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See Southbound Migration 2013 post on this blog for theories regarding the movement of birds over the Southcoast, and keep checking in during spring of 2014 (probably starting in March) for findings regarding northbound migrants.
This spring I took it upon myself to determine if good migration days and bad migration days on Gooseberry Neck in Westport, MA can be predicted via the analysis of weather and the previous night's radar images. I've had some help from fellow birders and photographers Dan Logan, Bev King, and Alice Morgan among others, who paid with some very early mornings, not all of which were productive, bird-wise. I guess data on slow days is as important as data on busy days. This post focuses on landbird migration, though seabirds are mentioned here and there. A complementary Fall 2013 blog will certainly supplement this post, and both will go nicely with "Birding Guide to Horseneck Beach State Reservation Including Gooseberry Neck, Westport, Massachusetts" in the upcoming issue of New England Bird Observer. I appreciate any comments, for the better or worse, so long as they are constructive.
The Massachusetts birding community has often considered the Southcoast to be a "black hole" for spring migration. For 5 years, I have tended to agree, spare some really interesting species showing up individually, at Mass Audubon's Allens Pond sanctuary in late May and early June (American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Wilson's Phalarope, etc.). I have been actively birding in Westport and South Dartmouth for 5 years, and though Gooseberry Island is only 5 minutes from my house, and though I had birded (and even worked) on and around the causeway-connected island, I never knew nor understood just what a magnificent place it can be for observing migration. Even though Westport town beach (Cherry and Webb Beach), Horseneck Beach and Allens Pond straddle Gooseberry Island on either side, they attract few interesting spring migrant passerines, and the diversity tends to be relatively low with few individuals of through-migrants (e.g. Bay-breasted and Magnolia warblers are seldom seen at Allens Pond, forests of Horseneck, or dunes of Cherry and Webb Beach). As is seemingly the case throughout the region, breeding species arrive out of nowhere, and one morning, they're on territory, "Bizz-buzz"ing away as the Blue-winged Warblers do all spring at Allens Pond. But there simply had to be a spot somewhere nearby where through-migrants could be viewed - a place on par with Newport, RI's Miantonomi Park, just 15 miles to the west, where migrant warbler species in the teens seem to drip from the trees on some days, along with plenty of tanagers, orioles, etc. Where was that place on the Southcoast? It took an interesting fall migration of 2012 to suggest that it was indeed Gooseberry Island.
During the early fall of 2012, I read a MassBird list-serve post by one observer that described movement of southbound migrants off of Gooseberry Neck, consisting of a comparatively diverse host of species that don't tend to show elsewhere in the surrounding area. Then, shortly after, Marshall Iliff posted a great list of Gooseberry migrants, including a few relatively rare species, such as a White-winged Dove and a Lark Sparrow. I searched the Massbird archive for posts regarding Gooseberry Island and found several references to great migration days there. I had only once encountered a single grand migration day on Gooseberry myself, on October 2, 2010, when I just happened to stumble on a group from the Paskamansett Bird Club that was just arriving on the island at 8AM for a scheduled walk. For the duration of the morning, birds blasted by us, some nearly hitting bystanders. Warblers, buntings, flycatchers, etc. moved north off the island, so I knew it could happen. I knew it could be phenomenal. Yet a return the next day and subsequent days produced almost no birds at all, and zero movement of migrants. For the next two years I would occasionally drop by in mid-morning to see if there were any sea ducks or loons worth noting, and I'd give a halfhearted look to see if there were any migrant passerines, eventually giving up on the island entirely... until Marshall's (and others') messages. I began showing up near dawn... and there were birds! Sometimes, just a few. Sometimes there were more! Many more! Dozens of fall migrant warblers flew from the island, overhead, headed for the mainland after being blown over the water during the night's fall northwest winds.
