Although he was not a New Yorker by birth or upbringing, Paul Johnsgard, who just passed on a few days ago at the age of 89, was a Cornell University PhD grad., as well as an alum. of other universities for earlier degrees, and was an extraordinarily prolific author of many books, some of them monographs on a variety of bird families of the world, through decades of his long career; he also at times wrote more-popular books, and some aimed to very young readers. He was a real champion of the plains and prairies of N. America, in his studies and writings. He showed an especially strong connection with the sandhills region of Nebraska - & for cranes by that name, and the other cranes. A number of his books were published by Cornell including his first which was on waterfowl, after having worked at the Wildfowl Trust at Gloucestershire, England. He has had many books published for over 55 years on avian subjects as well as more general works. R.I.P., and all condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
... Get ready -possibly- for Corthylio calendula - the proposed new (and old-old) Latin/scientific name for the North American breeder and migrant, Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It's one of the potential changes being brought up by the A.O.U. - & that 'new' name was proposed nearly a century-and-a-half ago, so it's not exactly a new notion. There is perhaps now still more understanding of this latter species as distinct from the various Regulus [genus] species which include our Golden-crowned Kinglet, as well as a small number of related Regulus species found (mostly) in the vast Palearctic region of the planet, another one also being an endemic resident on the island of Taiwan, while there is an endemic Regulus also on the Atlantic island of Madeira. . . . New York County (in N.Y. City), incl. Manhattan, Randall's, & Governors Island[s] Saturday & Sunday, May 29th & 30th - So far, it appears that the big-rain (and cold) event of a lot of this region for these several days may not have ushered-in any highly unusual birds, at least into N.Y. County. Or did it…? We’ll see if anything of that sort yet turns up. There were some birders out looking, thru some of the weather - mainly on the 3 largest islands that make up N.Y. County and as is usual, esp. on Manhattan. A singing male Kentucky Warbler was again present in Central Park's north end on Sat., 5/29 and also present in that section were -at least- one-dozen other warbler spp., including multiples of Yellow & Blackpoll Warblers as well as American Redstarts, and Mourning Warbler was still present also in the same general section of that park. Sunday, it was a lot tougher to come up with a variety of species. I was mostly in parts of lower Manhattan Sunday, and the s. section of Central as well as some of Riverside Parks. It was still clear that a good many migrants had stayed on in the weather conditions, esp. as seen in some smaller parks, where viewing can be a little less-leafy in places, compared with the larger parks. A Summer Tanager, perhaps a first-spring male, was found on Governors Island in the 'Nolan Park' section (not too far from the ferry-landings) along with a small variety of other migrants there, plus the varied breeding birds of that island, on Sat., 5/29 (thanks to some of the NYC-Audubon crew, women birders who have regularly found many birds of note on the island and elsewhere). I visited there, too - but mostly had spent a good part of rainy-raw Saturday in the lower half of Manhattan, visiting many of its smaller parks & green-spaces. At least 5 Scarlet Tanagers were found in that time, 2 of them adult males (Union Square Park, & Stuyvesant Square Park), while at least 9 species of warblers were also found (the highest diversity in a smaller park that I found were at Union Square, with 6 species), and to my modest surprise, a Great Crested Flycatcher (calling at times) at the s.e. edge of Madison Square Park, as well as (small-beaked) Empidonax [genus] Flycatchers in at least 3 parks, not giving vocalizations when viewed. Also noted in 7 different locations, from Bryant Park in midtown to as far downtown as The Battery were Swainson's Thrushes, all seen singly. In addition, 2 dark (grayish) cheeked thrushes were present in 2 different small parks, at Stuyvesant Square, and the rather-rarely-birded (I think!!) St. Vartan Park both on Manhattan's east side. The park with seemingly-highest count of lingering White-throated Sparrows was (for me) Bryant Park, with a minimum of 8 there, but very possibly more, as well as at least 2 Gray Catbirds also there. Most of that park's 'migrant' species were in or near the s.w. sector during my afternoon visit. It was good to hear some of the thrushes singing a little (excepting, during times I saw, a few of the 'darker-cheeked' individuals) even in mid-day & later, along with the rains which just possibly, along with low-light, prompted a bit of their songs. (Also singing from several locations were Wood Thrushes, that's including larger parks in the a.m. such as Central & Riverside Parks.) This happened on both Sat. & Sunday. At least a few Gray-cheeked Thrush songs emanated from both Central & Riverside Parks, at various times, but Swainson’s Thrush is the most numerous, still, of the migrant thrushes here now. There also were ongoing Empidonax [genus] flycatchers, & in my wanderings in rain or in-between rains, a lot of those flycatchers seemed to be more focused on feeding, than vocalizing. With shorebirds being seen elsewhere in the city & of course much more so to the north, the only species of those I ran into have been Spotted Sandpiper, and then there are the Killdeer at some of their breeding places in the county. And yes, White-throated Sparrows continue on in a number of places in very low numbers; some of those may stick around all summer, but that’s yet to be seen. Song Sparrow is the one (native to this hemisphere) sparrow that breeds very regularly in N.Y. County. 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/ --
