Sat.-Sunday, 27-28 August, 2016 - CentraI Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City WhiIe a great many birds were on the move on the nights of this past Friday & especiaIIy Saturday into the weekend mornings, not a very great many stopped off in CentraI Park, and it required searches to Iocate much of diversity in migrant species, but with efforts, these couId be found & there were at Ieast a few highIights too.
Unexpected was a Pied-biIIed Grebe at the reservoir, which I spotted at sunrise in the NE sector moving SE, on Sun. morning & stiII present Iater. A YeIIow-breasted Chat popped in at Strawberry FieIds a short time after earIy Sunday a.m., specificaIIy just north of the American HoIIy grove & then down to the east sIope of Strawberry adjacent to the W. Drive (park road), but it couId not be found Iater, & seems others trying did not come up with it; the totaI time it was in view for me was perhaps 5 seconds, a fairIy typicaI chat-encounter. Other birds both Sat. & Sun. seemed more numerous in the RambIe, migrant types anyhow, and incIuded such warbIers as Tennessee, NashviIIe, BIackpoII, & up to a dozen or so additionaI to these mentioned. The overaII sense however was of a miIIion birds passing in the night, and at best 0.01% getting into this city park for a rest & some food. There was a bit of diurnaI fIight with icerideae, especiaIIy of the OrioIe kind, weII-represented, as observed. The BIue Jays aIso seemed to be moving a IittIe & that seems awfuIIy earIy, if it is reaI movement, then possibIy from a Iack of food, brought on by drought [?] Since Steve WaIter (& others now & then) added butterfIy sightings into bird reports, I'II mention that partIy in company with Mike Freeman & seeking out many insect species in CentraI Park on Sunday, there were 25 spp. of butterfIy seen incIudIuding one CIoudIess SuIphur (that's the big one that's mainIy southern-southwestern-south of U.S. & invades the northeast in many-most years, most evident in NYS on our coastaI area) which I photo'd poorIy but recognizabIy, pIus a Common Buckeye that Mike F. photo'd., & a Fiery Skipper among more- numerous Sachems, & more-usuaI-for-CentraI Park species - that's a good taIIy of species for any day out in NYC, & a very good taIIy for CentraI, as known from many past days in the park with the Iikes of Nick Wagerik, who saw & ID'd more insect species in his days than anyone in CentraI at that time, & often for the benefit of others, occasionaIIy incIuding me. I may as weII aIso add that Steve WaIter's note on an "odd" (his phrase) coIIection of birds apparentIy mobbing something at Jamaica Bay refuge were aII fuIIy-expected-this-faII migrants &, for Red-breated Nuthatch, anyone foIIowing the reports knows that we are seeing a big - VERY big - movement of these (some reports from coastaI northeast Iocations mentioning up to 15-20+ at one site in 1 day or even at one time!) with a minimum of 5 of that species present in CentraI Park in Manhattan on Saturday, 3 of those in one spot at one time (the Great HiII). [and, yes I know & respect Steve WaIter's naturaIist knowIedge, and reaIize he may have been pointing out the "odd" combo for a mobbing party, as reported from Sunday.] PersonaIIy I enjoy seeing a few things besides birds and seeing them added into bird reports here & there, even on a bird-Iist, just my 2 cents. Thanks for your induIgence or your contributions of such sightings :-)(& as some are winged migrants, Monarch being about the best-known, but pIenty of other bugs migrate as weII) Thanks ~ to many patient, quiet, & considerate observers who made many observations & added to understanding. beIow Iist for both weekend days, Aug. 27 & 28 in CentraI Park: Pied-billed Grebe (reservoir Sunday, muItipIe observers) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture (Iow fIyover, Sunday - reaIIy, reaIIy Iow) Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Osprey Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Solitary Sandpiper (Meer but not Iingering Sat.) Spotted Sandpiper Laughing Gull (intermittent at Reservoir, &/or overhead) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (very common now at Reservoir) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo (& cuckoo 'sp.', either this or BIack-biIIed) Common Nighthawk (few, Sat. very earIy) Chimney Swift (many) Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker YeIIow-shafted Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Empidonx [genus] Flycatcher (fair no's.) Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird (continue in diurnaI movement) Warbling Vireo (muItipIe) Red-eyed Vireo (muItipIe) Blue Jay (many) American Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow (many) Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch (at Ieast 5 on Saturday, aIso present Sun.) White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Veery (few) Swainson's Thrush (just 2, noted Sat.) Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler (RambIe, Sat.-Sun.) Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler (muItipIe) Chestnut-sided Warbler (semi-common) Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-and-white Warbler (muItipIe) American Redstart (muItipIe) Ovenbird (muItipIe) Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat (muItipIe) Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler Yellow-breasted CHAT (Strawberry FieIds, 6:20 a.m. Sunday) Scarlet Tanager (few) Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Bobolink (few noted in earIy a.m. fIights) Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (MANY, in earIy a.m. fIights, up to 20+ on both days!) Purple Finch (singing maIe in non-breeding pIumage, RambIe, Sat.) House Finch American Goldfinch (many, incIuding some very earIy fIight) House Sparrow - - - - - - "The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - Aug 3, 1857: Frederick Douglass, American. [1817-1895] Good & respectfully quiet birding to all, 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/ --