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| Identification of birds in flight is a challenge, and many go unidentified as they make the jump to the mainland. This mosaic of migrating passerines include Red-eyed Vireo (top; fall), Yellow-Rumped Warbler (right), Scarlet tanager (bottom; fall), Magnolia Warbler (left), Black-throated Green Warbler (center; fall). |
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| Invasion years of Pine Siskin produce hundreds in a morning |
Hundreds of Pine Siskins passed overhead, occasionally dropping in to
the bushes at the north end of the island. It was a nearly daily occurrence to nearly be struck by Red-breasted Nuthatches. Dickcissels buzzed as they
passed by, and Clay-colored Sparrows made daily appearances, sometimes
more than one at a time. The island offered point blank views of common
species, but also offered up relatively rare species, providing below-eye-level views of species such as Connecticut Warbler, Tennessee Warbler etc. on a regular basis.
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| Predawn Red-breasted Nuthatch - invasion years produce dozens some days |
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| Palm Warbler (fall) |
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| Swamp Sparrow (fall) |
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| An Eastern Wood Pewee spent all morning at or below eye level on 10/2/12. |
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| Like many species, Golden-crowned Kinglets sometimes nearly strike birders. |
I started the spring, 2013 vigil on March 30th, relatively early so as to catch migrant sparrows and other early movers. As I watched the radar images from Long Island, I paid attention to the intensity and directionality of bird movement off Long Island, overnight. At first there was very little happening. Then, one evening I noted that the eastern fork of Long Island seemed to be somewhat covered in radar returns, birds headed east over open water. The next morning, a few migrants such as Winter Wren or Dark-eyed Junco would be present on the island.
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| This migrating Field Sparrow allowed for both still and in-flight photos. |
Intermittently, for the next 5 weeks, a few migrant landbirds were found after marginally good nocturnal
movements of birds from Long Island - the key seeming to be a relatively
good coverage of the East Fork. Three nights showed the East Fork to be covered, and three mornings provided at least some indication of migration - 6 Northern Flickers, 3 Field Sparrows, an overabundance of Song Sparrows.
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| Northern Flicker on the move |
While watching seabirds pass in above-average numbers for the
Southcoast, I managed to pick out a speck far out over the water to the southwest. It turned out be a Northern Flicker arriving off of the water. Later that morning, one of my first Tree Swallows of the year followed suit. A late April Blue-headed Vireo was an obviously tired migrant, searching for food at the edge of the thicket. Unfortunately, a strong weather pattern embraced the east coast of the U.S., with constant easterly winds dominating. Nocturnal flights of migrant birds flowed away from the coast, headed for the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. Migration along the east coast all but stopped in its tracks for weeks. It had to break eventually.
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| Blue-headed Vireo, tuckered out after a tough night of migration |
A brief radar interlude: Once migration got underway again, the radar began warming up,
however during April, migration was primarily confined to the region immediately north
of Long Island. These two video loops (below) of the radar show a very active
migration night, and a relatively slow migration night, both of which preceded poor migration days on Gooseberry. In both loops,
birds lift off after dusk (growing color disk), and move east (cool
colors to the west are birds moving toward the radar site, warm colors
to the east are birds departing the radar site; The
radar beam angles up from the radar station, so birds detected far from
the radar station are much higher than those that show up near the
center.) In the upper video
loop, birds move out over the East Fork of Long Island, but not early enough, not for long enough, nor far
enough east to make landfall on Gooseberry. The morning following the upper radar loop produced only a single
migrant Blackpoll Warbler on Gooseberry, though conditions on the ground there were ideal
(light wind from the west, and extensive fog). In the lower video loop, birds move off Long Island, but rain
to the south (large, blocky radar returns off the New Jersey coast) prevents birds from leaving NJ for our waters.
Notice the East Fork of Long Island is not obscured in either of these
for most of the night, compared to the third radar loop in this blog post (immediately below the MassBird text in italics). This pattern was repeated every night during the poor migration conditions that were in place for much of April and the beginning of May, 2013. The lack of migrants on Gooseberry followed suit.
