HUDSON-DELAWARE 
High counts of Black-bellied Plovers includ- 
ed 500 at Jamaica Bay 26 May (SSM), 400 at 
Nummy 1., Cape May, NJ 12 May (CjV), and 
375 at Heislerville 9 May (TL), similar to last 
spring. There were 11 American Golden- 
Plovers reported, 6 of these in New Jersey, 3 in 
New York, and 2 in Delaware, 2 more than last 
year. Peak counts of Semipalmated Plovers 
were 1000 at Brigantine 19 May (SC) and 305 
at Heislerville 8 May (TL); 323 Killdeers were 
at Braddock Bay 1 Apr (DT). North of 
Delaware, one or 2 Black-necked Stilts were in 
Cape May 29 Apr-10 May (A1 Maples, PD et 
ah), 2 were at Brigantine 20 May (m.ob.), and 
another was at Oceanside, Nassau, Long 1. 8- 
15 May (Pat Egen, Rich Carlan). Two Ameri- 
can Avocets were at Heislerville 12-16 May 
(KL et ah). Peak counts of yellowlegs were 200 
Creators at Brigantine 28 Apr (CJV), 151 
Lessors at Tonawanda 3 May (WW), 100 
Lessors each at Brigantine 9 May (CJV) and 
Cape May 12 May (CD), and the earliest local 
record ever (by two weeks) of Lesser at 
Batavia, Genesee 10-12 Mar (Elaine Dart, Doug 
Beattie). Three one-year-old Western Willets 
were found on e. Long 1. 24 Apr-25 May 
(AnW, SSM, PJL); this subspecies has not been 
widely reported here at this time of year. An 
exceptionally large group of 28 Willets, pre- 
sumably of subspecies inomata, was seen at 
Bemus Pt., Chautauqua L., Chautauqua, NY 30 
Apr (Paul Baglia et ah). An Upland Sandpiper 
at Cape May 30 Apr (RC) was early, and the 
largest groups of Whimbrels reported were 200 
at Cape May 10 May (V Zollo) and 134 at 
Hamlin Beach 31 May (WS). Only 2 Marbled 
Godwits were reported this spring, both in s. 
New Jersey. 
Larger counts of small sandpipers included 
2700 Sanderlings at Pike’s Beach 28 May 
(SSM) and 2300 at Plum Beach, Brooklyn, NY 
the same day (DC); 20,000 Semipalmated 
Sandpipers at Brigantine 19 May (SC) and 
10,000 at Heislerville 14 May (WK); and up 3 
Western Sandpipers at Heislerville, where un- 
common in spring, 25 Apr (RRV) and 9 May 
(TL). Vast flocks of Dunlins roosting at 
Heislerville numbered up to 30,000 on 25 Apr 
(RRV). At least 3 Curlew Sandpipers were 
found: 2 at Heislerville 10-25 May (Harvey 
Tomlinson, TR, m.ob.) and one at Nummy L, 
Cape May 20 May (LZ, MO’B). There were at 
least 8 Stilt Sandpipers found this spring: 2 at 
Heislerville 22 Apr (CJV) were early, and sin- 
gles at Sagaponack 17 May (HM) and Sodus 
Pt., Wayne, NY (LL, RG) were farther e. and 
n., respectively, than usual. Five thousand 
Short-billed Dowitchers were at Heislerville 
25 May (ME), 2500 were at Brigantine 12 May 
(CJV), and 3 Long-billeds at Brigantine 21 
May (AM) were migrants. The only Ruff re- 
ported this spring was one at Fowler’s Beach, 
Sussex, DE 11 Apr (BGP). About 35 Red- 
necked Phalaropes were seen on the ocean off 
the s. shore of Long 1. 25-29 May (SSM et ah). 
Six Parasitic Jaegers off the Cape May ferry 
16 May (TL) was the largest number reported. 
About 5600 Laughing Gulls at Nummy L, 
Cape May 5 Apr made a particularly large con- 
centration (CJV). Forty-three Little Gulls at 
Fort Niagara 10 Apr (JP, WD’A) were far more 
than have been seen in recent years, though 
not topping the Region’s maximum of 78 seen 
in Nov 1981. Also on 10 Apr, 4 Little Gulls 
were seen on Spruce Run Res., Hunterdon, NJ 
(FS), which suggests a peak in migratory ac- 
tivity near that date. About 10 Black-headed 
Gulls were seen Regionwide, including one 
late one on the Niagara R. 29-30 May QP). 
