With the recent arrival of the autumnal equinox, one of the most memorable summers of my life has finally come to a close. My own observance of the season, however, unofficially kicked off several weeks prior. By the time the schoolyear began anew in the first days of September, I was already deep in my revelry over the excitement of postbreeding migratory activity. For my money, this is consistently the most wonderful time of the birding year. In keeping with the established standards of 2024 thus far, early autumn has already managed to exceed my lofty expectations.
There is no sense in beating around the bush here: since my last update on this site, I have made the single most spectacular personal birding discovery of my entire career to date. While watching some light morning flight activity from the roof of my apartment building just after sunrise on August 22nd, I was surprised to see a slender, long-winged seabird drifting northeastwards. As the bird turned graceful loops overhead, I raised my binoculars to see the unmistakable spear-billed profile of a sulid, a most unexpected sight in this part of the world at this time of year! I sprang into action, cursing loudly as I fired off a series of documentation shots before it circled out of sight. My entire body seemed to be vibrating with shock as I pulled up the photos on my camera. I knew what the bird had to be based on the field marks I had observed, but I could hardly bring myself to believe it. Careful review of the images in comparison to multiple reference books confirmed my initial impressions, which were swiftly backed by the gobsmacked friends who I consulted for a sanity check. The unthinkable had happened. The bird was indisputably a subadult white morph Red-footed Booby, a species never before documented in New York State! In an instant, my humble apartment secured itself a place in the annals of birding history. I had somehow managed to add a new bird to the official State Checklist, and my own life list, during one of my silly little vismig stakeouts up on the roof! I would call it a dream come true, but even I would scarcely dare to dream this big!
The entire experience was, and remains, beyond surreal. While I was still struggling to process the magnitude of this observation, friends from all over the country reached out to offer their congratulations. The breaking news became a major discussion topic on the American Birding Podcast episode that I was serendipitously scheduled to record later that same day. Hearing a bird seen from my own domicile mentioned in the same breath as yardbird legends like the Arizona Juan Fernandez Petrel, the Labrador Yellow-breasted Bunting, and the New Jersey Red-flanked Bluetail set my head spinning. Even more insane, the booby I witnessed soaring over Astoria turned out to be the same exact individual that had been spotted at the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay by Aaron Reb the previous morning. The vagrant sulid had evidently made a roughly 150-mile flight, largely overland, in less than 24 hours, and it showed no signs of slowing down. I have no idea where this wayward wanderer could turn up next, or indeed if it will ever be seen again, but I am beyond grateful that it graced my unassuming roof deck with a fleeting flyby. According to eBird data, I have dedicated more than 237 cumulative hours to skywatching stakeouts atop my apartment leading up to this sighting. To see all that effort pay off in such a magnificently dramatic fashion is a joy and a privilege that words fail to adequately express! Birds are incredible, and birding is incredible!
My summer vacation’s fantastic grand finale left the rest of the fall season with a tough act to follow, but there are still plenty of other avian prizes and smaller-scale accomplishments to be enjoyed. The first few weeks of southbound migration produced some lovely new additions to my Randall’s Island list. An early influx of Neotropical migrants in late August furnished me with my long-overdue first Canada Warblers for the hotspot, and the first half of September saw my friends claiming victory over a minor patch nemesis when we discovered two Philadelphia Vireos associating with mixed foraging flocks of songbirds around the Island. Most notably, I was able to reconnect with a one-day-wonder Lark Sparrow for the first time in 5 years, a shockingly long time to go without an observation of this regular western vagrant. Other recent birds of note at Randall’s included a pair of Caspian Terns winging their way down the East River, a shy Gray-cheeked Thrush lurking in the gardens, and a young Northern Harrier circling high above the ballfields. Even though the true peak of autumnal diversity has yet to arrive, the initial waves of migrants have undoubtedly delivered the goods so far!