Here are the two links to the short-term loop radar site (best checked in the middle of the night or at dawn; select the velocity loop and navigate among radar stations with the arrows):
http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=BOX&product=N0S&overlay=11101111&loop=yes
and here's the link for the 4-day archive of radar loops (check the "velocity" option, select the loop duration you want, and your radar station... doesn't loop with smartphones):
http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/radar/
Back to the story. Though I had a late start on the morning of May 9th, without looking at radar from the previous night I headed out to Gooseberry in hopes that the first light westerlies of May had blown some migrants to our shores. As I drove out on the causeway, a smallish dark "gull" appeared out of the fog. My instantaneous reaction was "imm. Laughing Gull", but before I could finish that thought, I knew it wasn't, for a whole host of reasons. I instantly grabbed for my camera and snapped a couple poor photos of my first of five Parasitic Jaegers for the day. In the Gooseberry parking lot, upon closing my car door I heard a Northern Parula singing in the bushes, and a short while later, an Ovenbird. Then a Kentucky Warbler sang from the shrubs, and skulked through the thicket. Looks like I should have been there for dawn! Jaegers were chasing terns to the edge of the fog, wheeling back into the gray after unintended close approach. Two were seen by Alice Morgan while I was watching two others on the opposite end of the island, so there were quite a few around. After a brief but rewarding scouring of Gooseberry, I headed home to check the radar. Sure enough, the entire east fork of Long Island had been obscured by radar returns for a good portion of the night, and birds were registering on radar well out over Buzzards Bay. I alerted the broader birding community that Gooseberry could be good the next morning, and a handful of birders turned out for a great show.
Throughout the night of 5/15/2012, a light westerly wind finally blew over much of the Atlantic Seaboard. The nocturnal radar irrupted with migrants headed out over the ocean from New Jersey and Long Island. I made the predawn drive into the fog, and immediately upon exiting my car, I heard a White-eyed Vireo singing at the entrance gate on the island, then a Wood Thrush - new arrivals. A Veery dashed around in the sand at the base of the last bush before making the jump to the mainland. American Redstarts and Magnolia Warblers made brief stops in the bushes around the parking lot before launching into the predawn drear. A few waves of warblers went unidentified overhead, but a handful managed to be seen, including a Kentucky Warbler that Ian Davies picked out as it flew between several observers and perched in a nearby bush. Nearly a dozen Northern Parulas, several Prairies, more than several Black and Whites, a Nashville, American Redstarts, and a half dozen migrating Yellow Warblers made the first hour or so busy. At least two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks allowed very close approach, and early migrant species such as White-throated, Chipping, and Savannah Sparrows kept us on our toes with 3 White-crowned Sparrows scattered around. The biggest miss for me for the day was a Bay-breasted Warbler that hopped around the parking lot while I was walking out to check out the southern end of the island (The following day either it, or a different one was on the island, and I managed to get photos of it hopping around on the beach! Here's a species that winters in the cloud forest of the Andes and
breeds in the spruce forests of
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| Usually seen high in the trees, this is a rather unusual view of a Bay-breasted Warbler. |
Canada, hopping around in the seaweed
trying to pack on enough energy [in the form of flies among the wrack]
to continue north to the breeding grounds. Astounding!) It took trying
to take photos of a White-crowned Sparrow to show us just what we had
been missing by focusing on passerines alone.
Since exiting my car before dawn, the cries of loons, primarily Red-throateds, were a constant reminder of just how many migrating seabirds there must be beyond the wall of dense fog. Late in the morning, a White-crowned Sparrow dashed to the opposite (north) end of the parking lot. Dan Logan and I jockeyed into position to take its photo, when a black mass of waterfowl hove out of the dense fog and into view, surprising us both. At least 100 scoters had been moving along the shore when they ran into the Gooseberry causeway. Not realizing that it is only 25' wide, the birds veered away from the crashing waves, reacting to the perceived shoreline. Shortly after, another slug of a few dozen followed suit, then a few loons of both species loomed out of the fog, passing only a dozen feet over the causeway. This pattered went on for another hour. Passerine watching was done. It was time to pay attention to the seabirds. Easily 500 sea ducks and dozens of loons passed nearby, all of which followed their predecessors. As the fog began to lift a second cycle Iceland Gull flew from the side of the causeway toward land and keyed us in on a flock of Laughing Gulls drifting toward shore. As the morning drew to a close, a pair of breeding plumage Boneparte's Gulls joined them, and a pair of Blue-winged Teal flew in and settled just within view.
