Friday, 10 February, 2017
Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
First up, for those wanting to visit the CP reservoir, some parts of
the running track that surrounds the reservoir were very icy, and that
condition is likely for at least part of Saturday (some areas are not
as bad as others): use caution!! About 10+ inches of fresh snow fell
in Central Park on Thursday, & some has melted & re-frozen into hard
thick or thin ice on many surfaces. The reservoir has very little ice
on its water surface while other water-bodies had a good amount, as of
mid-day on Friday 2/10.
A Glaucous Gull (non-adult), first found (& reported here) by Peter
Post on Wednesday at the CP reservoir, was re-found again today by one
alert observer, again on the reservoir but at the northeast quadrant,
and seen & photographed at about 3 pm - this bird was apparentIy
missed by some of us scanning from mostly the south side in the a.m. &
p.m., & was picked out with the other gulls mainly siting on the water
in that part of the reservoir, by Patrick St.Clair - nice spotting!
The Glaucous was not definitiveIy identified from a distant photo
until Iate this evening; an eBird report was submitted by the
observer; besides the rare Glaucous, each of the 3 typical species of
winter gull were present at the reservoir, with the greatest number as
is often so in mid-day to mid-afternoon; the 3 "usual" are Ring-
billed, [American] Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls. Most of the
gulls fly in & out of the park during the day, and do not roost in the
park overnight, at any season (with some exceptions). The reservoir
is not at all a "static" birding area, there can be changes in what
may be seen there from one hour to the next, as well as from any one
day to any other.
Also ongoing at the CP reservoir is a Red-necked Grebe in winter
plumage (one which was released into the reservoir after a re-hab.;
this grebe seems to be doing well, feeding often and mobile at the
reservoir, for over a week now) - this bird can be elusive, moving
easily all around the reservoir, & today seen for many hours in the
central area, not easy to spot when far from any shore...
Some other birds at the reservoir today included a (rather short?)
morning visit by a female-plumaged Common Merganser, which was
photographed in early morning but seemed not to stick around too long
(& was later unseen at any other park water-body), and a pair (hen &
drake) of Ring-necked Ducks, which have been an uncommon species in
recent years in Central (the species had appeared a few times in the
past 8+ weeks however), as well as the following water-birds -
Pied-billed Grebe (2 on reservoir, sometimes adjacent, sometimes not)
Hooded Merganser (7 together on the reservoir, & a pair at the Meer in
the afternoon)
Wood Duck (single drakes at: The Meer, The Pond, and on the Lake)
Northern Pintail (a bright drake continuing at The Pond)
Northern Shoveler (150+ on the Lake - photographed count; fewer on the
reservoir, & The Meer)
Buffleheads (on The Pool, the reservoir, and The Meer)
Gadwalls, American Black Ducks, Mallards (on various of CP water-bodies)
Ruddy Duck (many on reservoir, few at The Meer, even fewer on The Lake)
Canada Goose (on The Lake & the reservoir in particular)
American Coot (8-10 on the reservoir, singles at The Pond, The Meer)
An adult Bald Eagle was seen by multiple observers as it overflew the
entire park, and was photographed beautifully by a very keen birding
couple now visiting NYC, from Beijing, China (they have a very
impressive NYC bird list started, and a superlative China-country
list; N.B., China has vastly more species of birds on their 'national'
bird check-list than does the United States: you can 'check' it out
for yourself!)
A Red-headed Woodpecker still gaining red in its (young) head is
ongoing at the area just west of East 68th Street inside the park,
near & north of a rustic shelter that's perched on a high rock
outcrop; this woodpecker may be quiet & non-mobile at times, but is
also quite often very active and aggressive with other birds of its
size and sometimes larger; it is usually found if one is patient &
scans the higher trees, from ground level up through (more often) 10
to 25+ feet above ground. In that same area have been Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker[s], & Yellow-shafted Flicker (seen also in other areas today).
The area near Gapstow bridge and just south of the skating rink in the
southeast part of the park had these birds, among others today: Brown
Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Eastern
Towhee, [Red] Fox Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, American Robin, Cedar
Waxwing (3), & RUSTY Blackbird (the latter in the area of the skating
rink's west edge, & then moving into the adjacent Hallett Sanctuary,
which is fenced & now closed). A 2nd, different Brown Thrasher which
has been around all winter was nicely photographed by our visiting
birding friends from Beijing - this is often near the Maintenance
Meadow, in the NE part of the Ramble, but as with the other two
thrashers in the park this winter, it can very readily be missed, as
can a number of other scarce wintering species. Several E. Towhees
persist in various areas in the park, as do at least a few Swamp
Sparrows; there have been 50+ American Robins, some of them still
working over Sumac trees for those fruits that remain. A few Hermit
Thrush are also hanging on in a number of areas, finding enough to eat
thru the ups & downs of this weird-weather winter.
There has been a modest influx & movement of icterids recently, and
over the past 10 days, some Red-winged Blackbirds & Common Grackles
(additional to the 200+ grackles that wintered over) have been passing
thru and some hanging around, some of the red-wingeds singing a bit on
occasion, too, and a few acting territorial in select sites in the
park; continuing park raptors have been both Sharp-shinned & Cooper's
Hawks, & in falcons, American Kestrel has been the most regular in
various locations, in & adjacent to the park.
Not noticed every day, but increasing are sightings of Common Raven,
two of them relatively non-vocal this morning on the east side of the
park, in the area near & east of the Ramble - this largest of all the
passerine birds is now a not-rare sight in all of the 5 counties
("boroughs") of New York City, a remarkable change in the past ten
years! Other sightings in the park today included - Red-breasted
Nuthtach, Brown Creeper, Hairy Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Dark-eyed
Junco, and many many other species. An American Woodcock was
photographed in a rather un-birded area in the park. I saw all of the
noted species today with the exception of the woodcock and the
Glaucous Gull, but did see photographs of each of these 2 species that
were made today. My time in the park amounted to nearly 7 hours, from
the south to north ends and from Fifth Ave. to Central Park West, with
a fair amount of watching at the reservoir.
- - - - - - -
"Nevertheless, she persisted."
Words matter.
Good birding, and thanks to all who give respect to all wildlife and
in Central Park to other park visitors.
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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