N.Y. County, including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island, & nearby waters & sky-watches Friday, March 26th: (and we hit a new record high temp. for the date in Manhattan)
update for Western Tanager & Orange-crowned Warbler, both still present Friday 3/26 at Carl Schurz Park, far east side of Manhattan, location[s] as posted here previously. However, the W. Tanager also was seen in the area of the park near the statue of Peter Pan, which is well east of E. 87th St. & has lush surrounding vegetation. On such a warm day, not that surprising it would have sought & located areas with active insect prey items. Also, the Or.-cr. Warbler can be up high in trees at times, just as had been in its earlier sightings at that park at times. Many birds were arriving overnight and also in diurnal flight, into / thru / over N.Y. County; the first larger & more-diverse movement of 'land-birds' this month, with many other birds also moving. Some of these arrivals included: Snow Goose (several small flocks, at least 2 which contained 10 and then 14 birds, over the Hudson in the early a.m.). Canada Geese also moving but in low numbers. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (this seems & is rather early, I would think by around 2-3 weeks before more typical arrival times here; a very few at least had already been documented up the Hudson river from N.Y. City, & poss. elsewhere farther north this month; the singleton I observed at 12:30 p.m. was from Riverbank State Park, flying up high - seen at just above eye-level from the upper deck overlooking the Hudson, which has views (there) of 6++ miles in both directions on the river. Also being seen are a few more Tree Swallows, the ‘default’ swallow arrival here for March; for breeding Tree Swallows in N.Y. County, Governors Island in particular. Great Egret (nice arrival as expected, w/ at least 20 seen in total on the day, many as fly-overs, also a few in some park locations, again as expected and anticipated); Double-crested Cormorant (modest flight; up to 50 in one group, all going up-river as viewed from Riverbank State Park on the Hudson River, Manhattan). More Ospeys - as expected. More Wilson’s Snipe, plus a goodly number of Killdeer; see the eBird list, linked below. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (slight increase, w/ a fair number that had overwintered now supplemented with more, almost all new arrivals in bright plumage); also arriving in minimal numbers were some more Yellow-shafted Flickers. Golden-crowned Kinglet (big arrival, one hundred+ on Manhattan island alone, a few even seen in uptown's street trees, near park areas); Brown Creeper (at least modest fresh arrival). Also increased somewhat, E. Phoebe, in many locations & many observers. Chipping Sparrow (modest arrival, but in more locations now than where a relative few had wintered); also other sparrows such as Song had additional reinforcements arrive, and the same for Slate-colored Juncos. Palm Warbler (first of the year) photo’d. (D. Aronov) at Randall’s Island Friday 3/26; an early-bird to be sure, yet a few others have been seen & incl. to the north of the city now; also seen on Randall’s Island, but the lingering overwintered one, adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. Pine Warbler (fresh influx after the few earliest of March; now in the multiple in several parks, esp. for Central Park w/ 6+ separate locations through all of that park; and w/ multiple observers; among the many observations was one at Battery Park, the southern tip of Manhattan, most if not all were males, some of those singing brightly at times; also found on Governors Island (B. Cacace) on 3/26, and see the ebird checklist for many other Governors Island sightings from Ben in the earlier half of the day: https://ebird.org/checklist/S84132356 <https://ebird.org/checklist/S84132356>. - this warbler species was also seen at the northern end of Manhattan, & a few in small green spaces as well as along the Hudson river greenway-north sectors; likely more than 20 individuals were around the county. One of the male Pine Warblers was seen going to a suet feeder at Central Park. It was at least a 3-warbler species day for the county (w/ Pine, Palm, & Orange-crowned). Rusty Blackbird (at least several newly-arrived, w/ 4+ in Central Park, & a couple more in three other Manhattan parks); v. light movement of Red-winged Blackbird & Common Grackle early. Also, lingerers included a count of 6 Hooded Mergansers (1 drake), 6 Amer. Coots, 10 Buffleheads, & 88 N. Shovelers, plus a very few Ruddy Ducks on the Central Park reservoir at about 8 a.m. (mostly n.w. area). Wood Ducks also were seen in a number of waterbodies. And of course, many other birds - a good further arrival of American Robins amongst them. 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/ --
