A very nice turn-out on Saturday afternoon (10/8) for a memorial
service & bird-walk remembering Geoffrey Nulle, esteemed Riverside
Park (in Manhattan) & New York birder - who left us too soon,
organized with much care by one of his brothers: Greg, and attended by
many, with a good number continuing on for the bird-walk in a light
drizzle, including stops at the "drip", a water-feature that Jeff made
a part of migration-watching in that park, and for some of us, into
the sanctuary, a large grove of older trees and understory, which Jeff
and many of his friends helped to restore and keep watch over and
perhaps the single best birding area in all of that extensive linear
park, which borders on the Hudson river at Manhattan's west edge; some
of us who continued on were able to spot a few typical migrants of the
season, such as Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush,
Northern Parula, multiple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and White-throated
Sparrows, as well as other birds - Jeff was surely there in spirit for
all of it, and his brother was visibly moved by the turn-out, and the
kind eulogies offered; a funeral for Geoffrey Nulle will soon take
place in Ithaca, N.Y.
- - -
Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
A SUMMER Tanager was found & photographed by Jorge SepuIveda in the
north woods, on Sunday, 10/9.
A note on the sightings mentioned here & to this list for the above
park - my reports herein are based on having walked the length &
breadth of the park, perimeter to perimeter, & covering periods of 8-9
hours; in addition, there are sightings shared with a multitude of
other birders at various times & in various parts of the park as I
have made these rounds, walking distances of up to 8-10 miles in
total, per day, & this includes being out on days with wind & rain.
- - - - - - - - - - --
A further note & reminder: the playing of any ampIified sounds, or
making of any overly-loud noises or sounds in the Strawberry Fields
section (and in certain various other sections) of Central Park is
prohibited. This is posted on signage at such locations, and can be
found on official informational material, both on-line and from the
offices of the City of New York, Dept. of Parks, and is enforcable
under law, the N.Y.P.D. being the agency which can and will respond to
violation of this &/or other NYC Parks regulations or other city laws.
Monday, 10th October, 2016 - in Central Park:
A young-of-the-year Red-headed Woodpecker has been present in the
Ramble for 3 days in a row now; this follows sightings of an adult Red-
headed two days prior and sightings of non-adult Red-headeds both 2
days & the day before, in that area as well as north to nearly the
86th St. Transverse; if found again photos of the younger birds will
be good to obtain as these can be nice to find comparison to each
other, distinguishing marks being often visible in the species when
not in full adult plumage.
Also somewhat notable were the passage of at least a dozen Rusty
Blackbirds, in the morning, in very low flight & giving diagnostic
calls; a few or more of these may have settled in the park for a rest
and might be sought in coming days - the bulk of these (9) passed
together & were moving SW past the North Meadow. (this is a rather
high number for this park!)
An Orange-crowned Warbler, presumed of the easterly-breeding form, was
found in the Conservatory Garden, in the park's north end,
specifically within the "south" or English garden area there, & was
moving with a few other warblers & sparrows in the hedgerows very late
in the morning. Besides this there were a minimum of 20 additional
warbler species found, a few of them getting to be just slightly late
in the season for their species.
At least one Black Vulture was noted going past the park today (a
species once very rare as a Manhattan fly-over just 20 years ago - how
well some of us can recall the excitement generated back then when
Paul Sweet, of the American Museum of Natural History, spotted one, &
came right up to the original (& only full-time, 4-months-a-year with
500+ hours per season) hawk-watch, as founded, compiled and run then
as a serious study by Sharon Freedman of NYC - and further on the
final day of that year's watch, which was in mid-December; ), as well
as (for this Monday 10/10) - multiple Turkey Vultures, & other
sightings of interest for Monday including 6 Bald Eagles, a number of
Ospreys, accipiters of the 2 smaller & typical species, and a few Red-
shouldered Hawks, as well as the resident NYC raptors American
Kestrel, Peregrine, and Red-tailed Hawk, among raptors.
This day brought by far the largest flight of Myrtle WarbIer through
every part of CentraI Park this season; there were easiIy 500+ of this
species present aII day in the park entire, and in the first hour of
dayIight there was a far greater flight that was especially obvious
from the northern 6-8 bIocks (of "Iatitude") in the park, but there
was some of this evidenced in even the southernmost parts of the park,
with 100+ of this species observed in the areas from the Sheep Meadow
& south to the southern perimeter of the park in morning hours - aIso
found in vastIy increased numbers from even 1 day prior were sparrows
of many of the typicaI species seen here in migration, & above aII,
White-throated Sparrow, of which more than 350 were present in the
RambIe aIone in morning, & more than 1,000 in the park entire through
the day (this is not even sIightIy cIose to a daiIy maximum number for
this species within CentraI Park, as there have been 1-day fIights &
numbers in the park of ten or more times that number, in recent times
- the same can be said for the MyrtIe WarbIer, but that species is
even more prone to massive morning fIight wherein not so many "stick"
to feed & rest, as compared with White-throated Sparrow - again, the
Iatter being often the most-numerous wintering native songbird in this
park & in Manhattan, generaIIy, at the winter season, which is of
course not yet upon us.
