Wednesday, 2 October 2013 (New York City) Manhattan, mainly Central & Riverside Parks.
A fairly strong & persistent migrant flight last night into the day Wednesday, with what certainly seemed one of the larger flights for overall numbers of birds this season (as compared with some earlier flights where diversity may have been a little higher, but even then, mostly just in a few categories such as flycatchers &warblers). In Central Park, at least 18 warbler species were noted, including singles of such 'running-late' species as Worm-eating, Prairie, & Canada. The sparrow diversity and numbers picked up with at least 9 sparrow species being noted, including the Grasshopper reported to this list. Of thrushes, Hermit were just becoming common, after a few here & there for the past week or more, and Slate-colored Junco also made gains in number compared with the past week. Lots of other migrants were found in fair to good numbers.
The a.m. flight was still very evident thru & after 8 a.m. in Central Park with hundreds of flickers, & many other birds (including Eastern, but no say's, Phoebes, amongst those noted here:-) still on the move, in a S/SW direction, and thru at least 11 a.m. along the Hudson river at Riverside Park. Yes, still a small number of E. Wood-Pewee in the woods but they are outnumbered 10 to 1 by phoebe, over-all. Also numerous were Kinglets, the majority Ruby-crowned but some Golden- crowned as well, and in more modest numbers, but by far the most yet this season, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers. Even at Riverside, and in a much later-in-day look, there was good diversity and a fair numerical count on a dozen or more common mid-fall migrants. By far the "best" bird seen at Riverside was a first-year Red-headed Woodpecker, moving past the "promenade" area at about W. 88 St. & possibly continuing on, some ways south. A much briefer look at some areas of Manhattan greenspace south of 72 St., and in other pockets of greenery in Manhattan (all north of 60 St.) showed that a good flight had surely moved through, dropping migrants in odd spots 'here & there'. Also, a nice movement of Blue Jay and American Robin, moving through all a.m. & even somewhat later. And a very modest flight of that other sort of migrant, butterflies, led by the Monarchs, with a few additional species in their company... also moving steadily S/SW in a general direction of e. Mexico... the raptor flight seemed minimal, but: Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and American Kestrel (migrants rather than the local residents in NYC) all on the move. Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk, still here this eve.
Good birding, in autumnal / 'summer' weather, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- 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/ --
