Sunday, 8 May, 2016 -
There may be a further post attempting to detail a bit more on the
migration arrival & passage that took place Mother's Day Sunday from
the perspective of some parts of Manhattan island... it was not quite
"the mother of all migrations", nor even close to the largest ("wave",
"fall-out", "push") migration events locally of let us say the past 25
years... however, for some it may have been among the largest they
have yet seen in spring in this local area. To give just one small
illustration of a tiny fragment of the conditions with bird numbers,
in a tiny piece of just one park (Central Park, Manhattan) - at a
patch of shrubbery under tall pin oaks at the foot of Summit Rock (and
loosely demarcated by a children's fenced playground on it's s. side,
a bit of open lawn immed. easterly, the slope of the s. side of Summit
Rock (highest natural elev. in Central Park, incidentally, even though
the upper Great Hill "feels" higher) & Central Park West (the ave. &
big apt. bldgs.) to its west, with approx. 2,000 (that's 40 x 50 feet
on the ground) square feet or less, in this roughly rectangular space,
were, at ~ 6:15 a.m., a minimum of 60 (fifty) Catharus [genus]
thrushes, led by (still) Hermit Thrush, with Veery close in numbers,
Wood well represented in the 'patch', Swainson's present in the
multiple, & at least 2 spp. which may go down only as "Gray-cheeked"
type (i.e. either Gray-cheeked or less-likely but entirely possible,
far scarcer -in absolute & all other terms on migration- Bicknell's,
and please understand this is NOT a claim for having observed a
Bicknell's) ... in other words, nearly the entirety of the Cathaurus
thrush genus-group of which we expect on migrations in this area, &
all within view from 1 location, in numbers that are, to put it
mildly, not the 'norm' - and yet, this was not the 1 & only place
something of this sort was observed this day in Central nor even the
1st time this spring (for no's. of individuals, that is, of Catharus,
& not for species variety in that genus seen here this spring, which
was at its near-peak in Sunday's local drop-in). At a location in the
far n. end of Central Park which typically receives a high density of
(*observable) Catharus thrush as the various species pass in each
spring, there were many, many Hermit & other of the thrushes in an
area that is much larger than the one noted above, and which I have
long taken as a good barometer of both the flight of that group of
migrants as well as the potential of an overall good "drop-in" of
migrants in accordance with the particular period of migration (ie,
first big arrivals of Hermit Thrush may correspond to certain other
shorter-distance passerine migrants in situ; first big arrivals later
on of Swainson's Thrush may & often do correspond with good general
arrivals of many neo-tropical wintering land birds of a lot of genera,
& more...)
There were at least 15 species of migrant warblers, some in at least
modest numbers, in the Hallett Sanctuary's north end alone, in the mid-
a.m. period, located in the Park's SE sector. In addition there were
easily 100+ migrants (numbers of individual migrants, not species!) in
trees & on lawns in the SW-most portion of the park with Columbus
Circle in full view, while rain was still falling there...
A minimum of 28 Warbler species, plus at least 1 hybrid warbler with a
name ("Lawrence's) were observed in Central Park alone on Sunday 5/8.
It looks like perhaps 115 or more spp. of migrants were observed in
that one park on one day... with still more reports to filter in. The
tally for Manhattan island on the day is likely in the 130+ range, but
that also will require a lot more reports filtering through...
As already noted, standouts just in Central included the sheer variety
& numbers of many, many kinds of "land" & other birds, with Chuck-
will's-widow (superbly documented) and American Bittern and
"Lawrence's" Warbler just 3 of the many, many other interesting birds
to have been noted, these 3 having been seen by a good many observers
in total. ... there was another caprimulgidae - Common Nighthawk,
appropriately appearing at dusk & afterward, as well. Obviously the
Chuck-wills is a very special sighting due to its scarcity in the
state, and the opportunity for close study this one provided to those
on-scene.
Many, many other parks & public-places on Manhattan & in the skies &
surrounds of, provided additional great birds and experiences of the
day. And now, it's time to try it all over again... although the
difference a day can make may be noticed, there could well still be a
very significant variety & of some, numbers of individuals, in the
parks & other areas of the small island of Manhattan, and beyond.
Giving some props to all of New York City, there was certainly a great
flight area-wide and perhaps some details of other NYC counties
(a.k.a. boroughs) will come forth. It's going to take a bit to sort
all of what was seen in just the 1 day & night.
good birding, great observations to all,
Tom Fiore
Manhattan
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