New York County, including Manhattan, N.Y. City - Friday, 12 April to Tuesday, 16 April, 2019
Migration happens. Locally, last Friday night featured a good push, and then Saturday night a situation with some stormy weather that may have contributed to a very unexpected even for Manhattan - a genuine rarity from out of its usual range, even if semi-regular up the east coast of North America at some time during each year. The White-winged Dove found on Sunday 4/14 (& only on that day) in Central Park’s Ramble, at the feeding station & vicinity was the obvious highlight of the period, for all of New York County. Although the White-winged Dove was not relocated on Monday or since reported, it could still be present in that park or in some other part of N.Y. County. A nice consolation on Monday, 4/15 for Central Park was the discovery of a pair of Blue-winged Teal, a species that was never particularly expected in that park, & had been increasingly tough to find in recent years; this find was on the Lake in Central Park, conveniently close to where many birders go at most times of year, the Ramble. There were more observers of the rare-for-New York dove, but a fair number who managed to see the 2 teal. A few other White-winged Doves got to almost as far north (in other states) as this one did in recent days, but none as far east as well as north. There was at least a modest push of the species into the midwestern states, and one that showed up at Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario (Canada) provided the most-northerly of any so far this spring of this species - the latter was seen there in the past week. Far more were in U.S. states a bit farther west, or much farther south. (Worth a note that a female Evening Grosbeak was found in Prospect Park, Brooklyn/Kings Co., NYC on 4/14 by L. Ewing. This species has, rarely, occurred in N.Y. City into May, and this past winter, there were some in multiple states well to the south of NY, including at least a few which may yet be present to the south of NYS.) It appears that a fairly widespread -if perhaps a bit diffuse- migration that included a variety of neotropical-wintering species came into NY in the last week, with a good indicator of this being the arrival & passage -in small numbers- of Chimney Swift, which passed thru Manhattan by Friday, 4/12. (This also could indicate the potential now for Caprimulgid spp. to have arrived - & the most-likely of those would be Eastern Whip-poor-will at this fairly early stage of spring. Indeed some of the latter have already been noted from points far north of NYC.) Blue-headed Vireo arrived in Central Park by Friday, 4/12, and a few more sightings came for the weekend there, & elsewhere in N.Y. County. (The species had also been detected at least 100 miles to the north of NYC by Sunday, 4/14). (Of note was a rather early Yellow-throated Vireo detected & photographed at Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn/Kings Co., NYC by Alex Wilson on 4/14; the bird also re-found later the same day by R. Manian & D. Hrehowsik. This a bit more unusual than the White-eyed Vireo that was seen in Brooklyn on 4/16, the latter being a species that’s overwintered in Kings County.) 2 Wild Turkeys, previously reported in northern Manhattan, made additional forays in that section of Manhattan thru at least Sat. 4/13 & may well try & work the neighborhood parks there for some while. There once were a few semi-resident turkeys in a couple of places in that neighborhood, including at Inwood Hill Park, where 2 were found on 4/13. Green Heron[s] arrived at least by Sunday, 4/14 in Central Park, & have also been seen in locations to the north & west in NY state. The 3 most-regularly-seen swallow species have been moving thru Manhattan, but in what seem to be sparse numbers on any given day - those being Tree, Northern Rough-winged, & [form erythrogaster] Barn Swallows. All 6 of the breeding swallow & martin species of NY state have been seen by now north to near or on the NY-Canada border. The first Broad-winged Hawks (plural) of the year arrived in NY County airspace on Monday, 4/15, & some more moved thru on Tuesday. (The first B.-w. Hawks of the year at some of NY state’s Great Lakes watch-sites were seen on Sat., 4/13 - such as at Hamburg, NY & the Braddock Bay observatory, while at Ripley, NY & also at Derby Hill, 2 appeared by April 12th. The first B.-w. Hawks had reached southern Maine by as early as April 11th this spring.) Turkey Vultures continue to move, and there have been a few sightings of Black Vulture as well. An unusual location for Marsh Wren was the one sighted at Union Square Park in lower Manhattan on Monday, 4/15, & reported by Alice Deutsch. House Wrens have been in Manhattan for at least a few days; there were a few slightly earlier reports of the latter and more recently an obvious uptick in their numbers. Winter Wrens also continued, as have Carolina Wrens. Not surprisingly for mid-April, nice sparrow variety has been observed by many in N.Y. County and Manhattan, with Chipping, Field, Savannah, [Red] Fox, Song, Swamp, & White-throated Sparrow[s] plus Slate-colored Junco all represented, and a few reports of White-crowned Sparrow. Eastern Towhee numbers also have been increasing further. Purple Finches have been appearing in modest numbers on some recent days. The following (at least nine) warbler species had been found as of Tues., 4/16 in New York County, all on Manhattan island: Northern Parula, Hooded, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle], Pine, Palm, and Black-and-white Warbler[s], Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, & Louisiana Waterthrush. None of these (including the Hooded Warbler) constitute earliest-ever date records for either Manhattan nor for Central Park. However, a few of these species are slightly early in comparison to both historic average early arrival dates, & also (more so) by comparison with records of long-term average peak dates. Among species seen in the period Friday-Tuesday, 4/12 thru 4/16 were: Red-throated Loon Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Atlantic Brant Mute Swan Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon American Black Duck Mallard Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck Osprey Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Wild Turkey American Coot Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs American Woodcock Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon Great Horned Owl Eastern Screeech-owl Chimney Swift Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Blue Jay Common Raven American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow [form erythrogaster] Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren House Wren Winter Wren Marsh Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray Catbird (likely still just overwintered individuals) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow [Red] Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow (reported) Slate-colored Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Purple Finch House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Northern Parula Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler Pine Warbler Palm Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Louisiana Waterthrush Hooded Warbler Hermit Thrush American Robin & perhaps some additional species. good spring 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/ --
