Manhattan, including Central Park (& visits to Carl Schurz, Riverside, Morningside, & some other local parks)
Highlights include an ongoing Western Tanager (female, seen Thursday), and many recently-arrived migrants for N.Y. County. The male Kentucky Warbler continued on Friday, 4/23 at the north end of Central Park, in the Ravine (“Loch”) area, with many observers again; seen from first-light & into Friday morning, & onward. This warbler has been moving a bit since its’ first sighting the day before yesterday, & had moved to the e. end of the Loch, near where the park’s East Drive crosses over the Loch. Birders were lingering and are likely to be around the full day with this & other migrants around. An Orchard Oriole (male) was again present in Central Park, as well as Wood Thrush, Veery, & multiple White-eyed Vireos - & other very recently-arrived neotropical-wintering migrants are scattered about in Manhattan, including some that are still a bit early for the area, all a bit ahead of their *typical first-arrival* periods. Not extra-early now, but first (& now fully-confirmed) sighting of Worm-eating Warbler also in Central Park, for Friday, and with multiple observers. At least one dozen warbler species (the Kentucky among them) were in Central Park alone for Friday morning, 4/23; most were previously seen & reported by multiple observers as well, some for some time, others only this week. A bit tougher to find Pine Warbler (than ten days prior), but they are also still around, in the county. At least 18 species of American warblers have been seen in Central Park this spring, so far; one of those species definitely overwintered: Orange-crowned. The Spotted & Solitary Sandpipers may or may not have lingered, at least one of these was spooked at one point by a worker (unintentionally, to be clear!), and was not seen to return to its’ feeding. The C.P. reservoir also will be worth looking over. And a lot more migrants are likely in the coming week, esp. as a warmer air mass arrives. Purple Finches seem to have quieted for the time-being, but more of those may well be passing again in coming days. .. And on Governors Island (within N.Y.,County) among over 40 species noted (by B. Cacace for Friday, 4/23) were 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, as well as Ovenbird. . . . Thursday, April 22nd (“Earth Day”) - The long-staying female Western Tanager was present at Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan on Thursday, 4/22. It will be interesting to see if that bird is still there once our expected tanager species shows in numbers on passage (that being of course Scarlet Tanager), which might be in May, if arrivals are in typical order. Despite temp’s starting out in the mid-30’s (F.) with a below-freezing wind-chill factor, there were numbers of observers out & about for Earth Day, finding spring birds, including many (more) again seeing a male Kentucky Warbler in Central Park’s n. end (continuing from the day prior, and it might be noted, for hunger or for whatever reasons of its own, being less skulking than is expected of the species much of the time thus far since its initial discovery), and also seen were male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (and again by many observers, following the one in Fort Tryon Park the day prior). There were at least 3 R.-thr. Hummingbirds in 3 distinct locations in Central Park, & often seen coming to lush flowers. Great Crested Flyctacher, & several Orchard Orioles were found in Central Park, and my guess (only) is that these could have arrived locally on the day prior, but I was not aware of any prior reports. The two I saw in the Ramble area were males, one an adult, another a first-spring. It is possible that yet others were about, from other observers, although many folks were (rather understandably) on 'Loch-duty' birding in Central on the day. I also heard the unmistakeable calls (not song) of Baltimore Oriole from near Delacorte Theater / Great Lawn in Central Park on the day as well. My impression in general was of some individual birds lingering in essentially same areas where seen on Wed., 4/21, but there just may have been some migration-hops made by some birds overnight on Wed. to Thursday. (It’s been an odd & unpredictable spring so far & we’re still a week out from May 1st…) Other warbler species seen included some of those found the day prior & in recent days in Manhattan, such as Prairie, N. Waterthrush and Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, Palm, Pine, & Myrtle/Yellow-rumped, with perhaps some others present as well. My route in Central was from the n.w. corner of the park, to the east edges, to the s.e. corner, and back again to the far n. end, on the other (w.) side of reservoir, with a later walk in 2 other nearby parks (and earlier to east side of Manhattan). There were at least 4 White-eyed Vireos present in just Central Park on Thursday, a slightly unusual number there at one time. Temp. was moderating to at least 50 F. by late in the day, and insects were clearly active later for the many birds trying to locate them. At the reservoir in Central Park, a good number of Buffleheads (for the date) continued; I counted 14 at once (spread out) but a few more than that could have been out in the choppy waters. Also ongoing at Central was at least one drake & one hen Wood Duck, a couple of Gadwall, and modest numbers of N. Shovelers, as well as a few Ruddy Ducks. I did not come up with any Hooded Merganser, one of which was still present at least to April 19 at Central Park. On the rivers, both Red-throated & Common Loons were continuing, the latter esp. not as regular as in past weeks. Double-crested Cormorants have been quite common, & with many moving north almost daily. Snowy & Great Egrets are regular now on their typical east & west bound flight path as seen over parts of Manhattan & the adjacent waters & island (which includes their flights to and from New Jersey’s meadowlands, over the Hudson river from-to Manhattan & east of Manhattan island). Swallows of at least 3 species have continued to move, those being the 3 most-often seen from Manhattan & vicinity: Tree, Barn, & N. Rough-winged. These species also possible to probable if watched for from the various islands of N.Y. County. Turkey Vultures were again on the move, & Bald Eagle was again seen, as reported from northern Manhattan. Other parks in the area (mid-upper Manhattan) were also a little less-active with so many species as seen on Wednesday (or Tues., for that matter!) and it is clear that a number of migrants had taken off overnight, even if just short flights out, on Wed. night / Thurs. pre-dawn, while also some migrants stayed put in their respective sites of stop-over in same parks, and locations. Species which were in reduced numbers in the mid-upper Manhattan parks by Thursday (as compared with the day prior) included such as Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow, and a lot of other migrants. A few Slate-colored Juncos remaining were also hints that not all had taken off by Thursday, even amongst the species that don’t linger much in the city once we get to May. But for a lot of migrants, May is still "light-years" away… or at the very least, Florida-to-Texas-away… ... As part of Earth Day enjoyment, I was able to photograph at least 28 native plants (many spring wildflowers) in the local parks, although to be fair, a majority of these are planted & well-tended in places like Central Park in particular, but are strongly indicative of what is blooming or soon will be in the region’s woodlands. Some native trees as well as many ornamentals are in flower, & the Kanzan (or “Kwanzan”) and Yoshino cherry trees in Central Park could hardly be more spectacular just now, with other crabapples and more ornamental and some native (northeastern) trees also fully blooming as well. A small number of the earliest trees and native wildflowers in the local parks have already finished blooming, and this is part of a trend to earlier bloom, in spring, world-wide at least in the northern hemisphere, and likely too south of the equator. Some cherry trees in Japan have been closely observed - with written records of bloom-times - for more than twelve *centuries*, and those are known to be blooming earlier than ever, in our modern era. good quiet observations 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/ --
