A male Blue Grosbeak was seen by quite a few birders in Brooklyn’s (Kings Co.) Prospect Park, this Thursday. I’m not sure who first found, but it was apparently there much of, or perhaps all of this day.
- - - - - - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Thursday, 27 April, 2017 A male Summer Tanager, not entirely red with a bit of peach-yellow color in the belly, which was calling just occasionally but not heard singing, was in the north woods in the morning hours & at least to just after the noon hour; this bird was re-found 3 times in 6+ hours, but was not especially cooperative, staying quite high in larger oaks or other tall trees and was not seen (by me) later in the day, despite some additional seeking. Another Summer Tanager was sighted on Manhattan’s east side at a very small pocket park, but apparently was not re-found there a bit later in the day. The long-lingering Red-headed Woodpecker was seen again today, into the afternoon; it was pretty much in it’s usual area, inside the park a bit west of East 68th Street - & a bit more specifically, very slightly west of the first park path that runs parallel with Fifth Avenue, & mostly up rather high, & also not vocal while I (and another birder & photographer) were there. There was a notable movement of Purple Finch in Central, with easily 35+ which is actually a very conservative count; a majority of those seen were in the north woods, but there were multiples in the Ramble area, & scattered ones, twos, or more in odd areas thru the park. Although some may have been modestly surprised by the good arrival of a fairly diverse mix of migrants today, these (newer) birds were pushing up through New Jersey, at least, thru Wednesday night & on into not just the wee hours, but almost certainly for some (perhaps many) hours with the foggy conditions… which varied a lot, place to place locally. Note: no one can prove OR disprove that the Red-necked Grebe on the CP reservoir is the same which was released after rehab. by the Wild Bird Fund of Manhattan. If you can prove so, do. Since they featured pretty strongly in many birder’s time spent in Central Park today, a listing of those, followed by some of the other migrants & asst’d. regulars which were seen on 4/27. Blue-winged Warbler (few, seemed to be no more than 5 in all of the park) Orange-crowned Warbler (one lingering, near the n.w. arm of the lake, & a bit east at times, also this area is the n.w. edge of the Ramble proper) Nashville Warbler (possibly 8+, somewhat hard to sort as the day went on, with early movement by some of these, but surely more than 6, and in several areas including Ramble & n. end) Northern Parula (not many detected, but 5-6+ park-wide) Yellow Warbler (not that many yet, which is typical, the bigger push of these comes in May, and can go deep into May; wonder why, in part? Look at the northern range limit to the species!) Cape May Warbler (adult male, singing but mainly seen & not heard, in larger oak at edge of N. Woods, very near West Drive at approx. W. 107 Street, not found again later despite some searching there - & not particularly ‘early’ on this date & in this area) Black-throated Blue Warbler (several adult males, both in Ramble & n. woods) [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warbler (many hundreds still in the park thru the day, a possible passage in early morning of far more) Black-throated Green Warbler (10+, park-wide, with several in view & audible at times in the n. woods, & also elsewhere at varying times) Blackburnian Warbler (minimum of 2 adult males, each singing, one in Ramble, another in the far n. end woods, in a.m.) Yellow-throated Warbler (one male of undetermined race, unless someone has very good photos, seen to later in the day in the Ramble, south edge by the lake, east of Bow Bridge) Pine Warbler (several, not all males, Ramble areas & also in n. end) Prairie Warbler (few, those seen were male, a few singing; Ramble, S. end, & N. end) Palm Warbler (60++, this species can be quite high in trees as many were, finding food along with most of the other numerous warblers, some extremely high in oaks & other trees; males & females were seen) Black-and-white Warbler (30+, a very good push of this species, with some sightings in odd out-of-the-way areas of the park, & many in the n. woods as well as numerous in the Ramble; at one point 3 males were seen chasing each other within the Hallett Sanctuary in mid-day.) American Redstart (at least several adult males, but possibly more than a few, seen in several areas, including Ramble & adjacent sections, & also in the n. woods) Ovenbird (not many, but 8-10+, found in many areas, but perhaps more in n. woods, where less-disturbed by human activity) Northern Waterthrush (15+, and that’s a conservative number, as there were many in odd locations / not all near water, typical of a first strong push of this species thru such an urban park) Louisiana Waterthrush (at least 1 seen definitively, by the Pool, fairly early in day - this species typically gets very hard to find in Central as May comes in) Common Yellowthroat (I saw 2 males, one at Strawberry Fields, and one near the Loch; perhaps a few others were seen) Wilson's Warbler (north woods, near the Loch, a quiet male at the time of sighting, in late afternoon) And among the other species seen Thursday 4/27 in Central Park: Red-necked Grebe (ongoing, reservoir, very high plumage) Double-crested Cormorant (many on migration going north, & some ‘ongoing' within the park or at least daily visitations) Great Egret (25+ fly-overs, mostly seen from n. end of the park as is typical, in east-west-east flight, but also 6+ in park) Snowy Egret (at least 2 fly-overs, low over Great Hill in early morning) Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Canada Goose Brant (small number of low fly-overs, seen from n. end in early a.m.) Gadwall (modest numbers in park, Meer & Reservoir) American Black Duck (modestly surprising at this date, reservoir, a.m.) Mallard Northern Shoveler (a