The first phase of fall migration is famously productive for the abundance and diversity of shorebirds and other aquatic species passing through our region, and the August-to-September period this year was no exception. My outings up and down the South Shore of Long Island provided me with a buffet of lovely yearbirds, including both Hudsonian and Marbled Godwits at the Cupsogue flats, a co-found Wilson’s Phalarope at Captree Island, and a stray White Ibis at Cow Meadow Park. As usual, Jamaica Bay proved to be one of the most productive local sites, hosting an impressive suite of avian guests that featured highlights such as Baird’s Sandpiper, American White Pelican, Sora, American Avocet, and Red-necked Phalarope. I have always thought it seasonally appropriate that the tail end of summer typically sees me spending so much of my time exploring coastal areas. It can be tough to beat a relaxing day at the beach, or a marsh, for that matter, when those initial cold fronts start rolling in from the north.
Once school resumes its regularly scheduled programming at the beginning of each September, opportunities for extended birding outings become considerably scarcer. This premium on free time is especially pronounced when one considers how many of my weekends end up blocked off for social events or trips out of town. Pre-work rooftop stakeouts and post-work jaunts to the various parks around the City invariably make up the bulk of my birding effort during this busy time of year. Fortunately, even these more restricted outings have plenty of potential to deliver memorable experiences. Productive trips to Bryant Park permitted me to spend some quality time admiring the animated antics of the ever-engaging Yellow-breasted Chat. My visits to see this beloved bird were accompanied by close encounters with additional lingering migrants such as Marsh Wren, Mourning Warbler, and American Redstart. Another of my favorite specialty species to watch for during early fall migration is the infamously secretive Connecticut Warbler. I was fortunate to enjoy several encounters with these chunky, bug-eyed skulkers this year, including a fleetingly glimpsed self-find at Lido Passive Nature Preserve and a remarkably stealthy individual creeping around an overgrown lawn in Central Park. As far as landbirds go, there are still plenty of species that are only just starting to show up along the coast of New York, and others still that might not appear for weeks to come. It well may be that some of the biggest surprises of the year are yet to reveal themselves.Â
As in seasons past, I once again partook in the NYC Bird Alliance migration surveys at the Tribute in Light. For more than 20 years, our organization has collaborated with the 9/11 Memorial and Museum to help reduce the potential impacts of this luminous monument on the behavior of migratory birds passing through the City’s airspace. It is always an honor to be a part of this event, where remembrance and research come together in such a unique fashion. The evening of September 11th, 2024 saw favorable northwesterly winds at higher altitudes, which ushered in impressive numbers of migrants. As a result, the beams needed to be shut off briefly on several occasions throughout the night. This year’s monitoring efforts produced an impressive array of moths, bats, and birds, including a handful of species that had never before been conclusively documented at the Tribute. Some flyby sightings of rails early in the night turned out to be Soras, with the dark coloration of the neck contrasting with the pale plumage of the belly. An even bigger surprise came in the form of a handsome male Golden-winged Warbler, the ABA Bird of the Year, which I picked out by its sharply delineated black throat patch and uniformly whitish underparts. The warbler fortuitously made several cooperative passes through the beams, which permitted all of the assembled observers to get their eyes on it for a bit. In the developing field of nocturnal visible migration monitoring, or nocvismig, there is always something new to be learned, and even chance observations like these can provide valuable data for future observers.
It remains to be seen how the remainder of the fall migration season is going to shake out, but I honestly already feel as though I am playing with house money given how brilliantly successful 2024 has been up to this point. I have made so many unique and unforgettable memories during the first three-quarters of the year, and the months ahead hold plenty of promise all their own. October often sees the autumn peak of avian diversity here in New York, November is traditionally the Weird Month when just about anything can happen, and December will assuredly feature no shortage of delightful experiences with friends and family as winter finally settles in. With leaves only just starting to turn and countless migrants still yet to arrive in our region, the possibilities for the immediate future seem nigh endless! Bring it on, Fall! Show us what you got!