Monday, “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”, Oct. 12th New York County (in N.Y. City)
3 Bonaparte’s Gulls were noted moving south down the Hudson river, in early afternoon (A. Farnsworth) - although a very ‘rare’ sighting for the county, this species is almost certainly annual of occurrence in the county, and the Hudson river possibly the best site to be on the watch for them on passage. (They are 'extremely rare' as stop-in-&-stay-a-while visitors to the county, in terms of the historic records but again, it’s worth keeping eyes open for this & other unexpected larids, and especially at these times of the year when much movement is occurring). The American Golden-Plover was again seen on the flats at the n. edges of Randall’s Island, from early a.m. to at least early afternoon. This makes the 4th day since its glorious discovery by G. Hong of Manhattan at this location. And one observer who came slightly later than the (at least several) others who did get to observe the American Golden at this location has reported a (heard-only?) Black-bellied Plover on that island; that also is a very ‘rare’ bird for N.Y. County, & if seen again by anyone, should if possible be photo’d. I was also an early-bird at Randall’s for a bit, and while the American Golden was present, I was also, equally, curious to see if perhaps any unusual-other birds, or evidence of any unusual movement or a potential ‘fall-out’ may have been in progress, or had occurred. Numbers of some sparrows there were at good levels but hardly to any ‘fall-out’ conditions; the occurrence of Nelson’s Sparrow, a species known to be regular if not at all common there in the salt-marsh grasses & thickets, is ongoing with some or all the others who came in later also finding that species; I 'should have' atttempted some photos but was leery of the rain & ended up leaving the point-and-shoot in its plastic baggie, in the backpack. However, at least one of later-in-day observers (E. Goodman) did take a lot of sparrow photos at Randall’s, and the results look good for Nelson’s in particular, and also Saltmarsh Sparrow. This is the one area of the county where these Ammospiza (2 species, of that genus) seem to be reliable, within the window of peak movement. (It would be interesting to find these also on Governors Island, although some of that island’s habitat is not fully accessible, at least to most visitors.) The whole of Randall’s Island seemed to have a reasonable array of expected other species, these including high no’s. of Laughing Gull, well into the several hundred range… but no unusual gulls were detected. A Green Heron (getting late) was reported there (A. Vinson, et al) & some Pine Siskins were contuning there as well. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron also is ongoing there: the place in the county for it! And, a Wilson’s Snipe was also reported near day’s end, from Randall’s Island (by C. Quinn). If seeking the shorebirds at this location, keep in mind that all may be mobile, partly for tide-change but also as some disturbances (including of course passes by raptors) are possible there at any time of day. (A reliable report of 2 C. Nighthawks at Randall’s Island, on Sunday, 10/11 was added to eBird for that day, by F. Pimentel.) I then put in the remainder of the day at Central Park (more or less homeward bound, albeit with zig-zagging from 110th St. to Central Park South, & Fifth Ave. to C.P. West, criss-crossing the park multiple times, and including stops in the Hallett Sanctuary & Pond areas, and the s.w. sector that’s relatively rarely-birded, plus that now-famous compost & plant-nursery area in the n. end of the park, & many points between, also including 2 separated long scans on the C.P. reservoir - where at the peak-hour I was able to view, up to 850 gulls were present, crowding the central dike of the reservoir, & a fair number also loafing on the waters or flying in & out - as gulls regularly do here, at all seasons (not many gulls actually roost here at night, indeed, often none do). There were 4 species of gulls present as far as I could find, a few Laughing, the rest all Great Black-backed (into the 100’s at their peak in late morning, a fairly high count for the location) and American Herring (many) as well as Ring-billed, which were esp. the species loafing on the waters, &/or flying to & fro. No unusual nor unexpected duckage (at least 1 G.