Manhattan (& N.Y. County), N.Y. City - Sat. 30 March thru Thursday 4 April, 2019
Amazingly for Manhattan, the precedent-breaking (110 known days of residency at Riverside Park, starting with the find by C.B.C. participants on Dec. 16, 2018) solo male EVENING Grosbeak has remained at Riverside Park, in the area of the “sanctuary” (near W. 117-120 Streets, & on occasions a bit farther to the north, too) - with a Thursday morning (04/04) find by a team of at least 5 local observers all from The Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, & Environmental Biology (E3B) at Columbia University. Thanks to Dr. Sara Kross and all of her colleagues for this great further sighting! … also, the grosbeak was still present in the sanctuary through late afternoon on Thursday. From my own & others’ experiences with it, this bird can be tricky to spot, but also sometimes will just “be there”, ready for its’ viewers. How much longer will it stay on in this location? The first reported Blue-gray Gnatcatchers of the spring have arrived, last Sunday (3/31), with reports from Central Park Sunday 3/31 (& also at Prospect Park, Brooklyn/Kings County, same day), & now being found north of NYC in a few locations too. The first Louisiana Waterthrush arrived by Wed., April 3rd in Central Park at an only slightly atypical site, the Lily Ponds (in the far northern woods of the park, west of the north edge of the Meer) which are a semi-seasonal & very small watercourse, fed only by rains or runoff, and as of Thursday, rather mucky - it will re-charge with new rain. This species was also noted in the Bronx on same day, & at least several others regionally - west of N.Y. City, also reported on the same day. A stronger arrival of them is anticipated fairly soon. At least 5 other warbler species were noted on Manhattan island by Sunday, 3/31 - a continuing (overwintered) Common Yellowthroat (male, Union Square Park), a (possibly-continuing/overwintered) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (Inwood Hill Park), & several Black-and-white Warblers (including in more than 1 location in Central Park, and a report of the latter sp. from Inwood Hill Park), plus Palm Warbler, and Pine Warbler (with the latter species in low double-digit numbers on Sunday). For at least Pine & Palm Warblers, some have been seen well north of N.Y. City by now, but more are also expected in migration. Osprey continue to come thru; one on Tues. 4/2 over Central Park was viewed by the at least 20 observers on the AMNH (American Museum of Natural History) scheduled group bird-walk, on which at least 32 species were seen in a 2-hour walk, the 2nd (mid-day period) of 2 scheduled AMNH bird-walks for the day. A walk done for the Linnaean Society of New York also in Central Park found at least 35 species starting early in the morning also on Tues., 4/2. Similar species-tallies have been made by various observers in Central Park during this week. At least 3 swallow species were noted at Governor’s Island and elsewhere by Wed. 4/3: N. Rough-winged, Barn, & Tree Swallows. Each had also been seen elsewhere in N.Y. City this week. Species that showed at least modest increases thru the weekend, 3/30 & 3/31, & on into the first days of April have included: Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, E. Phoebe, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, (Ruby-crowned Kinglet has been seen in single-digit numbers, and a few of these could have wintered closer to NYC than the bulk which are yet to arrive here), Hermit Thrush, Field, Chipping, & Swamp Sparrow (and ongoing high numbers of White-throated as well as some migrant Song Sparrows), Slate-colored Junco, and Red-winged Blackbird (including some more females of the latter). Some sightings of the past 6 days in N.Y. County (including N.Y. harbor, Governor’s Island, Randall’s Island, Manhattan island etc.) have included: Red-throated Loon Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Atlantic Brant Mute Swan Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Osprey Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Coot Killdeer American Woodcock Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon Eastern Screech-owl Great Horned Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (increased) Eastern Phoebe Blue Jay Common Raven American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Hermit Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow (increased) Field Sparrow (increased) Savannah Sparrow [Red] Fox Sparrow (diminished numbers now) Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow (increased) White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Purple Finch House Finch American Goldfinch EVENING Grosbeak (for at least 110 days at Riverside Park’s ‘sanctuary’) House Sparrow Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler Pine Warbler Palm Warbler Black-and-white Warbler (3/31) Louisiana Waterthrush (4/3) Common Yellowthroat (single male, overwintered at Union Square Park) ----- "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Aldo Leopold (1887–1948), U.S. wildlife biologist, conservationist, professor, author, best known for his book "A Sand County Almanac" (1949), which has sold more than two million copies. 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/[email protected]/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/ --
