Hello all, I headed over to AMNH before sunrise today and just as I walked up to the planter on the east side of the entrance to the Rose Center for Earth and Space I saw a hummingbird feeding on a tall spiky plant with light colored flowers. This was at about 7:10am or so.
Between 7:40 and 8:10am it few more appearances. It flew a couple of times across the plaza and landed in the planter on the west side of the entrance where it seemed to hunker down in the lower bushes. The best views of it I had when it perched on a bare branch right near the wall (right below the word "Natural" in the museum name). By this time also Sam Stuart had showed up and we enjoyed the sight of the hummingbird despite the lack of sunshine. I've uploaded a few photos from this morning at my Flickr account. Unfortunately no tail-spreads. http://www.flickr.com/photos/landp/ good December birding, Anders Peltomaa Manhattan On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 7:33 AM, Tom Fiore <tom...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Thursday, 15 December, 2011 (7:15 - 7:30 a.m.) > > The Rufous Hummingbird is present in Manhattan, N.Y. City - > > on the "Upper West Side", by the small flower plantings next to the > American Museum of Natural History's "Rose planetarium" entrance, which is > inside the small park on West 81 Street, between Columbus Avenue & Central > Park West. Since it is now 3 days ahead of the "Lower Hudson" CBC, this > bird is now within the count period - it would also be great if a few, or > at least one, counter were to seek this on the day of the count in > Manhattan. The bird was active through about 4:25 p.m. on Wed. 12/14 at the > same location. (Thanks to all who were there). > > Check all the flower plantings closely as the hummingbird may be either > feeding discretely, or perched on the nearby vegetation. Anders Peltomaa > was first on the scene this Thursday at about 7 a.m. & had seen the bird as > of 7:15 or so, in the larger of the plantings immediately east of the > planetarium's West 81 Street (main) entrance area (which is also a museum > entry.) A few more photos of the spread tail that will likely show this > bird to be 'Selasphorus rufus' beyond most doubts. It is assuredly a > Selasphorus, and virtually certain to be identified as 'rufus'. > > Birds in Central Park (Manhattan) on Wed.(12/14) included a late Eastern > Phoebe still around Turtle Pond (& often hiding from very active hawk > patrols), a late Baltimore Oriole that's been around the Ramble for weeks, > sometimes coming by the feeders there (& not the most colorful that's been > seen of this species), and an Orange-crowned Warbler by the Conservatory > Garden, the area just to the west of the north gate with brushy steep > slopes (this possibly a bird that's lingered in the north end of the park & > just as possibly a more recent arrival), plus some half-hardy additional > species such as Winter Wren, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher (hard to see at > times near or in Halllet Sanctuary), and a couple of Hermit Thrushes, & > some other more-typical spp. such as Wood Ducks (The Pond), "red" Fox > Sparrows (various locations) and others. > > A Wed. a.m. visit to the Rockefeller Center (the big tree and huge crowds > and usual crazy holiday traffic) area in mid-town Manhattan, at Fifth > Ave.-Sixth Ave. and 48-50 Streets, allowed views of two Common > Yellowthroats (a male & a female, not together), and a Hermit Thrush, along > with some not-that-unusual-in-the-midst-of-Manhattan-in-winter > White-throated Sparrows, etc. - I did not get to Bryant Park but understand > some, or all of the recently-seen specials there were still there as of Wed. > > Good luck, > > Tom Fiore, > Manhattan > > -- > *NYSbirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and > Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail > Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html> > *Please submit your observations to **eBird*<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> > *!* > -- > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
