Birding

Get Your Hurricane Irene Reports In to NYSARC!

September 18, 2011 by Corey No Comments

Hey, New York birders!  Yeah, you with the sheepish look on your face!  You just enjoyed one of the most epic days of birding our state has ever experienced and you haven’t filled out any reports for the New York State Avian Records Committee yet, have you?  For shame!  Angus Wilson, King of NYSARC, is crying into his beer right now because of you.*

At the end of August I posted a urgent plea from the Committee for documentation on the wealth of NYSARC-reviewable rarities associated with Hurricane Irene. The response has been disappointing, with only 14 submissions representing 9 species. Yes, you read it right, only 14 storm-related submissions from what is considered one of the most exciting NYS birding days in recent years.

I know we can do better than this.

Without going into the gory details, I will say that we’ve received details on only 3 of 6 WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRDS, 1 of the 4 SOUTH POLAR SKUAS (mea culpa on two of these) and nothing on any of the BAND-RUMPED or LEACH’S STORM-PETRELS. With regard to SOOTY and BRIDLED TERNS, which were present in record numbers, we’d appreciate any photos you have, numbers of individuals with locations and most importantly a few lines on how you made the identification (Sooty vs Bridled). We’d also like to hear about birds that you could not narrow down to one species or the other.

Where are my reports?  Um, they must have gotten lost in the mail or something.  Or my cat ate them.  Or my toddler.  Darn it!  Well, if I get a report in you have to do one too, alright?

*Angus’s title might be something other than king.  Maybe he’s an earl?  I can’t ever keep titles straight.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.