Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Tuesday, 25 October, 2016 - and it may be happening all over again this day (a good migration, that is)...
A bit of a surprise -for the date- was a Spotted Sandpiper moving around the Meer, in the park's north end, early on Tuesday; seen mostIy at the western section and moving about thanks to the usual off- leash dogs and other human-induced activity, at that hour. 2 first-year-&-female Prairie Warblers were photo-documented by Linda LaBella on Monday, 10/24, in the north end of the park, this is a 'late-ish' date for Central where the species does not occur too often this late, in contrast to some locations where perhaps more-attractive habitat can find them (rarely) much later; an excellent late-October find in Central. The one Red-headed Woodpecker I found on Tues. was the young bird at the east edge of Sheep Meadow, which did give a short, soft call as I passed by in late morning; I was not in the Ramble a great time, & another Red-headed could well continue there (in addition to the possibility that others are lurking in any various part of the park, awaiting discovery). In addition at the east side of Sheep Meadow, were 50-60+ Black-capped Chickadees very busily foraging in the trees, part of a fresh new flight of them on the day; several hundred more chickadees, presumed all the expected species, were in nearly every other part of the park, with obvious movement by them in the first hour or two of the day; Myrtle Warblers were also on the move, again, with a fairly strong flight (though nothing in numbers compared with other, prior days of this month) of many, many hundreds, these were seen from the Great Hill quite early and they, along with a mix of other migrants, were moving in scattered directions, and some at varying elevations above ground, a "complex" morning flight, with some migrants meeting up with ones having made the big turn that some do as they 'meet up' with (get very near to) the very tall buildings just south of the park's southern perimeter (and of course to some extent at the SW & SE sides of the park as well; this phenomenon readily observed by those keenly watching for it and positioned within about 50-500 yards of the park's southern edge, in a good vantage with views of much of the buildings and especially the mid-stories of them - the phenomenon may be seen with a lot of early morning/diurnal flight, and it may appear that a majority of thusly-affected birds will make a "U" turn, and then fly strongly away, north or generally northerly, with an impression that many, even most seem to go on for quite some distance, perhaps even to & beyond the northern end of the park - however this is not the only & perhaps not the greatest factor in "reverse" or "wrong-way" movement seen in this park & one must understand the complexities involved in the nearness of 2 major waterways, the East & Hudson river estuaries laid parallel with the "north-south" length of this park, & much more generally with the importance of open waters in the vicinity, the western Long Island Sound & the shores - and adjacent ridges - of southern New England running directly into eastern Westchester County & then Bronx County, for some of how birds may be moving, those which did not make a crossing of Long Island Sound to fly along or closer to the 4 NY counties of Long Island itself (Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, and Kings Counties, the latter best known as Brooklyn); in fall migration it seems rather unlikely that many migrants make it into or over Manhattan, having made the hop to or near to Long Island - except that, from the north shore, running across & into northern Queens Co., this comes quite near to Manhattan and might bring a good many birds to the latter - an interesting but hard-to-prove/disprove aspect that, on NE & some E winds, in "fall" migration, Central Park & Manhattan may see quite good arrival of migrants after good overnight flights, some of those being rival to flights found after nights of N or NW or W winds; however again the patterns of migrant movements can be complex with the divergence of species 'trying' to attain a variety of habitat (most obvious in, say waders - shorebirds to most N.American birder - wanting mud-flat, bay & sea ducks wanting those areas, and so on, with some "land-birds" being more averse to getting pushed to shore & especially to barrier-beach locations (thus the special interest when, let's say, Brown Creeper or Hairy Woodpecker is found at the outer barrier beach sites, examples (perhaps not even the best examples) of species averse to being pushed to the outer edges of land, except in somewhat exceptional situations of migration movement. The entire sparrow tribe were on the move again, with fresh & slightly late movement of Eastern Towhee in numbers (both sexes), and greater numbers of Song and yet some more of both Swamp and White-throated Sparrow[s], & rather diminished numbers of Field, Chipping, Savannah, or other sparrow species perhaps still to be seen in Central Park this fall; Dark-eyed Juncos also enjoyed a good boost with many, many hundreds, if not in 4-digit numbers, passing over & some stopping in on various lawns and in woods, all through the park (& seen in a few street areas, as well, where bits of habitat allow foraging - and it might be added, rather obvious to Central Park regulars, the masses of off-leash dogs putting up - treeing - the vast majority of ground- preferring foragers such as Juncos and certain sparrows in the first several hours of each day, in many areas of the semi/irregularly "regulated" park - and a reason for very rainy days sometimes being the best opportunities for study of sparrows and other ground-feeding species to be observed in the