Per Robert Lewis' post to this list: one quick note, yes at least a few (other) birders were searching early Thursday 10/29, in all the areas where the Tropical Kingbird HAD been seen in Westchester County, NY (thru Wednesday 10/28, with many many observers) but for the early-Thursday seekers, NO Kingbird was re-discovered. It is of course possible it is still in that general area, but also equally possible it had moved on (and if so, to where?!) Please send any re-sightings of the Tropical Kingbird (if found again) to this list, along with any others utilized.
----------------- Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Thursday, Oct. 29th: A brilliant adult male Evening Grosbeak was in the center area of the Shakespeare Garden at around 9:15 a.m.; seen well at close range, the single (as far as I could tell) grosbeak was initially seen with many Am. Robins, in various trees, & then in part (?) due to Blue Jay alarm-calls, a vast number of birds (the grosbeak, 80+++ robins, and many sparrows & some Pine Siskins) all scattered away in multiple directions. My impression was that the grosbeak might not have flown far, but in another hour or so, with rain increasing somewhat, I was unable to re-find the grosbeak. I stayed mostly in the area of that garden, as well as re-walking the Belvedere Castle & south side of Turtle Pond paths, and then up along the w. outer perimeter of the Great Lawn, all areas with many many birds, including fruit-gobbling robins. I did not give any concerted attempts seeking a Nelson’s Sparrow which had been at the Pinetum area last 2 days (i.e. not seen by me on Thursday), & there were hordes of Common Grackles there, & also many of the latter (over 1,500) scattered through a lot of other parts of Central Park. Sadly not even a quick grab-pic of the grosbeak, & not clear where it ended up; it was silent in the short time I observed it. This species has occured in other years & have often ‘stuck’; in the case of one in Riverside Park (in Manhattan), staying for months in one general area there! P.S. at the time I passed by them (same morning), all of the bird-feeders in the C.P. Ramble were completely emptied & nearly silent. On the Central Park reservoir, in slightly more steady rain, I scanned (again) & found at least 9 Lesser Scaup (& these unlike for the Eve. Grosbeak, were photographed - in a hurry, in the rain & wind) which have been an uncommon species in N.Y. County in recent years. The Scaup, which included 3 drakes (males in bright plumage) were in the central area of the reservoir & associating with a smaller number of Ruddy Ducks when I viewed & photo’d. them. Also present on the reservoir were an increased number of Buffleheads, lingering Hooded Mergansers and Pied-billed Grebe as well as 2 Am. Coots seen briefly together by the N. ‘pumphouse’ structures, & also the usual many N. Shovelers, other additional Ruddy Ducks, & some Gadwall & at least one drake Wood Duck, plus a good number of gulls including at least one non-breeding Laughing Gull and the usual and expected 3 spp. of gulls there (Ring-billed, American Herring, & Great Black-backed Gulls), plus some Double-crested Cormorants in varying states of plumage. (Ducks & other waterfowl / waterbirds, like many gulls at the Central Park reservoir, may come & go readily & in weather such as is occuring now, this factor may be that much more so.) At least 4 Eastern Bluebirds were seen calling from at least 3 locations in the morning - east edge (path with fruit trees) of the reservoir: 2 birds, male & female; at the east side of the Great Lawn a bit south of the prominent statue of Alexander Hamilton (male), and one more at the lawn area east of Falconer Hill, which is a bit south of the 72nd Street internal cross-Drive of the park. There were thousands of birds scattered on almost all larger, & many smaller lawn areas & some parts of sports-fields, plus many in the Ramble, N. Woods, etc. including far more than 1,000 White-throated Sparrows, a high number of Slate-colored Juncos, and an assortment of many other related species with Song & Chipping Sparrows easily in the hundreds, altogether. In the rain, hard to see into many trees, but on the ground were a modest number of Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers, & after at least 75 minutes of looking, an Orange-crowned Warbler popping into view at The Dene wildflower slope, which is immediately east of the E. Drive at about E. 65-66th Streets - from the drive itself, there is an entry with a large sign for The Dene, on which is a photo of a brightly-plumaged male dickcissel, along with Monarch butterfly. The Dene area often requires patience to reveal its’ birds as the flowers & native grasses there are quite dense. Palm Warblers were seen in a few locations, and again, with so many bird utilising lawn areas for feeding, the chances of other passerine species on those is fairly good. Many other birds were seen, but another report may include some of those generally more-expected spp. A Sora seen calling on Tuesday 10/27, at the south side of The Meer, in Central Park (in some reeds & associated shoreline plants) has not been re-found nor heard again since. This was assumed a 'naturally-occuring' bird, as unlike some that have been released as well as other rallid-releases done, not far away, this site is not where such releases have been performed, nor am I aware of a recent such release, of that species, in that park. …. p.s., on Wed., 10/28 at least one Snow Goose was found on Randall’s Island, & more might be seen in coming weeks; this species also migrates through, sometimes quite high overhead, each autumn & may potentially be seen in the 100’s or 1,000’s as a migrant, from N.Y. County & obviously elsewhere. Sometimes, these geese may also be heard even when at high altitude in flight. … also, a Black-billed Cuckoo seen in Central Park NYC on Saturday, Oct. 24th is confirmed, in the eBird report in the review process. - - - - - - "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 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/ --
