Friday, 1st December 2017 Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City I was among a good many other birders who were (still, or later in arriving) seeking the lingering Empidonax flycatcher in the Ramble area, later in the day; as far as I know there was just one report noted for the afternoon hours for this bird, while clearly it had been ranging about in some of the places it was seen in prior days (& into Friday), with the same pattern of some prolonged stays in particular sections of the Ramble, as well as equally or more prolonged disappearances.
A bit earlier on Friday but still within the mid-day period, I’d been in & around the Hallett Sanctuary (opens 10 a.m. & closes 1/2-hour before sunset, daily) and The Pond, each within the southeast portion of Central Park, & among birds found, a Northern Waterthrush, lingering stiill, & at about 12:30-1 p.m., seen in the narrow “channel” of the outflow of the skating rink, & adjacent part of the farthest north bit of The Pond, on the northeastside of Gapstow (stone) bridge; this warbler has been seen ranging all about the entire shore & vicinity of The Pond, over prior weeks. Inside the Hallett Sanctuary, at it’s western foot-trail, I found and extensively photogrpahed a 1st-fall Magnolia Warbler, which is a rather late date for that species (In memory, I’ve found 2 other December Magnolia Warblers in N.Y., the first of those recalled a very long time ago in Central Park, in early Dec. & seen subsequently by others, and another much more recent, in Bronx County [N.Y. City] in the course of a [late-December] CBC, that being photographed (then) at the Wave Hill Botanical Garden, & providing a rare record of the species for the Bronx-Westchester C.B.C.) Also very late now, in December, an American Redstart (apparent first-fall female) was photographed & has been lingering at the Loch & adjacent areas, for at least the week through Friday; this in addition to, in descending order of uncommon-ness for the date, N. Parula (The Pond, along the shoreline of Hallett Sanctuary’s east edge), Nashville Warbler (Gapstow Bridge area, at the Pond’s NE quadrant), and Ovenbird (in Hallett Sanctuary, on Friday in the western edges); there may well be some additional warbler species, or other late-lingering species, that have been found in the past week or less in Central Park. (And there have been some warblers such as Ovenbird, & Common Yellowthroat, seen in multiple lower-Manhattan parks or green-spaces in the week after Thanksgiving Day. In addition on Friday in Central Park were seen an Orange-crowned Warbler still lingering at the Meer’s shore; this individual seems (assuming just one!) to have been ranging about much of that water-body’s shore areas, &/but was again seen at the south, but nearer the southeast part, of the Meer in somewhat thin shoreline vegetation, quite late in the day. A bright male Wilson’s Warbler was also continung in the Ramble, on Friday. Many other birds, some of them entirely-expected for the season, were also noted. A lingering drake N. Pintail, as well as drake Wood Duck, were again found at The Pond, amongst the other water-birds there. For those interested (& many have been), at least one of three released (rehabilitated) Virginia Rails has continued at The Loch (a.k.a. “Ravine”) area and sightings have been very sporadic since the initial of two (November) release dates, by the Wild Bird Fund. good luck on flycatcher[s], & other December findings, 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/ --
