The TROPICAL Kingbird found by Dr. Richard Veit that was seen on Sunday 9/26 by many observers, at the southern part of Staten Island (Richmond County), which is part of N.Y. City, was NOT reported at all for Monday, 9/27. And, the good numbers of E. Kingbirds that had seemed to accompany the find of that rarity for NYS, were greatly diminished on the search by those looking on Monday in that same area. Yes, there were birders a-plenty trying for the “T-K” on Monday, with no success being reported.
.. There also appear to be *no new* (Monday) reports by Brooklyn-birders (Kings County, N.Y. City) of the photo-documented Western Tanager that was seen on *Sunday, 9/26* in that borough - and was reported to this list promptly (thanks to one of the two keen observers & photographers) - that sighting from Coney Island Creek Park in Brooklyn on Sunday morning; some nice photos are archived in eBird / Macaulay library. .. .. N.B., as many on this list know, this is 'just-barely the start' of a season for greater possibility of more ‘vagrant’ species of many kinds in the area, as shown by many historical records for such occurrences. At the same time, we have been learning increasingly that a lot also can happen in late summer, with vagrancy. It is all an ongoing study; among many in or based in NY state, Dr. Veit -noted above- has been involved with such study for some time, and is a mentor now to a good many younger people involved in the biological sciences. - - - - - - New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Island[s] Monday, Sept. 27th: A Connecticut Warbler was found (by A. Evans) at the small Canal Park (western end of Canal Street, in lower Manhattan), with the warbler being seen several times there on Monday. (This very small park has over recent years produced sightings of a lot of great migrant birds, with the noted 1st observer being finder of a great many of them for that site.) The eBird checklist from K. Werner arriving later to see his life-bird CT Warbler has notes, along with photos, for the record: https://ebird.org/checklist/S95277634 <https://ebird.org/checklist/S95277634> with thanks to the finder (who reported this in eBird in good time!) Others also arrived there to see this warbler on Monday! It’s been a very good fall season for that species in N.Y. County; I have somewhat lost-track of all of the good 2021 sightings by now. Notable how many of these were *NOT* from the best-known Manhattan park that gets so much publicity, although yes, that place also had a good passage of the often-skulking species. On the walk (benefiting a non-profit org.) led by Gabriel Willow at Bryant Park (in Manhattan) on Monday morning, a Mourning Warbler as well as Gray-cheeked Thrush were seen & photographed, and among other sightings seen by the multiple particiapnts was a Lincoln’s Sparrow there. Note that in a recent report, I erred in mentioning the location of Bryant Park precisely - it is one city-block east [not west] of Times Square. Thanks to one of our greatest area-birders for pointing out the geographical-directional mixup! And I ought to have caught my error as I have spent many, many hours over the decades visiting both Bryant Park and its adjacent NY Public Library, the main branch and research rooms. Bryant can be a fascinating smaller park to walk through seeking birds - as is true of many, many of NYC’s smaller (and some much less well-known or much-birded) parks and green-spaces. Part of the fascination is how diverse the array of birds over the course of a year, and over multiple years, can be seen even in such relatively smaller areas and some - Bryant nearly ‘epitomizing’ this - smack-dab in the midst of the metropolis… and, there is great ‘patch’ style birding and nature-observation possible in so many locations spread through N.Y. City, with the 4 outer-boroughs (counties) also having a fantastic array of such places. The photograph from Fort Tryon Park on Sunday, 9/26 of a Myiarchus [genus] flycatcher (with M. & P. Waldron, observers) seems to my eyes as a typical Great Crested Flycatcher should appear, an apparent pale base to the lower mandible, with a fairly large bill, and other plumage-features seen pretty well in that photo, all seeming to add-up (again my opinion), and a nice record for the species, now getting just a bit ‘late’ in the season - that was the way the species was reported, incidentally. All should be on the lookout for a *possibility* - somewhat obviously with the discovery of that N.Y. City-Richmond Co. Tropical Kingbird - of various other, vagrant flycatcher species moving through, and of which some do occasionally stick around for a while as the autumn continues. (All that noted, we do have later documented records for Great Crested Flycatcher but the species definitely becomes scarcer as the month of September ends.) See the photo in the Macaulay Library - https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/372842131 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/372842131> - for the 9/26 Fort Tryon bird. (Incidentally, this sighting-date was matched by one, confirmed in eBird, from Staten Island on same date