Just a note that a few western-region migrants were recorded this Sunday in eastern Massachusets - Say’s Phoebe, Black-throated Gray Warbler, & Lark Bunting (each in separate locations).
—— Manhattan (& all N.Y. County), N.Y. City Sat., 9/29 - Strong migration the preceding night, allowing many birds to move on - and many new arrivals to come in. However, one nice bird stayed around, the LARK SPARROW that had been discovered on Thursday, 9/27. It was again seen at the area just south of the Meer, offically called “Nutter’s Battery”, an historical name. A good flight of Purple Finch took place, and at least 2 Pine Siskins showed rather briefly at the southern tip of Manhattan’s Battery Park. Purple Finch are also appearing in modest numbers at Central Park, & a few were in Riverside Park as well, in the northern section near W. 112 St.; a very good flight of Purple Finch was also reported city & region-wide this day. Most Pine Siskin reports are still from farther north, so far. A Connecticut Warbler was found, apparently just the 2nd to be photographed in Central Park so far this fall, in the Ramble, near a small wooden rustic shelter known as the Summerhouse. There was also a single report of Yellow-breasted Chat, w/good descriptive notes, from the area w. of Tanner’s Spring, this near W. 82 St. & Central Park West. At Battery Park in lower Manhattan, there was a modest a.m. flight seen, which included at least 65 Blue Jays, 16 Yellow-shafted Flickers, & 160+ Common Grackles. There were also Red-eyed Vireos and other small birds passing thru & amongst the treetops, this activity all continuing to at least 8:15 a.m. - & almost all of the movement observed from east to west, or southeast to northwest. That meant that some birds were moving “up” along the edges of the Hudson river entrance, & along the plantings & trees of the greenspaces northwest & north of the Battery. American Robins were also in the area, but their early movements appeared, rather than random, associated with getting from available fruits to other trees & shrubs with potentially ripe fruit. In looking at the warblers, a number of which stayed in Battery Park during the time I was there, it seemed that Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] were the species that moved along most, and were - like many of the other migrants - coming from what seemed to be the south end of the East river, or at least, from the east, then as they passed around the skyscrapers at the southern end of Manhattan, making a turn to the NW, thus bringing them past the Battery & potentially to and along the greenway that lines the Hudson river (or farther). After looking in the Battery, I did venture part-way into the greenway, & did find some of these same species: Yellow-shafted Flickers, Red-eyed Vireos, Myrtle Warblers, many Blue Jays, and some other migrants. (One that I thought a possible migrant, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, this also poss. a resident there but I think not.) A Great Egret was still in this area, now having moved to a point in Battery Park City park, a bit north of prior site. A Worm-eating Warbler continued what’s becoming an extended stay at Washington Square Park in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood. Other lower & mid Manhattan smaller parks had some migrants, but seemingly not all that many or in notable diversity. In Central Park, still quite nice diversity, although as expected, most warbler species larger no's are dropping off, as sparrows start to come in. Besides the highlight noted above for Central, other warblers there included: Blackburnian (at least 2), Nashville, N. Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle], Black-throated Green, Pine, Palm (most common species now), Blackpoll (multiple, but not that many), Black-and-white & Wilson’s Warbler[s], American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, & Common Yellowthroat - thus still at least 20 warbler spp. on Manhattan island for the day, with the 2 individual spp. highlighted above. 6 Ruddy Ducks arrived on the reservoir. Other species around the park included Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture (modest no. of fly-overs), Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Osprey (a few flyo-vers), Bald Eagle (several fly-overs), Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned & Cooper's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, [American] Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Mourning Dove, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Black-billed & Yellow-billed Cuckoos (more than one of each), Chimney Swift (modest no’s.), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (at least several feeding), Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (still modest no’s.), Downy & Hairy Woodpecker[s], Yellow-shafted Flicker (many scattered thru park), Eastern Wood-Pewee (relatively few), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (2), Least Flycatcher (several), Empidonax [genus] Flycatchers (several unid. to species), Eastern Phoebe (still modest no’s.), Great Crested Flycatcher (at least 2, slightly late), Blue-headed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo (multiple), Blue Jay (in numbers, also throughout Manhattan), American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee (2), Tufted Titmouse (few), Red-breasted Nuthatch (7 or 8), White-breasted Nuthatch (multiple), Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Winter Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (several), Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush (several or more of these, none vocalized), Swainson's Thrush multiple), Wood Thrush (few), American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing (low numbers), Scarlet Tanager (at least several), Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow (still very modest no’s.), Savannah Sparrow (3), Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow (still cant no’s.), Swamp Sparrow (few), White-throated Sparrow (still low no’s.), Dark-eyed Junco (1 in s. end of park), Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak (fewer), Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird (at least several), Baltimore Oriole (several), and likely a few additional species, among them a surprise Barred Owl which was first found very early in the morning. Sun., 9/30 - A similar night preceding of light n. wind, shifting out of the n.e. a bit. On Governor’s Island, which is politically part of New York County but stands about 1/2 mile or so from the southern tip of Manhattan, in eastern NY harbor, a Connecticut Warbler was found by A. Barry, who had an impressive list of many other birds for the morning, with 50 additional species noted, & among other warblers a now-late Canada, & strong showing of Blackpoll (13), the latter corresponding well to other reports in the region; the report also included many Flickers (60), and Eastern Phoebes (36) both as noted elsewhere in numbers on Sunday. Both Kinglet species, & Brown Creepers were also in Ms. Barry’s report to eBird. Central Park - A good variety, some uncommon species but perhaps none rare for the season, with Philadelphia Vireo and Marsh Wren among these; some change-over was noted and probably a slight diminution in overall diversity from just the day before. As to warblers, still in some variety, but increasingly dominated by just a few species, Palm above all, with Yellow-rumped in early a.m. movement, as is typical. I took in Central for a while and then, seeing a rather strong movement of Flickers on (esp.) the west side of the park (although many, as well as some other species were flying in from east to west), I carried on to nearby areas, firstly along Morningside Park’s upper edge on Morningside Drive, with good views of sky looking to the east, and somewhat to south & north; then to a few parks just north, & while still somewhat early, to Riverbank State Park which juts into the Hudson River less than 2 miles north of the NW corner of Central Park. In this little circuit, I took in a strong flight of Y.-s. Flickers, as well as Blue Jays, and also numbers of Common Grackle, American Robins, and, while not that often seen in diurnal flight in Manhattan, what appeared to be just that for E. Phoebe - with a few seen actually dropping quickly from open blue sky, and nervously seeking quick perches, including, briefly, two that came onto a railing at the w. edge of Riverbank S.P. where it is barely filled with plantings; those 2 birds soon made it to a stand of trees. Additionally, there was at least a light movement of finch spp. with some easily ID’d as American Goldfinch (about 18) and a similar number of Purple Finches, those in 2 small groups, flying by the latter park, low, & giving distintive calls. It seemed that generally, thrush sightings were not that numerous & of those I found, I came up with some Swainson’s and 1 Gray-cheeked type. I later returned to Central Park, as well as a later look in a few midtown parks & ended the bird-y day in Riverside Park. All the parks I visited had some migrants & all at had at least some E. Phoebe[s] this day. One other small additional note, at Morningside Park in the morning, as the Flicker movement was at high strength, I saw & heard a Hairy Woodpecker, also moving along; a Red-bellied Woodpecker also got caught up with the flickers, but soon came in looping flight back to near where it had jumped into the fray. My impression of this, the Hairy may have also been moving along, while the Red-bellied there may not have; hard to say for sure, though. Watching morning-flight migrations at Manhattan island can be interesting, &/but also a bit different to watching such from a barrier-beach location. - - A belated note, to this list, and from a restricted-access location in any case, 2 Red Phalaropes were photographed by observer S. Camillieri on 9/25 at Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers, Westchester Co. - for those not familiar, this is NOT on Long Island Sound; these were almost certainly plopped into that reservoir in a strong rainstorm that day. They’ve not been reported there again; this record is in eBird, as is the Sabine’s Gull photographed that same day by J. Weeks, at Dorchester Park in Broome Co.- that gull also apparently not seen again there or in nearby sites checked. These the same day as the fantastic sighting of a N. Fulmar from land, at the Riis park beach on the Rockaway peninsula of Queens Co., as well as lots of other birds of interest reported from (& some on) land, off Long Island’s Atlantic barrier beaches. — An interesting note on the Great Black Hawk which many will be aware had visited coastal Maine in early August; this has been determined through analysis of feather patterns to be the same individual as was found in south Texas back in April this year. — — — “Knowing what must be done does away with fear” - Rosa Parks [1913-2005], American civil-rights activist good birding, 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/ --
