Sunday, 27 February, 2011 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City The VARIED THRUSH was seen by myself & many other birders, mostly in the location it's been regular in, east of the Ramble's maintenance building, on the south side of the E. 79 Street transverse road, with views ranging from good to less-than-good, mainly depending on the amount of time, or luck in timing observers had. As of today this bird has been in Central Park for at least 3 months now.
The continuing RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was at the area between southeast corner of Sheep Meadow & the Carousel, mainly in trees near the 66 Street transverse road. It can be rather still for long periods, and does not seem to have become vocal at all, although it may start to as spring arrives. It is occasionally aggressive towards other birds in the area, including (at times) European Starlings. At 10:15-10:20 a.m., a COMMON RAVEN, very vocal, soaring in above the northeast part of the park (near the Meer) was seen & clearly heard, which was a first in Central Park for me (a very few other birders have reported the species there, so far). The raven was possibly upset with a fly-over 2nd-year BALD EAGLE which was moving fairly low and directly north, continuing on well north of the park. Also seen were 2 Red-tailed Hawks at the same time, neither of which looked willing to get in the mix with the raven or the eagle. The raven made a very low pass by the Meer, but then continued, still squawking, east-northeast possibly out towards the E. River near 110 St. or so. At the Ramble's feeders, at least 2 COMMON REDPOLLS turned up with a large (150+) flock of mixed finches, mainly American Goldfinch with also a number of PINE SISKINS (8+) at first light, but by a bit later in the morning was much diminished in numbers, and by around 11 a.m. it seemed just a single Pine Siskin (along with much lower numbers of Am. Goldfinch) remained feeding on the nyjer seed, or nearby... however I don't know what was or was not seen there after 11. There is not very much really 'weedy' habitat in the park and if redpolls were to be feeding in trees, they could be found almost anywhere within the park. The Ramble otherwise had the usual variety of species, while less-common wintering birds included Winter Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and "red" Fox Sparrow, as well as a single Myrtle Warbler - likely one others have also been seeing over the past week, perhaps longer. A female Wood Duck which had been around the edge of the lake had been observed (by several other observers) consumed by a local Red-tailed Hawk. Two drake Wood Ducks still persist at the Pond in the park's southeast section, often near the skating rink's south end. The reservoir once again was opening up, with still over half it's surface in ice (in the morning) and had at least several Hooded Mergansers, many Buffleheads, N. Shovelers, and Gadwalls in addition to Mallards and Canada Geese, plus gulls - fewer gulls, perhaps, after the passage of that eagle, but also due in part to the presence of a Peregrine, feeding on the carcass of a gull (apparently Ring-billed) a bit off to the side on ice away from the waterbirds. At the Lake, an increase in ducks at the west edges included over 30 N. Shovelers. In the late afternoon 2 Turkey Vultures were moving past the northwest part of the park, headed roughly n.-e. at a modest elevation. Other raptors in the park (that is, not as fly-overs) included Sharp-shinned & Cooper's Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin and a few others, some seen by multiple observers as have been in the past few weeks. The early morning featured a modest amount of fly-over activity, especially icterids with Red-winged Blackbirds & Common Grackles the most evident, as well as some finch flocks (only really evident species: American Goldfinch), and also some American Robins, with a slight apparent increase also in their numbers scattered around the park, now well into 3 figures all told. At the north end of Central Park, a few American Tree Sparrows were present in an area near the compost piles - this is generally not a common species at any season, in Central Park. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