The idea that this kind of spring birding is available anywhere on the Southcoast is foreign to most birders in Massachusetts. It was an eye-opening morning, but would it be this way very often? The next front, two days later, was another rewarding one on Gooseberry Island, though the host of species was vastly different. A single male Scarlet Tanager and an American Redstart were the only forest passerines that were observed, yet a Purple Martin (relatively rare on the Southcoast), three Parasitic Jaegers, and a pair of Common Ravens (over the mainland) were interesting spring additions to my adventures on Gooseberry. The next day was similar, in that now 2 Purple Martins worked their way off Gooseberry, a Cliff Swallow, Bank Swallows, and a handful of warblers, including Cape May, Orange-crowned (relatively rare in the spring), and a handful of migrant Yellow Warblers headed for their breeding grounds, perhaps a thousand miles north of the island. But I worried that the great migration two days previous was a one off. A freak event that I happened to be fortunate to witness, just as I had been there for that fine October day in 2010. Several uneventful days passed with nearly no birds at all. Radar and winds portended these slow days, but things were bottling up to the south, and one day they had to go. When it did, it was the best spring birding day I'd had on the Southcoast in my five years of birding there.
At dawn on May 16th, the radar was live with birds off New Jersey and
Long Island, all which were still out over the water at first light.
Several other birders heeded my clarion call that this was going to be a
great day, and were well rewarded. Upon taking my position atop a sandy
mound at the intersection of the parking lot and thicket, I immediately
saw Magnolia warblers moving in the bushes. While scanning the pre-dawn
gloom, I spotted an inbound migrant coming steadily off the water. Dan
Logan used his seemingly magical prowess with his camera and snatched a
few images of the bird as it skirted the island and headed for shore - a
bird that showed all signs of being a Gray-cheek/Bicknell's Thrush. As a
few more birders showed, waves of warblers began passing off the end of
the island. Magnolia Warblers dominated the flocks, with Yellow-rumped
Warblers, American Redstarts, and Northern Parulas passing by the
handful. A Kentucky Warbler, my third for Gooseberry Island this spring,
dashed close by and into the thicket. "What's just above that red soda
cup?" was a question someone asked... referring to a bright red male
Scarlet Tanager stuffed into a bush, just a couple feet off the ground
(Whenever we saw a male tanager after that, we called out "Beer cup!")
This and another male allowed approach to within 10 feet, and gave
spectacular views.
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| At eye level in a thicket, this Bay-breasted Warbler blended right in to its surroundings as it sang. |
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| Always adding color to a dank dreary spring morning, this chest-level Scarlet Tanager was initially mistaken for a beer cup. |
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| Unexpected, this Red-breasted Nuthatch was headed north after a winter invasion. |
A high pitched song from the thickets made be double-take, thinking Cape May Warbler, but instead, another Bay-breasted Warbler jumped, and flew to one of the north-most bushes, where it perched, singing for many minutes before departing to the mainland. Together, we identified over 100 warblers to species (see list below), and easily missed another 50, as they passed too quickly or too distant for identification. We also tallied 16 Baltimore Orioles (primarily females), three surprise Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a Pine Siskin - late migrants headed north after an invasion year. At last, that banner day had come and gone, with approximately 65 species being tallied from a single 20 X 20 yard "spot" at the north end of the island.