by one of that borough's [Richmond County] most-experienced observers… and, there are reports from elsewhere in the city & region just recently for the species.) A good passage of the neotropical-wintering species with fairly high numbers of Scarlet Tanagers all around, and also good no’s. of Rose-breasted Grosbeak, as well as still some Indigo Buntings. There were Yellow-billed Cuckoos in multiple areas; that included on Governors Island on Monday. At least 24 warbler species were still being found - by many observers in a lot of different locations, and as often is the case, at least 22 of those species were found in Central Park alone… while in some parks & greens-spaces elsewhere in the county, rather impressive variety, and some migrant species in good numbers, were seen. On a sad note and one which on a wider-scale was reported recently to the international news media, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was found deceased at a building on 56th Street & Madison Ave. - the problem of birds, many of them migrants, striking glass and other surfaces both at night and even some in daytime, is still a big problem, although groups are working on that issue, as already noted to this list, that includes among others the NYC Audubon (NYCAS) which had been ahead on this issue for decades, and have advised a lot of others elsewhere (it’s a world-wide problem too), working on the same sort of issues. At least 2 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were again seen on Randall’s Island by at least several observers, with photos again made available in eBird / Macaulay archives. There are also lingering Black-crowned Night-Herons & also on Monday, still Green Heron to be seen, along with a good mix of other migrants and fall visitors. The county overall was still seeing some lingering shorebirds including Solitary, Spotted, Least, & Semipalmated Sandpipers being reported into Monday, plus more-regular Killdeer (regular, at certain locations). Recently, I neglected to add that a small no. of Slate-colored Junco sightings pushed the tally of “sparrow-tribe” members seen as (mostly) migrants to eleven species, that is if also including E. Towhee in the tribe. The numbers of Savannah Sparrow continue to expand a bit. We should soon see a good increase of some of the sparrows as arrivals will be strengthening for many species in that group. A possible neglect (in my reporting), but from some 10 days prior, was that at least 1 Green-winged Teal had again been seen on the Central Park reservoir (after earlier sightings of the species there); that smaller duck species can sometimes go nearly-unnoticed in certain locations, including within well-birded Central. Some of the migrant waterfowl and other waterbirds that appear, at that park in particular, but also at other locations in the county, can be quite ephemeral and may at times involve ducks or other birds ‘touching down’ just briefly, only to move on again, and this is part of a long-seen pattern with migration passages of many water-birds in this county, in particular at the “edges” of the various many species’ migration-windows - meaning, in the phenology of their appearances there. (I believe also pretty typical in a lot of locations.) Here are 24 warbler species seen (with many, many observers) on Monday, Sept. 27th, in N.Y. County - Connecticut Warbler - 1 at Canal Park, photo-documented and placed in eBird / Macaulay archives. Mourning Warbler - 1 at Bryant Park, photo-documented and placed in eBird / Macaulay archives. - (all of the below were seen in Central Park, and many also in multiple other locations) - Tennessee Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler (this species is much less common by now, getting ‘late') Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler (still multiples of this species scattered about, this species has been documented into January [!] in N.Y. County in the recent past) Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (fair numbers on the early morning fly-through flights of recent days to 9/27) Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler (rather late now, but not unprecedented for the area, even to Oct.) Pine Warbler Prairie Warbler Palm Warbler (great increases noted, esp. at some favored locations in the county) Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler (nice numbers still about, some in small green-spaces as well as some larger parks) Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush (getting tougher to find as is expected now) Common Yellowthroat (esp. strong numbers continued, not too surprisingly for the date) Wilson's Warbler (not really that late but no longer at all common) - many of the other species noted above were seen in fair to good numbers, into Monday. -- There’s still been a good amount of insect-activity generally, esp. so with some of the rather mild weather recently. Among butterflies, Monarchs were continuing to migrate in nice numbers, and that may continue for the week ahead along with bird-migration on lots of predicted winds out of north by NW. 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/ --