most-visited & used park within the city of New York. Some additional species seen in the a.m. flight (which over Central Park essentially continued on all day long with vultures & raptors taking up when smaller birds had mostly passed or quit for the day above the park) included: Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture (95+ thru the day, some in modest groups-kettIes), Snow Goose (18 in one group), Canada Goose (many, especially late in the day), Brant (presumed AtIantic Brant - 250+), duck species (250++, many at high elevations), Osprey (several), Bald Eagle (2 noted by me, others by other observers), Northern Harrier (several), Sharp- shinned Hawk (fair movement & most prevalent late in day), Cooper's Hawk (ditto), Red-tailed Hawk (potentially including some migrating, but so many are now resident in Manhattan it is often hard to separate migrants out), American Kestrel (probably those seen being local residents), Merlin, Peregrine Falcon (as for kestrels), Chimney Swift (just 2 noted), Blue Jay, American Crow (up to 45 at once seen in the north end alone), Tufted Titmouse (75+, not clearly moving diurnally but moving about settling in much of the morning), Red-breasted Nuthatch (28 counted in morning, others seen in place in many parts of the park as well), White-breasted Nuthatch (again, perhaps some moving, with many also in place as the day wore on), Eastern Bluebird (at least 2 passing & briefly - too briefly - alighting at the west edges of the North Meadow ballfield's trees, mid-day), and above all in vast numbers, American Robin which were still moving over as late as 3-4 pm or later, numbering in the 5,000+ range for the day, & in addition to the many, many hundreds all around the park - the flights of this species an example of the complex paths with some birds moving across at tree-top, some at upper-Manhattan-building height, some at higher levels and some in the (low) clouds, with flight direction ranging from, well, nearly every compass point but few purposefully moving E or SE, other than local foodsource-seeking - even though fully-expected this time of fall, always an impressive sight, and many - many! - were certainly not counted at all), Warbler species (a great many that could be ID'd being Myrtle Warbler, with some others probably in the flight as well), Red-winged Blackbird (not in such impressive numbers), Meadowlark (presumed Eastern, moving past N. Meadow in the mid-day, not stopping there, however), Rusty Blackbird (few, none found in a search later on for any 'grounded' in the park), Common Grackle (1500+++, with some as usual in parts of the south end of the park later on), Brown-headed Cowbird (not that many), Baltimore Oriole (at least one, possibly a second in late morning), & Purple Finch (12+, plus a few seen feeding in various areas later). There were surely some other, & perhaps very interesting, migrants passing on the day; NB, many of the migrants were seen thru the morning, not only in the first few hours of daylight, & the flight may have started to shift south & west as the day moved along, as well as (typically) getting higher, harder to detect, by mid-day & afterwards. Three American Coots at the reservoir, with similar numbers of other ducks as in the past week or so; one Bufflehead Iikely to soon be joined by many more; Ruddy Ducks in low double-digits, & Wood Ducks in varying plumages at Meer, Pool, Lake, & Pond (at least, perhaps more in other waters); reservoir-&-elswehere gulls appearing to be of just the 3 most-typical species (Ring-billed, American Herring, & Great Black-backed) with Laughing Gull seeming absent for first time in many days; some additional species present in the park included - Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe (20+ found, park-wide), Blue-headed Vireo (6+, some giving partial & weak song, or more-often some calls), NB, two-Toms (myseIf & T. Perlman) attempted to find Monday's White-eyed Vireo or Orange-crowned Warbler at the east side of the Great Hill; we were NOT successful in our joint effort, nor I in mine as solo seeker, early-early on Tuesday), Red-eyed Vireo (late), Brown Creeper (several), Carolina Wren, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet (near-common for the species - 50+ in all areas), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (35+, in all areas), Hermit Thrush (seeming less-common than in prior days, 25+ noted in all areas), Gray Catbird (upwards of a dozen noted, but more likely enjoying poke- weed fruits and other delights in shaded corners), Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher (just one seen, but a few more probably about in favored spots), European Starling, Cedar Waxwing (just modest numbers & not very clear that any of the flocks seen were in the day's flight, rather many seen moving locally after more-fruited, or fewer-Robined!, areas), Nashville Warbler (ongoing near the Swedish cottage), Northern Parula (5+ seen in various areas), Yellow Warbler (late, at the Pond), Cape May Warbler (at least one first-year female persisting or moving in at the Pinetum-west), Black-throated Blue Warbler (4+), Pine Warbler (2 noticed, one at Pinetum, a 2nd east of Sheep Meadow, on the grass at times), Palm Warbler (western form, just 1 individual noticed), Black-and-white Warbler (1, Ramble - near the great Tupelo tree), Ovenbird (by the Pond), Northern Cardinal, House Finch, American Goldfinch (not many), & House Sparrow. - - - - - - - - - - - - - "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Aldo Leopold (1887–1948), U.S. wildlife biologist, conservationist, professor, author, best known for his book "A Sand County Almanac" (1949), which has sold more than two million copies. good colder 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/ --
