New York County, including Manhattan, Randall’s, & Governors Islands Monday & Tuesday, May 10th & 11th -
Evening Grosbeaks were still present & passing through on Monday, May 10, and with several in Central Park. The latest female-type Blue Grosbeak sightings from Central Park were in a ‘favored’ (over the years) section of that park for that species, the compost area, to Tuesday 5/11. A bright male Summer Tanager was continuing at the north end of Central Park, although by Tuesday, was no longer in one tree that had enabled many to find it without too much difficulty on prior days. Other Summers that had been around may still be, & listening for their calls (female or male) may help to locate. Both Black-billed & Yellow-billed Cuckoos have continued to be found, the latter (as is usual here) the more regular of the two. Sparrow diversity continues, with Lincoln’s Sparrows as well as White-crowned and Savannah being found in multiple locations. There continue to be at least modest numbers of Purple Finch & Pine Siskin moving through, the latter less frequently noticed than the former, which probably does represent a difference in numbers passing in this county. At least 26 Warbler species were found as of Monday, 5/10 in N.Y. County, & at least 25 of those species were present in Central Park that day. Some of the typically-moved-on species were still lingering, and it’s unusual that even Louisiana Waterthrush is still in N.Y. City at all by now, and with multiples of that species still present (albeit in small numbers); this is part of a wider observed delay in some species moving north or onward to breeding areas. It also is unusual to have Slate-colored Junco in N.Y. City to mid-May, but that also is another example of delayed movement for some species (and again, with the caveat that these seem for most part to be small numbers of individuals of such ‘late’ species for this county, or in the wider region). Among warbler species that are expected to come along locally in mid-May, Bay-breasted Warbler have been a popular sight for many, with some observations scattered around much of N.Y. County, including at its’ 2 principal outlying islands that receive birder’s attentions: Randall’s & Governors. Both of those islands have been seeing a nice diversity of migrants this month, with many birders now visiting Governors as the island opened to the general public - and some of the reliable all-season birders who were permitted to survey there in winter & early spring also continuing their good efforts. The last-known photo-documented & multiple-observer sighting of a female W. Tanager at Carl Schurz Park was on April 22nd of this year, & since that date, 30+ observers visiting that park have not reported (any) sightings of that species, either at a feeder nor in the vicinity. Some of the observers at that park are also neighborhood residents, visiting there nearly daily. That park has been, like many of the more-modestly-sized parks of Manhattan, been receiving a nice diversity of migrants, particularly lately, and on days of strong ‘fresh' migration arrivals. A Clapper Rail seen by very many observers at Bryant Park on May 10th was not again found; thanks to the original finder & the principal ID-maker of that bird each e-Birding the report virtually immediately, which caught many dozens of birders’ eyes here and brought many to see the unusual visitor there. A good many other migrants also have been appearing in that mid-town park recently, as with so many of our NYC green-spaces, both smaller & larger. Increases in sightings (and numbers) of Cedar Waxwing often portend the later part of spring migration, and while we’ve had small increases of that species in the county, the numbers are not yet that portentious. In a similar vein, the female Blackpoll Warbler is not (even nearly) yet the commonest of warblers (nor are the males of that species) so we of course still have a good ways to go with songbird / landbird migrations. Good 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/ --