very small number lingering) Bufflehead (at least 8 still on reservoir into afternoon) Ruddy Duck (minimum of 12 lingering, Meer & reservoir) Osprey (fly-over, p.m.) Red-tailed Hawk (many sightings from many areas in the park, which are of multiple pairs) American Kestrel (several, local city resident males) Solitary Sandpiper (two, then one in a small puddle-pool at the n. end, where somewhat regular in migration, but not altogether reliably!) Spotted Sandpiper (minimum of 4 at one time moving around reservoir, late-day, and 1 also at Turtle Pond / Lake, or poss. separate indiv.) Laughing Gull (near-daily sightings, sometimes of just 1 or 2, but up to 5 at once have been stopping in at times, most likely in afternoons) Ring-billed Gull (not that many and not staying all day) [American] Herring Gull (reservoir + fly-overs) Great Black-backed Gull (reservoir + fly-overs) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Chimney Swift (not many yet, but more soon…) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (4 sightings, and likely that many or more individuals, all of these seemed to be on the move, working north) Red-headed Woodpecker (ongoing first-year bird which is in very bright plumage, as noted above) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (very sparse, poss. 6+) Downy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (25+ park-wide, not that conspicuous today) Empidonax [genus] - very likely Least Flycatcher, but totally silent when seen; studied a bit when it was in decent view; north woods, a.m.) Eastern Kingbird (several, including 2 together by the Meer, which looked like they were sparring, but perhaps a love-fest…?) White-eyed Vireo (at least 2, one in Ramble area, & one seen singing in a rather raspy voice near the Meer) Blue-headed Vireo (common - 50+, which is very conservative; this species is typically the first of the vireos to become common as a migrant in spring here) Yellow-throated Vireo (at least 3, 2 of those in the Ramble area, & another in n. woods, some song as well) Warbling Vireo (6++, mostly noticed these on sight, rather than heard singing, but a few snatches of songs) Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow (few noted) Northern Rough-winged Swallow (few) Barn Swallow (25+++ fly-bys, various areas & times of day) Black-capped Chickadee (scarce, many have moved on…) Tufted Titmouse (not that scarce, many haven’t moved on!) Red-breasted Nuthatch (yep - migrants; well, a few anyhow; yes I know there was 1 or 3 hanging around some areas; those noted today were not near those areas; instead, moving with warblers) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (getting quite late here, 1 in n. woods) Carolina Wren House Wren (multiple, & a fair number not vocal and not being territorial) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (plenty but not really that common, perhaps 40+ - park-wide) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (fair numbers, many have already passed thru - 12++ today) Veery (minimum of 6, one photographed; various areas from Ramble to N. woods) Gray-cheeked Thrush (** there was a report of one of this type, rather early but not without any precedent; determining exact taxon though…?- since not reported as vocalizing at all) Hermit Thrush (40+, & interesting that, UNlike the typical pattern for any & all Catharus thrush spp. found in Central on migration, today more common in the south half of the park) Wood Thrush (6-8+) American Robin Gray Catbird (very, very few yet) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (fresh arrivals, with 12+ in all areas of park from south to north; a fair no. of these singing) European Starling American Pipit Cedar Waxwing (a miniscule number in the area near the Pool, but it is still early for the main push of this) Warblers all detailed above, at least 21 species rushed in this day, with some species in good-fair numbers. Eastern Towhee (12+, park-wide, & about as many females as males) Chipping Sparrow (200+, a number that’ll surprise a few folks, but many, that is very many are in trees as they feed now; even so, a flock of 40++ were on the ground in the n. end) Field Sparrow (not that many; I saw up to 4 in 3 locations, & others had reported some in a few additional areas today) Savannah Sparrow (good movement, with 15+ in the n. end alone, prob. 20++ for all of the park, if not more) Song Sparrow (still some laggard migrants, not all here are breeders just yet) Lincoln's Sparrow (1, with effort, at the garden-plant nursery area, near E. 103 St. & East Park Drive) Swamp Sparrow (not that many noted by me, perhaps 8++) White-throated Sparrow (hundreds, but not as common as a week ago) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak (at least several in n. end, and several more south of 86th St. Transverse) Indigo Bunting (1 bright male in an oak at the n. end; I didn’t hear of others seen elsewhere today?) Red-winged Blackbird (300+, many either young males or females, flocks of up to 60+ were in oaks & other trees in many areas all day today; N.B., this is not unusual for the date) Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird (fair numbers, some paired or seeming to be) Orchard Oriole (several, later in day at least 1 or 2 noticed that had not been earlier?) Baltimore Oriole (seeming scarce at 6-7 a.m., but by 7 p.m., perhaps 8+ were noted, all I came on were adult males) Purple Finch (25+++ as noted above; in many areas, & mainly feeding in various trees, NOT many at a feeder area) House Finch American Goldfinch (fair numbers, mostly high in trees) House Sparrow — — — — — "Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?" - Rachel Carson (1907-1964; marine biologist, conservationist, author whose books include ‘Silent Spring’. Sir David Attenborough has remarked that that book may have had an effect on science second only to Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”.) good -and ethical- birding, Tom Fiore manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