Here's the account I posted on MassBird:
"Pant, pant, pant... Had to catch my breath. This morning was the best
spring birding I've done so far this year, and certainly the best
Southcoast spring birding I've experienced yet. Those who think the
Southcoast is a black hole for spring migrants just haven't been timing
it right (yours truly included!). Radar images of nocturnal migrants in
the air seem to predict Gooseberry migration. Two nights ago, there were
lots of birds in the air over Long Island and exiting New Jersey, but
the east fork of Long Island had few to no migrants over it. As had been
the case during all of spring migration so far, Gooseberry was dead
after that kind of pattern. On the other hand, last night was consistent
with the handful of better migration events for Gooseberry, in that the
eastern fork of Long Island was shrouded in radar echos, and radar
returns showed many birds off the New Jersey coast. Sure enough, we saw
waves of migrants bunch up on the north end of Gooseberry and take off
north over the gap between the island and the mainland. Birding predawn
to 1pm produced some great views of this astounding migration event. I
separately listed the species actually seen migrating and those seen on
the island but not in migration. Matt Milan, Dan Zimberlin, Bev King,
Dan Logan, and I tallied these species, mostly from standing in one spot
all morning... 70ish species, 60ish from one spot). There were
certainly more, though we did manage to identify approximately 60 to 70
percent of the birds that crossed (that we could see - there were
certainly many stratospherical birds that we never saw nor heard).
50+ Common Loon
30+ Red-throated Loon
2 Great Cormorant (had just yesterday mentioned that I hadn't had any migrate past this spring)
Double-crested Cormorant
10 Northern Gannet (all young birds)
8 White-winged Scoter
9 Black Scoter
12 Surf Scoter
2 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Merlin
1 American Golden Plover
7 Least Sandpiper
6 Chimney Swift
2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1 Eastern Wood Peewee
7 Great Crested Flycatcher
6 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Yellow-throated Vireo
1 Purple Martin (female; 4th migrant in 3 days)
1 Bank Swallow
6 Tree Swallow
10 Barn Swallow
3 Red-breased Nuthatch
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Catharus Thrush sp. (prob. Gray-cheek; early flyover)
1 Northern Mockingbird (migrant)
WARBLERS
10 Northern Parula
3 Nashville
6 Yellow (migrants, many more residents)
30+ Magnolia (predominant migrant for the day, some nearly hitting us)
1 Black-throated Blue (female)
2 Blackburnian Warbler
20 Yellow-rumped Warbler
3 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Prairie Warbler (heard sing twice near the tower)
1 Bay-breasted Warbler (singing male)
6 Blackpoll Warbler (one female, and one male with very greenish wings)
3 Black and White Warbler
8 American Redstart
2 Northern Waterthrush (one seen migrating, one singing near towers)
1
Kentucky Warbler (made a dash below waist level, and into thicket; very
long undertail coverts, plain green back, entirely yellow underside)
Common Yellowthroat (none actually seen migrating, but new females on the island; many new males on territory)
1
Wilson's Warbler (remained near trailhead, below foot-level, and
singing for much of the morning... still there when I left at 1pm))
1 Canada Warbler (unidentified warbler flew out and photos proved it to be a Canada)
3 Scarlet Tanager (2 males and a female; very close views in bushes, below eye level)
[Indigo Bunting] heard migrating overhead but never seen (3?)
16 Baltimore Oriole (only 3 males noted, one in what could be considered sufficient bling)
1 Orchard Oriole (second year male)
1 Pine Siskin (Perhaps we saw this bird headed south last fall!)
Birds not seen migrating
Mallard
Common Eider
2 Piping Plover
4 American Oystercatcher
6 Willet
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Tern
Least Tern
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (singing male at south end of island)
Eastern Towhee (not nearly as many as prev. days(!) so they were migrants)
2 White-throated Sparrow
3 White-crowned Sparrow
Song Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
Common Grackle
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
Paul Champlin
Westport, MA"
Here is an animation of the migration off of Long Island from sundown until 3 hours after dawn on 5/16/2013 (note the time stamps on this video are 4 hours ahead of eastern standard time, so 0:00 is 8PM on the 15th, 4:00 is midnight, and 8:00 is 4AM). Note how the birds cover the East Fork of Long Island, and how they are blown well south of Long Island, then east. Also note how there were still many scattered radar returns well after dawn (approx. 9:15). I have been using radar for 6 years, but it is still astonishing to me that we now are able to see what birds are headed our way well in advance!
