Fall Migration Bird Count
Sunday, September 15, 2024
This year’s Fall Migratory Bird Count recorded 45 species, surpassing our previous survey average of 39.9. Raptors like sharp-shinned hawks, merlins, and bald eagles were prominent, alongside a colony of juvenile seagulls moving across the island.
Click any image to see a larger version and scroll the gallery.
Fishers Island Raptors — captured beautifully this year by
photographer Todd McCormack
Despite the fall migration count’s success, some species were absent, including swallows and only a few sparrows were counted.
This fluctuation reflects the changing nature of migration on Fishers Island.
This September, the bird counters were Ken Edwards Sr, Todd McCormack, Will Almeida, Emily Baisden, Adam Mitchell, Tom Sargent, Catalina Berry, and FI School’s science teacher Michelle Zimberlin Wall.
Following Audubon bird count rules, birders make 15 five-minute stops from the West End to the East End of Fishers Island. At each timed stop, birders count birds and call out what they see. Our experts lead the count and answer questions along the way.
Click the button for the full species list and learn more about the count’s findings!
Note: “The asterisk (*) indicates species we observed as part of our “running count” for the weekend—birds observed that weekend but not during the official count. So, for our official count, we observed 45 species. If we include the running count, we observed 57 species.” – Adam B. Mitchell, Ph.D.
FIConservancy Team
