbor (see below).

Eric Salzman