Not all in this story is rosy, however. A week later, the conditions for a good migration seemed to be coming together. Light southwesterly winds were forecast overnight and fog was forecast for the morning. I actually sent out a post suggesting that people show up if they could, basing my prediction on my observations and a web site that makes weekly migration predictions. All signs pointed toward a movement of birds off New Jersey and Long Island, over Buzzards Bay. Even the radar at 9:30PM and pre-dawn suggested there were birds in the air off our coast. Dawn found more than a half dozen of us gathered, awaiting the migrants... that never came. As of 8AM we had seen a single female Blackpoll Warbler. Not just a slow day, but one of the slowest for the spring! Even though the radar had suggested that there were birds over the water, none made it to Gooseberry. Head hung low, I slunk away, tail tucked, uttering apologies (3:30AM wake up is tough, no matter if there are birds or no birds... though birds are much better than none). The next morning, a late start to the day provided looks at a single male Blackpoll. The next day, a few Bank Swallows and five Cedar Waxwings. Very quiet. A rainy Memorial Day weekend, 2013 provided a good rest from Gooseberry... Until Monday.
Memorial-Day-eve migration off of Long Island was marginal, and was only
slightly bettered by migration from New Jersey and Delaware Bay.
However the few birds that did manage to leave the mid Atlantic were
blown east, over water by, moderate westerly winds. Scattered radar returns peppered
open ocean for a good portion of the overnight. As such, I expected a
modest movement of birds on Gooseberry. This time of year the numbers
of birds may be small, but the chances for an oddball vagrant to show up
may be higher. A fall-like dawn found me at the Gooseberry parking lot
waiting for birds to arrive from well off shore. For the first 90
minutes I tallied an unidentified Catharus thrush, a pair of migrant
American Robins, two migrant Eastern Kingbirds that were accompanied by
the best bird of the day, an Olive-sided Flycatcher that briefly
stopped before making the jump to the mainland.
At 6:15, things started getting a little more interesting. All at once, an entirely unexpected male Chestnut-sided Warbler landed within 10 feet of me and a Blackpoll Warbler sang from within the thicket... immediately followed by a Black-throated Green Warbler. All
three came very close, and in perfect light on multiple occasions. The
Black-throated Green was seen leaving the island, and the flycatcher show
continued with several Willow/Alder type flycatchers, two of which
migrated on along with an Acadian Flycatcher. More surprises were in
store for the morning, in the form of a pair of rather late migrants - a
singing male Pine Warbler and a Red-breasted Nuthatch that bailed on
its attempt to migrate before I had to leave. Once again, the radar images and knowing wind patterns produced a pleasant, though chilly morning's birding at Gooseberry Island. Spring is certainly bit more hit-or-miss than fall birding, but the eye-popping views of birds in breeding plumage, below eye level are worth the effort.
As migration wound down, dribs and drabs of birds continued funneling though Gooseberry, with continued late migrants passing through, that would otherwise go undetected. Yellow Warblers, Eastern Kingbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, and other species that reside in New England parks and yards from early May through the breeding season also breed to the far north. For example, Yellow Warblers are common fixtures of the tundra, so some don't have the urgency to be on their breeding grounds during May when conditions are still rather poor for living, let alone nesting. As such, we see some of these late migrants moving through migration funnel points that allow their detection as migrants, while they go undetected as migrants elsewhere due to the species' wide distribution.
A notable species also passed in the first light of the day on 5-30-2013. As many as three Bicknell's Thrush, a rather rare thrush that breeds only in the highest elevations of the northeast made the jump to the mainland. One even stopped for a photo. Since it was first light, the photo below is rather obscure and heavily lightened. It was taken after the thrush flew in, calling (a high, flat, buzzy "Bzzzr" [weak on the 'r']), after which the bird ducked into the thicket. A few minutes later a similarly-calling thrush migrated off the island followed by another, both emitting a similar call as the first (one may have been the same bird as depicted).
