Long Island Coastal Report

Steve Walter SWalter at nyc.rr.com
Sat Jul 28 19:43:27 EDT 2001


Today was my first trip of the season down to the Long Island coast (Fort Tilden, Queens County). Late July is when it usually starts to get interesting. It certainly was today. This report is a mixed bag of animal forms, with species heading both north and south. You can choose your area(s) of interest. 

Birds: 6 Brown Pelicans moving east. Barn Swallows heading west (the direction you go to head south on Long Island), along with a Bank Swallow, a few Red-winged Blackbirds and Cedar Waxwings. 

Dragonflies: A fair southbound movement without what I'd call a favorable wind for July (light southwest - on which I've seen pretty good flights in late August when it gets a little more urgent to get going). Most of the flight consisted of Spot-winged and Wandering Gliders. The latter species was expected after the report from Massachusetts the other day - they can be quite scarce some years (and sometimes abundant) as opposed to the more consistent Spot-winged. Also on the move were several Swamp Darners and Black Saddlebags and probably one Painted Skimmer (seen while driving).

Butterflies: I pulled my car up to a butterfly bush. It was loaded with (this year, of course) Red Admirals. Also on it were Painted and American Ladies, Question Marks, Eastern Commas, a Black Swallowtail, a Sachem, and Monarchs. From the looks of things today, we should see a rebound from the dismal Monarch migration of last year (a few already on the move). Otherwise, not much in the way of movement, although I did see one Red Admiral come in off the ocean high and heading north. Most of the Red Admirals were on the worn side and not in shape for migration. That will begin in earnest when their offspring emerge and begin the return south. The presence of Commas was interesting. Based on circumstantial evidence (like showing up on the beach where they don't normally occur and being closely related to Question Mark), I've suspected that they may migrate in some years (Question Mark is regular). I still need to see them moving down the beach (not easy telling them from Question Mark though - and I haven't caught any when using a net to sample for them)... Among other species present at Tilden were an American Snout and a late Delaware Skipper... Just no Buckeyes around this year (so far).

Steve Walter
Bayside, NY

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