After the Myrtle, the Palm Warbler was today by far the (2nd) most
numerous of warbler species - a vast majority appearing to be of the
"eastern" or "yellow" form, and the 3rd-most numerous warbler within
Central Park may have been Common Yellowthroat, although several
additional warbler species made strong showings, including Nashville,
Black-throated Blue, and Ovenbird; at Summit Rock in the 8:30-9 am
period, I found 6 Nashville in a group just at the upper portion of
the eastern side of the hill, and at the north end of the park much
later, in less-busy areas of the woods, there were a good
concentration of Ovenbirds waiking about the understory & feeding.
The eastern quadrant of the Ramble had multiple Black-throated Blue
Warblers, a few among them in adult male plumage.
It may be of interest to some that not just the elms in & near the
Pinetum area are attracting migrants; there are elms also atop the
Great Hill, in a few areas around the North Meadow perimeters, & at
the best-known of elm groves in the park, near the Mall area - all of
these having migrants, some individual trees in these locations also
hosting many migrants of interest - at the Mall, it was trees well
east of there, & scattered to the west of the park's East Drive, which
were quite active in the morning.
Other migrants in good numbers & reinforced by fresh arrivals
included: Ruddy Duck (minimum of 65 on the reservoir), E. Phoebe
(scores & scores, particularly noted at the edges of many lawn areas,
park-wide and all day), Brown Creeper (having been increasing the last
several days, but this day bringing easily 50+ into the park entire,
with a few locations such as the Pinetum-east having 8+ in view at
once in the morning hours), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (in virtually any
odd corner of the park, and also noted in a number of street trees and
plantings in the vicinity of the park), Hermit Thrush (numbers, as
often is so, at their greatest density in the far northwest part of
the park, where the least human activity - relatively! - takes place -
this was the largest push thus far this fall of this thrush here),
Dark-eyed Junco (300+ in the park entire, with swaths of some of the
north end's wooded & semi-open area well-littered with this flocking
migrant) - &
just some the many other species found this very active migration day
(one which was good, but hardly unexpected nor especially strong on
numbers, perhaps merely rather typical of the time of year & the
surrounding weather conditions):
Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Great
Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Canada Goose, Wood Duck
(brilliant male regular at the Pond, often with the mallards &
sometimes asleep in a quiet shaded spot, as found this morning
there), Gadwall, American Wigeon (ongoing female on the Meer),
American Black Duck, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal (at least
one female lingering at the Meer), American Woodcock (Ramble), Ring-
billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon,
Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Red-headed Woodpecker (noted in full
above), Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (many),
Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker,
Eastern Wood-Pewee (1), Eastern Phoebe (common), Blue-headed Vireo
(multiple), Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay (many), American Crow, Black-
capped Chickadee (very modest movement), Tufted Titmouse, Red-
breasted Nuthatch (many vocal; a further new movement), White-
breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swainson's Thrush (few), Hermit
Thrush (many), Wood Thrush, American Robin (abundant), Gray
Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling,
Cedar Waxwing,
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler (as noted above)
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler (to at least Sunday 10/9)
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager (as noted at top)
Scarlet Tanager (few)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird (12, as noted above)
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin (heard)
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
- - -
Sunday, 9th October, 2016 -
Despite rain more than haIf of the day, nice birds were to be found &
among them the Summer Tanager found & photographed by Jorge SepuIveda
in the north woods; Red-headed Woodpeckers, seen by a few observers;
some other migrants noted included at least 10 species of warblers
including numbers of Pine, Blackpoll, Palm, & Myrtle as well as
others, and fair numbers of sparrows, espcially Chipping & White-
throated; it was also very apparent that many migrants had managed to
move on from Saturday & prior days.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
for those up a bit late and listening, Sunday night:
[last stanza]
I've got to go home - But,
baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your coat - It's up to your
knees out there
You've really been grand - I'm
thrilled when you touch my
hand
But don't you see - How can
you do this thing to me?
There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Think of my life
long sorrow
At least there will be plenty implied - If you
caught pneumonia and died
I really can't stay - Get over
that hold out
Ohhh, baby it's cold outside
SONGWRITER -
FRANK LOESSER
- - - - - - - - -
good coId-front birding, in actual autumn,
Tom Fiore
Manhattan
--
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