The 5784 Bonaparte’s Gulls at Fort Niagara 
S.P 10 Apr (JP WD’A) constitutes one of the 
largest spring totals on record. Seven Glau- 
cous Gulls and 28 Iceland Gulls were average 
numbers for spring; single Glaucous Gull x 
Herring Gull hybrids were at Cape May 21 
Apr-4 May (TL, SG) and South Amboy, NJ 12- 
29 Mar (A. Laquidara et ah). A second-cycle 
Thayer’s Gull was clearly photographed at 
South Amboy 29 Apr (TBo). Lesser Black- 
backed Gulls were more widely reported than 
they have been in recent springs, and the large 
numbers that have been wintering in the 
Philadelphia area seem to be expanding north- 
eastward. One hundred nineteen were on 
Spruce Run Res. 10 Apr (FS), and the Region- 
al total of about 200 birds includes 23 on Long 
1. and 12 on the Niagara R. 13 Mar-21 May. 
Gull-billed Terns have been expanding east- 
Q A There was some cause for optimism for Red Knot numbers this spring. The maximum count for Delaware Bay was 
•J #1 more than 20,000 birds (U. S. Geological Survey, New Jersey Division of Fish, Game, and Wildlife, and Delaware Di- 
vision of Fisheries and Wildlife), which is up from the all-time low of 13,300 in 2005. It was a strong breeding season for 
Horseshoe Crabs, whose eggs provide the primary food for knots during their stopover in Delaware Bay, and it was thought 
that the good egg crop this year was the reason for the larger knot totals. An estimated 150,000 knots used Delaware Bay 
during spring migration into the early 1980s. it seems plausible that restrictions on crab harvest in recent years may be do- 
ing some good, but at least one paper questions whether these restrictions are adequate to save this population (Niles, L. 
J. et al. 2009. Effects of Horseshoe Crab harvest in Delaware Bay on Red Knots; are harvest restrictions working? BloSdence 
59:153-164). 
400 
ward on Long L; 10-15 birds were seen at 
Jones Beach in mid-May (Sharon Brody, JGl), 
not far from where up to two pairs have nest- 
ed most years since 1975. Larger counts of 
Caspian Terns were 271 at 'Wilson, Niagara, 
NY (WD’A) and 7 at Georgica Pond, Suffolk, 
Long 1. 23 Apr (HM). Two Common Terns on 
the Niagara R. at Lewiston 6 Apr (BC) were 
near the record-early date of 2 Apr; Common 
Terns in first-summer plumage were at Jones 
Beach and Moriches Inlet, Long 1. 16 & 25 
May, and 2 second-summer birds were at Cup- 
sogue 25 May (both SSM, PJL); young Com- 
mon Terns usually stay on their wintering 
grounds, and the few that come n. seldom ar- 
rive before Jun. Eleven Forster’s Terns at Brad- 
dock Bay 9 May was a large number for spring 
(DT). A Dovekie carefully studied on the wa- 
ter from Staten 1. 9 Mar (Starr Saphir, Lenore 
Swenson) was very unusual for that locality. A 
Thick-billed Murre that wintered at Ditch 
Plains, Suffolk, Long 1. was still there 1 Mar. 
DOVES THROUGH WOODPECKERS 
The population of Eurasian Collared-Doves at 
Selbyville, Sussex, DE has contained 20-30 in- 
dividuals since about 1997, and 6 were seen 
there 14 Mar (FR); elsewhere, singles were 
seen at Cods Rd., Sussex, DE 25 Apr (BGP), 
Cape May 15 May (TR), and Hamlin, Monroe, 
NY 6 Mar (RSp). It is not clear that the Sel- 
byville colony is the source of any of our Re- 
gional records, which have been concentrated 
around Cape May. The season’s only White- 
winged Dove was at Indian River Inlet, Sussex, 
DE 16 May (AG). Forty-five Monk Parakeets 
were seen near the epicenter of their distribu- 
tion near Edgewater, Bergen, NJ (MI), and 30 
were seen over nearby Pelham Bay Park in the 
Bronx 5 Apr (SSM). Another was at Ami- 
tyville, Suffolk, Long 1. 13 Apr (SSM); recent 
evidence suggests population growth and 
spread following many years of little growth. 
Following a major winter flight, about 10 
Snowy Owls remained in the Region up until 
11 Apr (with one outlier at Oneida L. 22 May 
[BPu]); the southernmost was at Cape May 
until 15 Mar (LZ et al). Two Northern Hawk 
Owls continued from the winter season in 
Clinton, NY; one at Peru through 15 Mar 
(Chris Bennett et al.), the other at Champlain 
through 28 Mar (Donna & Thomas Gooley). 
About 27 Short-eared Owls were reported, in- 
cluding 14 in the Niagara area and 12 in New 
Jersey through 18 Apr. About 22 Long-eared 
Owls reported included a nesting pair at Rens- 
selaerville, Albany, NY (WY). A Boreal Owl 
was found roosting in Wilson-Tuscarora S.P., 
Niagara, NY 27 Mar (BPo), furnishing only 
the 5th record for that area. It was a slow 
spring for Northern Saw-whet Owls, with only 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