-w. Teal in the reservoir, which has been a semi-regular species this season), or other unusual waterbirds were noticed, either here or at any of the park’s waterbodies - nor were no’s. of ducks, per particular species seen, in higher no’s. than in recent prior days. An Osprey was noted moving along through the low clouds. Still in Central, there were some areas with what could have been termed low-density fallout of smaller birds, especially sparrows, Palm Warbler, and a mix of other migrant species. One such location was the edges (inward to up to 100+ feet) of Sheep Meadow, where at least 1,500 individual migrant songbirds were very busy feeding & working both the lawn edges, under & within the trees inside the fences. All of these were of species fully-expected now, including good counts of White-throated Sparrow, & Palm Warbler, but also a nice no. of White-crowned Sparrow, including at least several bright adult birds. Swamp Sparrow, just as at Randall’s Island & even in some ‘street’ locations in Manhattan (also some grounds of various apt. complexes & NYC Housing) were quite numerous to near-abundant in Central Park, in a few small areas even outnumbering the White-throated Sparrows. Also present, in scattered sites were Savannah, Field, Chipping, Lincoln’s, & of course Song Sparrows as well as Slate-colored Juncos. And in just one location, at “The Pond” east of Hallett Sanctuary, a [Red] Fox Sparrow, although I did not check through each of many flocks of White-throateds feeding in such areas as The Ramble, or in parts of the N. Woods in Central, & others. Stopping briefly in both Morningside Park (which is north of 110 St.) & a small part of Riverside Park, the sparrow-abundance theme was repeated; E. Towhee were present in multiple locations as well. A total of 14 warbler species were found (in Manhattan), some modestly-late species including Chestnut-sided; American Redstart; & N. Waterthrush, of which 3 were seen in 2 completely separate areas of Central); as well as a Wilson’s Warbler just into the C.P. Ramble from the Loeb Boathouse cafe area (s.e. sector of the Ramble). Areas that also held warblers included around the compost & plant-nursery, the S. Meadow (which is the Parks official name for that area just n. of the reservoir, not always looked-at as a ‘meadow’) in trees there, the Pinetum (east & west sections), and The Dene (with many birds skulking happily in the dense wildflower array there), and a few other “usual” areas. At least 8 warbler spp. were in the vicinity of just “The Pool” on the upper west of Central Park. I was also prowling a bit in the hopes of a red-headed woodpecker showing, as at least several have come thru that park, & thru Manhattan in the last few weeks, but this rainy day was possibly less-than-ideal for that search. Areas with acorn-holding oaks (which are many!) may be checked for the potential presence of a red-headed, a species of woodpecker that is essentially annual as a visitor, and also often, (at least one) will stay for a winter & into spring there. There are still a good many - high double-digits of - Pine Siskins around, with a lot of them in a few spots where favored seed must be in good supply, such as around the C.P. compost & plant-nursery edge areas; also still in Central at least were Rose-breasted Grosbeak, & Indigo Bunting. Not too surprisingly, in more than 7 (wet & rainy-windy) hours and about 8+ miles of walking thru & around in Central Park, only ~ 100 other humans were encountered in that weather, aside from the usual Parks or police vehicles & various workers, etc. - an extremely uncrowded day in that typically very-popular place. (I did see a few others with binoculars.) That Barred Owl had a slight rest from its recent encounters with the ten-thousand (that is an exaggeration, but not by very much!) who came to see it, including many who are not binocular-toting ‘birders’, & some even without ten-thousand $$ worth of optical equipment & paraphernalia. The Blue Jays now rather widespread, & their able assistants the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches & other bold owl-mobbers are all working at least part-time to come up with more trouble (for the owls’ rest time.) The one known Barred Owl was regularly noticed, & made aware to humans by Blue Jays & all the rest of the avian-police. Still & in general, if one comes on a resting owl, and it is at rest, please allow the bird to have that needed rest, and do not disturb in any way. No one likes their rest interrupted. … oh, and yes, Larry T. in Ossining, who suggested such to this list - I was out with my old trusty ‘write-in-the-rain' pad & PEN for actual-analog (&/or digital? I mean, the use of one’s fingers is…) note-making in the field, on a wet - but bird-y! - day... - - - - - "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” - Teddy Roosevelt (26th president of the U.S.A.) "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass (1818-1895; U.S. statesman, orator, writer) Good post-post-tropical / arrriving weather-front birding to all, 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/ --
