A non-adult Purple Gallinule was still being seen in Prospect Park, Brooklyn - Kings County, N.Y. City, thru the day on Wednesday, Oct. 18th. _ _
New York County, including Manhattan, Randalls Island, Governors Island and the skies and waters adjacent - thru Wednesday, Oct. 18th - A lingering Yellow-breasted Chat has by now had hundreds of observers and many dozens of photographers near the Belvedere Castle / Shakespeare Garden / Swedish Cottage section of Central Park, with sightings having become more frequent in that area. An Orange-crowned Warbler has been in that area, also seen by many, not the first nor second of this season for Central, and by now into a modest number of that species for the county. There were up to at least 16 additional warbler species in Central Park thru at least Tues., 10/16 and many species have been lingering at least a bit later than expected. Black-and-white Warblers had been showing in a wide variety of locations in recent days, thru the county, and some Yellow Warblers had been widespread as well. The many smaller parks and green-spaces of Manhattan also have continued to show a variety of warbler species. Both Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos have continued at Central Park to at least 10/18, and some of the latter species also were showing elsewhere recently, such as at Governors Island. Red Fox Sparrow made a slightly-early first appearance at Central Park this week, with more expected as chillier weather starts to come along. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were still around and represented by more than just-one bird that could be lingering after a rehab-release at the Shakespeare Garden of Central Park; in some county locations the flowers available have however been diminished, and numbers certainly dropped off, as expected in the county and thru the region, over the past week. Check hummingbirds seen from now on, as other hummingbird species can be as-likely as the autumn moves well along. >From Randalls Island, Clay-colored and Nelsons Sparrow sightings continued >into Wed., 10/18, with several of the latter seen there. A female-plumaged >Blue Grosbeak was again seen at least to Tuesday, 10/17 at Randalls, and there >is a chance that bird was still lingering. Also ongoing there were at least >several E. Meadowlarks in whats been a good recent influx of the species to >the county, and American Pipit was also still being seen there thru at least >10/18. As is fairly typical, also ongoing at Randalls was Yellow-crowned >Night-Heron. Many species have been seen on that island and flying over in >recent days, including a nice variety of sparrows, raptors, and some vultures. >Laughing Gull was still being seen there into Wed., 10/18, and a Pied-billed >Grebe also was ongoing. Marsh Wren was present there at least thru 10/17. Pine Siskins have shown in fair to good numbers around the county, and while many have been seen mostly as fly-by flocks, there were incursions into such locations as parts of Central Park where many observers were able to see and photograph them - more can be anticipated as the irruption of that species is widespread lately. Far more than a dozen Siskin, which number were seen by many in the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park on Tuesday, were around in that park alone on that day, and also in other sites in the county, as for other days in the past week or more. Some Purple Finches also have been moving thru, in what seem to be lower numbers lately than the siskins. Also continuing but in low number are Red-breasted Nuthatch, perhaps only some lingerers in certain locations. White-eyed Vireo, a species that has -rarely- overwintered in N.Y. City more than once was seen at Trinity Cemetery in northern Manhattan -A. Kramer- to Wed., 10/18; also still being found was Red-eyed Vireo for a few locations, while Blue-headed Vireo continued as is not unexpected for now. Also among the sightings at Trinity cemetery was a Swainsons Thrush, which had been seen elsewhere recently along with very-late Veery, and Gray-cheeked Thrush; a small number of Wood Thrush were also still in a few locations, including at Central Park thru 10/18. The default thrush in the genus Catharus of course being Hermit thru the later part of autumn, and in N.Y. City on into winter for some. A modest number of Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings, late-running Scarlet Tanagers, and a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were still around the county this week including some thru Wed., 10/18. The waterfowl arrivals into the county were still rather minimal. although such species as Atlantic Brant had come in, and the N. Pintail number doubled - with Wood Duck a long-lingering species as well as Green-winged Teal still at Central Park. Some Common Loons have shown as fly-overs in the past week, across the county. Common Raven was a species continuing to be found in a variety of locations, including in Manhattan. A fairly strong movement of diurnally-migrating Blue Jays has been noted on some recent days. Thanks to many keen observers out and about this week, finding and reporting so many great birds. Many other species also were either lingering or continuing, as well as passing over in some of the sky-watches made by multiple observers lately. The next cold front in the northeast is predicted to be genuinely cold at higher latitudes and elevations, and may begin to produce a new batch of species for the local and wider regions. 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/ --
