An interesting assemblage of birds, many of the more-unexpected for the late date[s] being normally neotropical-wintering species; with also a good showing by very-much expected species, including recent arrivals & lingerers which have been typical for this time of year (end of November, start of December) in New York City, and in these instances, in Manhattan and its waters &/or on the outlying isles that are politically in the same N.Y. county, which is New York County (>the state of New York contains 62 different counties, New York City has five of those counties, also known in city-governance & common parlance as boroughs, & among those, one is New York County; Manhattan island is entirely a part of the latter county… confused? Don’t be, it’s just politics, history and all that.<) Below is an incomplete listing of all sightings that are verified, with some notes on a few species sight-reported. (There are NO mega-rarities mentioned herein.)
A *photo-documented* VEERY in New York City & ANYWHERE in the United States in December is very rare!!! - almost all sight-reports from after mid-Nov. are of mis-identified Hermit Thrush. Bryant Park’s ‘rep’ maintains… (n.b., there is a documented Veery record, discovered by Paul Lehman & Jon Dunn, from early-January 1980 [yes, that long ago!] at Greenwich Point, Fairfield County, Connecticut; and there are a handful [only!] of photo-documented Dec. sightings from Quebec, Canada, at feeders, etc. as well as one NYS winter-period photo-record in eBird files. Perhaps the first of ICELAND GULL have been seen, with a sighting of a (Kumlien’s-type) bird at the Battery (park) at Manhattan’s south end, on Dec. 1st, by A. Auerbach; sighted also in successive days. Gulls have been gathering lately in numbers in multiple areas in the city, some are easily scoped in places, including (with care & courtesy) at the Central Park reservoir. The most-observed uncommon-wintering species in Manhattan of the past weeks has been a RED-HEADED Woodpecker, staying by its oak trees at the western side of the North Meadow ballfields in Central Park’s north end, a bit west (usually) of ballfield number two. Listen for it calling at times; it is an immature, first-fall bird with no >obvious< red anywhere yet, but watch also for that to change soon, thru the winter… it is also likely some additional of that species are about, & further seeking may reveal them. More of them are present within New York City lately…! Among unexpected-for-date species have been: Baltimore Oriole, Lincoln’s Sparrow, at least 8 American Warbler species the more unusual for date being Black-throated Blue, and Yellow Warbler[s]; others include Pine Warbler, & less-unusual in Manhattan for December, Common Yellowthroat and Ovenbird, these last two in the multiple, and a minimum of 3 (three) Orange-crowned Warblers, in 3 disparate locations, plus briefly-noted Nashville (which is not that unusual in December in this city) and several others which for now, will go as Parulidae (warbler) sp. and a few more that may or may not have been warblers… plus-!- Wood Thrush (at least 2, photos) & reports of Veery (multiple, all sightings of Veery after October in New York should be photo or video documented for accuracy), plus E. Bluebird (expected but still uncommon/rare in Manhattan in general, can be seen in numbers on good flight days and movement can go into Dec. in some years, or even on calendar-winter days) and the very-expected Hermit Thrush (numbers have been fairly good) which is the only expected Catharus-genus thrush which winters in any numbers every year in the region, esp. in New York City… also an Eastern Phoebe, & a few other reports of possibly-interesting landbirds. Sightings for New York County, Nov. 29 to Dec. 5th, 2019: Snow Goose (many fly-overs) Canada Goose [Atlantic] Brant (many) Wood Duck (Central Park) Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler (250++, Central Park) Northern Pintail (female, Central Park) Green-winged Teal (Central Park, 1 or more lingering) Ring-necked Duck (2, Central Park, 12/2/p.m./reservoir) Bufflehead (many) Common Goldeneye (several, past HellGate on E. River) Hooded Merganser (multiple, Central Park) Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck (many, Central Park) Red-throated Loon (N.Y. harbor) Common Loon (N.Y. harbor) Pied-billed Grebe (Central Park reservoir) Horned Grebe (N.Y. harbor) Great Cormorant (N.Y. harbor) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Black Vulture (seen from Inwood area) Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk (few, late-movers but annual for dates) Red-tailed Hawk American Coot (multiple, Central Park) Killdeer American Woodcock (many lately) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Iceland Gull (as noted at top, at The Battery) Lesser Black-backed Gull (in N.Y. harbor) Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Monk Parakeet (loc. intentionally-undisclosed) American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon Great Horned Owl E. Screech-owl (resident) Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker (as noted at top) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Eastern Phoebe (thru 12/1) Blue Jay Common Raven (several) American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch (just 2 noted) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren (scarce) Golden-crowned Kinglet (scarce) Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (late! - 11/30 & 12/1, Randall’s Island) Eastern Bluebird (a modest flight) VEERY (1 photo-documented at Bryant Park, Manhattan, thru 12/5/2019; also reported from other local parks & needs confirmation thru clear photos) Hermit Thrush (many, as is typical into early winter in NYC) Wood Thrush (many photos, & from several locations) American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (few) European Starling Cedar Waxwing (scarce so far) Eastern Towhee (multiple) Dark-eyed Junco (many) Chipping Sparrow (multiple) Field Sparrow (few) Savannah Sparrow (multiple, 12/1, Randall’s Island) [Red] Fox Sparrow (multiple) Song Sparrow (common) Lincoln's Sparrow (photos) Swamp Sparrow (multiple) White-throated Sparrow (abundant) White-crowned Sparrow (several) Red-winged Blackbird (mod. no’s.) Rusty Blackbird (multiple) Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (several) Orange-crowned Warbler (multiple, including Central, Morningside, Swindler Cove, & some other parks) Yellow Warbler (female plumaged, rather rare for Manhattan so late in year; Nov. 30th was last sighting) Black-throated Blue Warbler (uncommon but not unprecedented for Dec. in New York City) Pine Warbler (male, lingering at Fort Tryon Park) Ovenbird (multiple, as is ‘typical’) Common Yellowthroat (multiple) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (to 12/1+, Randall’s Island) Nashville Warbler (reported from Central Park, not unprecedented thru Dec. in New York City; a past NYC [specimen] record exists from February; and, n.b.- a bird of his species was photo’d Dec.05, 2019, in Brooklyn/Kings County, New York City) Northern Cardinal House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow *where unannotated, birds were at least fairly common IN PROPER HABITAT, &/or in well-known sites, ie: Central Park’s bird-feeding sites, etc. & etc.* - - - - "Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?” - Rachel Carson (1907-1964; marine biologist, conservationist, author whose books include ‘Silent Spring’. Sir David Attenborough has remarked that that book may have had an effect on science second only to Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”.) Good and ethical birding to all, 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/ --
