Friday 26 Dec. 2014 - West Village area in Manhattan, N.Y. City The COUCH'S KINGBIRD (heard giving diagnostic calls and very well photographed by many) was last being seen where reported as posted by Gabriel Willow, the building taking the full length of a short city block between Jane Street & Horatio Street, along the western side of Washington Street, in Manhattan's (New York City) West Village neighborhood, this specific location a few short blocks south of the western terminus of West 14 Street, from & to which there is access for the West Side Highway that runs along Manhattan's far west edge adjacent the Hudson River (connecting to Holland, Lincoln, Brooklyn Battery Tunnels, and the G.W. Bridge uptown).
The Kingbird was sought by a small number of us at various locations within a few short blocks very early this a.m., & thanks to Jacob Drucker & Lila Fried the kingbird was seen for a good 15 min's. or more just north of Bleecker Street & Hudson St. (which becomes Eighth Ave. as it gets to W. 14 Street), but after a number of us fast-walked to Jacob & Lila's "alternate" location around 8:15 a.m. or so, for some great views for a short time, the kingbird flew around the corner, west, & as we soon saw, right to the (previously-noted building - first paragraph!), where more & more observers were arriving for great views, the bird perching on balconies, in trees immediately in front of the building, & quite actively appearing to feed on minute or at least small insect life, with temp. around 40+ F. in the bright sun. Also present in the area were (at least) some American Robins, a brightly-plumaged Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (at above bldg.), White- throated Sparrows, Northern Cardinal, N. Mockingbird, and assorted other species - perhaps a Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawk, briefly in the earliest hour, before the kingbird was being seen by us. Certainly other birds of interest may be in the vicinity and it would be interesting to note all of them as well as the amazing visitor from the west. Thanks to all present who were so helpful in searching & immediately putting word out amongst the wandering small group of observers. Hopefully the building & neighborhood residents will appreciate the rarity & fascination of such a bird in their midst, and all who were passing in the early a.m. hours today seemed quite interested. The 'night' shift doorman at the building had been informed that a "few" (!) more folks could be on the way, & that NO one is at all trying to peep in windows or otherwise disturb building or neighborhood residents. (and thanks, Shane B.) best of luck to all who try, and if possible do allow a couple of hours for the attempt, as this bird can (we now know) wander a bit at times (but as Gabriel's post indicated, it has been regular at the Washington St. address for a month or maybe more now)... Please post updates on yes/no sightings, and other details should their be additional locations noted, esp. if no updates have been offered in a few hours or on any given day, & thanks. good urban birding! Tom Fiore, Manhattan On Dec 26, 2014, at 9:02 AM, Robert Lewis wrote: > Can someone post more detailed directions? > > Bob Lewis > Sleepy Hollow NY -- 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/ --