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| Before sunrise this Bicknell's Thrush flew in while giving its flight call, and perched before ducking into the thicket. Shortly after, two more thrushes crossed to the mainland while calling; one may have been this same bird. |
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The final large push of birds that I noted was perhaps the most awesome example of migration predictability via reading radar images that I have had so far this spring. Winds during the overnight of May 31st were moderate from the south-southwest, which tends to be poor for bringing passerines to Gooseberry from Long Island. After a relatively quiet, northbound-dominated night of migration, 2 hours before dawn the radar showed a large blob of radar returns off of Long Island, and they were headed directly for Buzzards Bay (see video below; The slug of migrants appear late in the sequence and are tracked by the cursor. This set of images is not available to download yet, so the quality is low). At dawn the large slug of birds appeared to be just off the shore of the Southcoast, so my thinking was that if these were passerines they would probably head for the nearest shore (Sakonett Point in RI, Gooseberry or Cuttyhunk). I scanned the skies, watching for small specks passing south to north overhead, and listening for the telltale "zeep" notes of warblers. "Where are they? By the radar loop on my cell phone they should be showing up any second! Could that 4sum of Least Tern be the vanguard of a large flock? Perhaps that Double-crested Cormorant... but most cormorants have moved already." Then a loon flew over the island... followed by another... then 3. The slug of birds moving into Buzzards Bay did not really aim for shore, and this told me that I should be watching for birds with variable migration schedules (not solely nocturnal) and that they should not mind migrating over water (gannets, cormorants, terns, gulls, shorebirds, waterfowl, and yes, Common Loons). While I have indeed counted many more loons in migration, the fact that I was able to watch these birds move off of Long Island and into Buzzards Bay (actually most moved off Cuttyhunk and the Islands), this 90 minute passage was in some ways more special, with 152 counted (actually, probably close to an average for a morning in mid May). The offshore number was certainly much higher as the video loop suggests. Also mixed in with the loons were 71 Northern Gannets, 22 Surf Scoters, and three Parasitic Jaegers. And to think that I was going to sleep in!
While I only have a single spring's worth of intensive birding experience at this great location, there are a few others who have spent scattered single mornings, attempting to hit it "right". More data is out there, and I'll certainly be compiling it. While things may differ with a different (more normal?) kind of spring than the chilly one we had in 2013, here are a few brief comments I can make from observing spring landbird migration at Gooseberry:
- Radar returns covering the East Fork of Long Island for most of the
night is a strong indicator of the magnitude of migration over Gooseberry in the morning.
- The next radar station south of Long Island shows promise for predicting
the magnitude of Gooseberry migration. Birds departing due east, well out over the ocean from the
Jersey shore in the evening, find themselves over the open water at dawn and find their way to the Southcoast.
- Spring birding is far less consistent than fall birding, in that when you hit it right it can be jaw-dropingly spectacular, but when you hit it wrong it can be a fine, migrant-less walk at the seashore.
- Poor migration days are easier to predict than moderate or good days.
- Try to be there before dawn. On all but the best days, the two hours or so after dawn are the best (though I had some luck late in the morning on 5/9/2013).
- A westerly component to the overnight wind seems to be required for Gooseberry to have birds. Otherwise, migrants head north into CT and RI.
- Even days with only a few birds can produce quality looks at relatively uncommon species (at least uncommon on the Southcoast, and sometimes uncommon throughout New England).
- If Gooeseberry is foggy (which is often is during spring) it can still be great. Don't leave just because you see fog. Birds arriving, hesitate for longer since they can't see the mainland.
- Don't leave too early. On really good days, birds continue to arrive from offshore into the noon hour. Also along these lines, don't abandon the parking lot area for the trail system too soon. Lulls happen, and are often followed by waves.
- Finally, Dawn is far too early in the month of May (4:40ish). Fall is much more merciful (7ish)!
+in+flight+-+8-17-2013.JPG)
