Tuesday, Oct. 13th - At Randall’s Island, just east of Manhattan island & ‘politically’ part of New York County (within N.Y. City), the juvenile-plumaged American Golden-Plover continued, and was again seen by multiple observers. Additionally, more of the seekers of this bird have been seeing (& some photographing) the Ammospiza sparrows (which are in the multiple, esp. at the northern ‘weedy’ fringes adjacent to the Bronx Kill there, where some salt-marsh also occurs in patches; and mudflats in times of lower tide cycles), & at least some reports are adding in sub-specific forms for Nelson’s, or suggesting / reporting species beyond only Nelson’s Sparrow…. more photos may be useful as well as careful note-taking, for what may be occurring in the area. It might be added that clear photos + notes may have helped in confirming in eBird-archives the record for Saltmarsh Sparrows (2 individuals) seen at Randall’s Island, photo’d. (by E. Goodman) on Oct. 12th. Modest no’s. of American Pipit were (again) seen by some at Randall’s Island on 10/13, & a variety of other migrants &/or potential long-term visitors were also found by some birders there.
Pine Siskins continue to be found in many locations literally from one end (northern) to the other (southern) of Manhattan, & also Randall’s island, in even occasionally very-modest bits of habitat such as flower beds or urban community garden areas & also in ‘weedy’ patches with ripe seeds (& juicy arthropods for the taking). It is not unusual for flocks of 5, 10, 15, 20 and even more to be tallied in some locations most recently - far greater numbers were observed by some in the past week+ as they arrived / passed through N.Y. County including Manhattan. There are also more-modest numbers of American Goldfinch, Purple Finch, and the expected-all-year House Finch about & sure to continue, as well. A ‘Gambell’s' form (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli) of White-crowned Sparrow was reported from Randall’s Island, and this (less-common-locally) form ought be watched-for amongst the good no’s. of the species that are passing through now, some of which could linger; again when possible, photos as well as good note-taking may prove useful, to the observer[s], as well as in records-keeping. Sparrows more generally have been in very good numbers as is somewhat expected by mid-Oct., with some species lingering thru the passage of the remains of “ex-hurricane Delta” - which had already been downgraded to a tropical system, but carried much-needed rain into & across the entire region. The weather-hardy participants to the Linnaean Society of New York’s Tuesday bird-walk in Central Park found, among many other good migrants, a Marsh Wren along the Lake there in the morning's rain. Birders on the walk also found Black-and-white Warbler, not exceedingly late, esp. for this county, but interestngly, occurring in some number on the day, in a variety of locations through the county, including some of the smaller parks & green-spaces of Manhattan. Also being seen even on a rather gray day, Cape May Warbler continued to show in a variety of locations - the latter has sometimes been seen in this county even past New Year’s Day 1/1, of course by then quite unexpected. For later-season cape may warblers at least in this city, as many local birders know, it is esp. worth checking around where any Y.-b. Sapsuckers are active, as the nectar-loving Cape May (a warbler that particularly visits nectar sources in its wintering grounds in the Caribbean region & elsewhere) will sometimes stay in the same areas where sapsuckers are causing sap-wells to flow - and further, it is likely that small arthropods may be attracted by such sap-flows, thus offering yet more reason for a warbler, or any of many other species, to have a sapsucker nearby to help in the ever-present need for sustenance (and likely all the more so, once temperatures go down into wintry levels). Cape May Warblers in a variety of plumages (often so first-year drab as to require a good close look to establish the I.D. with certainty) have been ongoing in multiple areas, still - as have a modest variety of other warblers, but in now (as expected) somewhat diminished-diversity, as compared with just one week prior. - - - - - "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” - Teddy Roosevelt (26th president of the U.S.A.) "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass (1818-1895; U.S. statesman, orator, writer) Good post-post-tropical / (‘late-?”) arrriving weather-front 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/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/ --
