Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
For over a month now, I had been hearing about all of the Broadbill that FINALLY came into Great South Bay - just before the season closed at the end of January. This past weekend, I made sure to get out pre-dawn each of 3 mornings. The first morning brought more Broadbill than I had seen in one place in almost 3 decades. Because they were on the water, I could not get any kind of accurate estimate. The raft lay in a long, sinuous shape that stretched westward from deep water right onto the beach. Google Earth helped me estimate the length of the flock from about 2500 to 3000 feet. The width varied wildly. It was never sparse and was frequently almost black with bodies, certainly hundreds of bodies "deep". We found ourselves wishing for a drone..... I settled on an estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 birds. It could have been way more - but I doubt it was much less.
These photos cannot compare with the quality shown by others on this site - especially since Morning 1 was sans tripod - but I hope they convey the flavor.
The second morning brought only a fraction of the birds - maybe 6 thousand or so. But, I made an interesting discovery when I got home and opened the photos on the laptop: In the background were skeins of Broadbill headed east. Now we really needed an aircraft to find them all.
A Horned Grebe - coming into breeding plumage - gave us a nice look.
The last day found none at all - or so Red reported when he found me just leaving the 7-11. But, we drove the couple of miles south, back to the Bay, and saw sights we had not seen since our youth. First, around 4000 had rafted up in the several minutes Red had been absent. Then, from the west and south, we had that happy uncertainty: Are they clouds ? - or are they birds ? Sure enough, each cloud loomed larger and closer and joined the raft, 500 or 1000 birds at a time. In just a few minutes, the raft had more than doubled in size.
We hope this is a beginning, a return of some of the hoards of Broadbill we all enjoyed in our earlier days. The questions are many. Where did they come from? What are they feeding on? Are there other big flocks on nearby bays? Will they be back next year? For the time being, though, we are simply savoring the nourishment of our souls in these last few mornings.
All the best,
SJS
For over a month now, I had been hearing about all of the Broadbill that FINALLY came into Great South Bay - just before the season closed at the end of January. This past weekend, I made sure to get out pre-dawn each of 3 mornings. The first morning brought more Broadbill than I had seen in one place in almost 3 decades. Because they were on the water, I could not get any kind of accurate estimate. The raft lay in a long, sinuous shape that stretched westward from deep water right onto the beach. Google Earth helped me estimate the length of the flock from about 2500 to 3000 feet. The width varied wildly. It was never sparse and was frequently almost black with bodies, certainly hundreds of bodies "deep". We found ourselves wishing for a drone..... I settled on an estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 birds. It could have been way more - but I doubt it was much less.
These photos cannot compare with the quality shown by others on this site - especially since Morning 1 was sans tripod - but I hope they convey the flavor.
The second morning brought only a fraction of the birds - maybe 6 thousand or so. But, I made an interesting discovery when I got home and opened the photos on the laptop: In the background were skeins of Broadbill headed east. Now we really needed an aircraft to find them all.
A Horned Grebe - coming into breeding plumage - gave us a nice look.
The last day found none at all - or so Red reported when he found me just leaving the 7-11. But, we drove the couple of miles south, back to the Bay, and saw sights we had not seen since our youth. First, around 4000 had rafted up in the several minutes Red had been absent. Then, from the west and south, we had that happy uncertainty: Are they clouds ? - or are they birds ? Sure enough, each cloud loomed larger and closer and joined the raft, 500 or 1000 birds at a time. In just a few minutes, the raft had more than doubled in size.
We hope this is a beginning, a return of some of the hoards of Broadbill we all enjoyed in our earlier days. The questions are many. Where did they come from? What are they feeding on? Are there other big flocks on nearby bays? Will they be back next year? For the time being, though, we are simply savoring the nourishment of our souls in these last few mornings.
All the best,
SJS
