Thursday, 19 May, 2016 Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - well. Folks, when you bird in a "patch" where among others, a singing Swainson's seen by hundreds, & then a (for a lucky few) photographed Hermit Warbler have already appeared in one season, followed up by a wave (May 8) that puts many tens of thousands (very conservatively!) of migrants into Manhattan - and likely that many birds into Central Park alone,
a day (Thursday, May 19) that brings lingering Bay-breasted, Cape May, Hooded, & many other warblers & other neotropical migrants but adds a Kentucky, & also a singing Cerulean Warbler, is not automatically the "big" day of the year... & this, after some were worrying that the spring was a bit slow to move (back in the ancient days of mid / late April 2016.) ... Looks like at least 27 Warbler spp. were found on the day, unless someone came up with 1 of the "-winged" warblers (i.e. Blue- or Golden- or their hybrids) and for a couple of today's warbler spp. maybe just 1 or 2 sightings, while at least a dozen spp. were very common. Some of us had the same "magic trees" bring in warbler after warbler, both from sunrise on, to sunset (literally) with grand, sublime viewing at times. For the first 2 hours of daylight, many areas seemed extremely active with a wide variety of migrants... later on, it was a bit less-so. Swainson's Thrush is now the "default" thrush although about all the other species were also seen Thursday... no definitive Bicknell's that I am aware of, although I for one had as close a definitive visual candidate as could be asked for, with mandible color- pattern, wing-primary ext., slightly reddish tail & of course grayish cheek as well as size & other subtle factors, but that individual remained totally silent, so I moved on after a while, seeing other thrushes also gray-of-cheek, and perhaps 50x more Swainson's - there were many dozens easily seen in the north woods in mid-p.m. hours. A slightly "drab" Philadelphia Vireo subtly revealed itself today in the north end, near the butterfly plantings north of the N. Meadow. An Osprey floated by a few minutes later, seeming to look at the Meer, but it continued on, north. 2 Peregrine Falcons flew low over the reservoir at about 5:45 a.m. this a.m. & yet, for hours afterwards, the 7 Great Egrets lined up in a row standing on the central dyke were all still there, spearing fish & watching the gulls & cormorants. In the eve., there were over 100 gulls, of the 3 usual species... a female Belted Kingfisher made an appearance at Turtle Pond in the a.m. hours... A lot of interesting things going on here. There are a modest resurgence of Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers, even as Magnolia, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, and starting-in-on- Blackpoll invasions are upon us... also interesting at least in local happening, are that some feeding flocks appear to be at least lightly 'segregated' by sex with some that happen to contain many males, & some with a dominance of female birds. These are certainly not strict and there may not be that much going on, but it is noticeable at times. Still present today, Palm Warbler (at least for one individual female on the Point), Worm-eating Warbler (not that unusual though, for this date) in the n. end, as well as Prairie Warbler[s] ... and still lingering & passing thru are multiple White-throated Sparrows, while Indigo Buntings are cropping up in no's. which is about right for a 'peak' movement. There has been the odd juxtaposition of some of migration that got pushed rather well-ahead, some that seems still to have been held-back a bit, while yet other migrants are easing into an almost-typical schedule of passage & arrival. The male Bufflehead is still at the CP reservoir - it's all about that Bufflehead... Friday is likely to be very active in these parts. I'd bet more than a nickel on a coastal location... good (quiet observation's sound-science observation) birding, Tom Fiore Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
