Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Thursday, 18 August, 2016 After 6+ weeks of modestly-good to mediocre (or near-nonexistent) general land-bird migrations, according to varying weather & other factors, the night of August 17th into Thursday, 8/18 was by far the strongest (land-bird) migration event so far in this half of the year almost everywhere in the northeast, & certainly evident by what was seen in little old Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City. (also it can be added that birders in other boroughs who were able to seek out land- birds found good variety, and in sum the 20-species-mark for warblers was exceeded in N.Y. City, on this day alone. In addition (and not at all surprisingly) at least 3 species of Empidonax Flycatcher were noted in all of the boroughs, and well could have been all 5 of the eastern-breeding spp. of them in this large push of individuals. (Indeed if any Least Fly. were found, that would make 5 of five.)
Thanks to the many polite-quiet-patient & devoted birders who gave many sightings & descriptions of finding so many mid-August migrants in Central Park on this first big day of migratory movement. It will just grow with the next good movements of coming days & weeks. The season is also ripe for Common Nighthawk migrations and indeed some are now moving through the wider region, & very likely some through Manhattan as well, now. Some species were found in numbers and the variety of species was far higher than on any previous days & nights, this summer in this location. The below are just some (a sampler of sorts) of the variety found in the park entire (110 St. & the north end, to the Ramble, & even at the Pond area in the park's southeast quadrant) by a number of observers at varying times, from first light thru later in the day. A minimum of 18 warbler species were recorded, & this while impressive is not unprecedented at all, nor especially surprising after the middle of August, and particularly on such a strong widespread movement as was over the prior night - and of course with a good effort by multiple birders as was the case. Also, as hinted at by M. Britt and his Bronx Co. Broad-winged Hawk sighting, these & other raptor species are moving - some dedicated watch sites southwest of NY state have already tallied 50+ of that species, & many sites are reporting multiples this week - and nothing unusual in that. Central Park on Thursday 8/18/2016 - Blue-winged Warbler (multiple, including a few possible hybrid forms of "Brewster's" type) Northern Parula (several) Yellow Warbler (multiple) Chestnut-sided Warbler (at least several) Magnolia Warbler (2 sightings) Black-throated Blue Warbler (adult male, & female-looking, 2 locations) Blackburnian Warbler (several in several locations) Prairie Warbler (several in several locations) Black-and-white Warbler (multiple) American Redstart (near-common, in many, many locations) Worm-eating Warbler (at least one in Ramble, near the Azalea Pond) Ovenbird (multiple) Northern Waterthrush (multiple, many locations) Louisiana Waterthrush (at least 1 in Loch area - & also reported elsewhere) Mourning Warbler (1st-yr. male, north end, possibly 2 individuals or one moving from Great Hill across to north woods) Common Yellowthroat (multiple) Hooded Warbler (male, north end, locations varied & there were at least 2 of this species found in the general 'n.' area) Canada Warbler (multiple) Other migrants included - Wood Duck Northern Shoveler (possibly first-of-season) Osprey Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper (found by s. reservoir edge, unsure if lingering at all, early a.m.) Black-billed Cuckoo (n. end) Yellow-billed Cuckoo Ruby-throated Hummingbird Olive-sided Flycatcher (seen in Ramble, where the first-of-"fall" was found 2 weeks prior; multiple sightings since, in n. end & Ramble locations) Eastern Wood-Pewee (these may be local nesters still) Willow Flycatcher (Ramble - heard & seen) Acadian Flycatcher (n. woods - heard & seen) Empidonx [genus] Flycatcher (at least several locations) Great Crested Flycatcher (probably f. local nesters still) Eastern Kingbird (multiples, some on the move in a.m.) Warbling Vireo (most are likely local nest families) Red-eyed Vireo (probably still local) Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Red-breasted Nuthatch (Pinetum; this species has been in Central Park in each month of summer so far, beginning in late June) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (may be local, may not) Wood Thrush (likely very local) Scarlet Tanager (at least several, these may represent fairly local birds, or may not) Eastern Towhee (location undisclosed!) Chipping Sparrow (nested in Central Park) Rose-breasted Grosbeak (could be "local") White-throated Sparrow (almost certainly were summering locally including the few that often do in Central) Orchard Oriole (female-like, one in Ramble area, may be a local, or possibly longer-distance-from-NYC migrant) Baltimore Oriole (multiple, but this is a f. common NYC nester including a lot from Central Park & Manhattan sites) American Goldfinch (likely all locals, typically nest rather late) & many other resident &/or visiting birds as well as typical city- feral spp. (& almost certainly additional migrant spp.) "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' "- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. good & quiet 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/ --