New York County, including Manhattan & Randall’s Island, & waters & sky surrounding them
A Black-headed Gull in adult-alernate (breeding-type) plumage was seen & photo’d (D. Aronov) off Randall’s Island, northern part of the East River, but had flown off (unknown direction) after some feeding that brought it & Ring-billed Gulls close to the w. edge of Randall’s. It’s possible this was one of the individual Black-headed seen earlier this past winter in the county, including at Randall’s, & it’s also possible this bird would be in the area for some while longer. Also of interest as seen from Randall’s, a slight build-up of Common Goldeneye (as is typical, far east off the island, in other county’s waters), perhaps the start of staging for a departure of that & other waterfowl spp. The Carl Schurz Park (Manhattan) Western Tanager continued, and also an Orange-crowned Warbler there, each seen & photo’d (K. Fung; and add’l. obs'. of tanager) Sunday 3/21, with patience often part of the key to sightings; the tanager there again visiting a feeder array just inside the park near East End Ave., south of 86th St., by the n.w. corner of the Catbird Playground; the Or.-cr. Warbler seen around the hedges s. of Gracie mansion’s park-side entry which is guarded by NYPD at all times; this warbler is more-often seen in a.m. hours, and may wander the north fringe of the park, as well as ‘disappear’ in the (off-limits) grounds of the mansion. The less-reported, & seemingly more-difficult Chelsea-area W. Tanager (also in female plumage) was seen Sunday, after a many-hours search, and then just briefly, at the edge of a roof-top on West 22nd St. (n. side) a bit east of Tenth Ave., which was where this bird was first reported. Where this tanager is spending most of its’ time is not clear, partly for having been far less-reported for much of the later part of winter. Migration has been occuring, esp. overnight on Sat. 3/20, although (not unusually) a great many of the nocturnal migrants flew onwards past at least N.Y. County, if not also beyond the city to points north. Perhaps most evident of local arrivals were American Robins, which had so far been gradually increasing, but will grow further. Some waterfowl movement has continued, with Snow Geese having been passing thru many parts of the region; at the same time, some duckage has also lingered on in the county. Pine Warbler had a 1st-of-spring appearance on the northern part of Manhattan, at Inwood Hill Park, by Sun. 3/21. Lincoln’s Sparrows continued singly at 2 locations where they overwintered: Bryant Park, and at Central Park’s compost area. Both kinglet species were seen, still just in low no’s. More E. Phoebes were starting to show, in slightly more locations. A good number of Slate-colored Juncos and also Song Sparrows have continued, with other sparrow spp. also noted, some increased a bit. Common Ravens have been near-regular in some areas of Manhattan, including at first-light with ‘croaks’ heard, also seen. Bald Eagles have continued to be seen, including multiple individuals over Central Park, thru Sunday, 3/21. Vultures also were still moving, a majority being Turkey Vultures. ... Mammals that have been seen even prior to spring (over this month) in & from N.Y. County (including Manhattan & its surrounding waters) have included Harbor Seal (N.Y.C. harbor), Eastern Coyote (including those in Central Park, as well as less-publicized individuals), Virginia Opossum, Muskrat, Eastern Cottontail (rabbit), Groundhog (a.k.a. “Woodchuck”), Eastern Raccoon, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Eastern Chipmunk, and White-footed Mouse. There are other species seen often as well, & we can keep eyes open for (native) bats, esp. E. Red Bat, which may be active in the area by now or could be soon. Happy spring and good 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/ --
