New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island & Governors Island Wed., April 6th through Friday, April 8th -
Even with some rain (and chilled easterly winds, fog etc.) which limited some of the exuberance for bird-seeking on Wed. & Thurs., there was movement with migratory birds - more limited perhaps, but movement, in particular on the nocturnal side, which meant exodus of some birds, and a bit of arrival for others (as relative to little N.Y. County). A lot of movement was taking place in the area over Friday-night into Sat. morning. A super-sighting for N.Y. County was reported by 2 observers, albeit scoping *towards* another county’s waters and air-space, of a Northern Gannet, seen from Governors Island while scoping to beyond the Verrazano Narrows bridge (which connects the eastern part of Richmond County (Staten Island, NYC) with the western point near Bay Ridge in Kings County (Brooklyn, NYC) & which can of course be seen well in good-visibility conditions, from points on Gov. Island’s s. sectors - the Atlantic ocean may be just-perceived beyond-the-bridge, in the far distance (from Governors, on good weather days). This species is regular (often in good no’s.) off the Atlantic shoreline of N.Y. City, but much less-observed farther away from from the sea, & decidely rare as a N.Y. County bird, mainly found when it has been, in storm-driven situations. Also noted from Governors on Friday were the steady modest increase of Laughing Gull, the latter also to be seen off Randall’s Island and with discernment, along the E. River or elsewhere around the county. The Western Tanager that wintered-over at Carl Schurz Park was seen Tuesday 4/5 (and, was also last-seen before then by one of the most-regular area-resident obsevers of that bird* on Monday- 4/4 - *in-person direct convo. to me, at C.S.Park on Thurs., 4/7), and there is the thought that it’s now moved-on, left the city or at least that location. On Thursday a.m., at least 4 observers (myself among) spent in total up to 4+ hrs. watching, mostly at the feeder array area, but also with some strolls thru all of that park, with no luck on a sighting for 4/7 (and no apparent sightings from Wed. 4/6). Time will tell, & any new reports of the species will ideally include the taking of ID-photos in addition to whatever notes are made from any sightings. I made a solo-dedicated watch for 2 hrs. & 10 min’s. starting at 7:20 a.m., ending 9:30 a.m. Friday 4/8, all of the watch being at the ‘usual’ feeder array w. of the Catbird Playground’s n.-w. gate and keeping eyes also on adjacent shrubs & trees, with no sign at all of any tanager in that time. Good to see that further arrival has included Yellow-throated Warbler in some ’traditional’ sites in southeast New York (on Long Island) this week, the find in that area also of/including a singing male, perhaps taking up a territory. A Yellow-throated Warbler at Central Park was lingering on through this week, although sought by far-fewer on rainy or cool-windy mornings and because so many had seen this bird in prior days as it stayed in the same general area[s], all within roughly 200 yards or less of each other. However, many many observers did manage to get views on Friday, with that warbler having moved into the eastern-most portions of the Ramble, & various folks helping to point it out at times, often rather high in trees. Some Ospreys and Bald Eagles were moving on Friday in the good conditions, although both species had also been seen more-modestly for earlier days of the week as well. Thursday had Palm Warblers scattered thru a good many lower- and mid-Manhattan green-spaces (incl. some of the smaller parks), and Golden-crowned Kinglets seemed to be, yet again, reinvigorated, although in the most simply ongoing in fairly good no’s.; Slate-colored Juncos and certain sparrows (more just arrived), also were showing in more areas of the county overall, especially so of Chipping Sparrows. And E. Towhees were also showing in modestly-increased no’s. to just some days prior. Through the tough weather, even Y.-s. Flickers made their way in a semblance of morning-flight on all the days of the week. Loons of the 2 regular species (Common, Red-throated) each have been again on the move, and Double-crested Cormorants as well. Great Egrets (in particular) and Snowy Egrets have increased a bit (and it may be noted that Cattle Egret has shown in the wider region, as have some Ibis, almost all as expected being Glossy Ibis - latter esp. to be watched-for in N.Y. County, at least as fly-bys). 2 Lesser Scaup, and 2 Common Goldeneye were noted from Randall’s Island, on 4/6. Also showing on Randall’s have been a fair diversity of sparrow species, albeit mostly not in any great overall numbers. Interesting sights on the Central Park reservoir, esp. on Thursday 4/7, thru the rains & drizzles - a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers was continuing there (to dusk) as were at least 55 Bufflehead (but that was only half the number of that species on the reservoir there at one point earlier in the same day, by total count a minimum of 112 of just that species, not a record at all but higher than is ‘typical', even in peak migratory pushes of the species *at that 1 specific location* & in modern times; the mid-afternoon count comprising several discrete large groups; the evening count included almost-all of this species in one close area near the SE quad. of the reservoir), and a count of 8 American Coot in one group (also at dusk near the SE corner of that waterbody) were a slight increase from other recent days’ counts there; that species also is on the move recently, of course. And, a fun sight was the male Wood Duck more-or-less wrapping a wing across the back of the female Mallard, who he seems so taken with, and which ‘couple' are certainly together for a very long time in Central Park; that also in my started-before-dusk-rounds of the reservoir’s running-‘birding’ path, in a very light rain and drizzles. (Thunder and lightning came on later, with heavy rains.) The great majority of the Buffleheads had moved on (from CP reservoir) by around first-light of Friday 4/8, as I passed around 3/4 of the shore and scanned. - - - - Incidentally, it’s notable that Bonaparte’s Gulls were moving (generally, and in a rather expected timeframe) in numbers this past week, & a good many of those had moved up the Hudson river too. It’s very *possible* a few flocks traveled right up past Manhattan, in the past few days. And various other laridae have been showing in the state & region, such as Forster’s Tern, & Caspian Tern, not to add that Little Gull is ‘around', in the midst of at least some Bonaparte’s flocks as is very typical. good migration-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/ --
