N.Y. County, including Manhattan, Randall’s & Governors Island[s] mainly sightings from Thursday, October 7th - a few also for Oct. 8th -
The perhaps 1st-fall 'female-plumaged’ (rather drab colors) Dickcissel (found & first-reported by L. LaBella, on 10/6) at Central Park’s north-end compost area, was still being seen, by multiple observers, again on Thursday, 10/7. There was also a report noting the Mourning Warbler (likely 1st-year female) at *that compost area* still being found on 10/7 (& late for that species in the region). A Marsh Wren had also been found (J. Wooten) on 10/6 at that same area, that last however in the adjacent (fenced, but viewable from outside the south fence) NYC-Parks nursery & wood-chip storage area, on the s. side of the compost area. We don’t seem to have a later report of any Blue Grosbeak from that or other areas where recently found, but that latter species could be lingering at any of the areas where seen in recent days or the past week+. Another Nelson’s Sparrow for N.Y. County, at Inwood Hill Park’s marsh-regeneration project area; found Thurs., 10/7 (by A. Barry) and with multiple observers later. Multiple birders also got to see multiple Nelson’s Sparrows on Randall’s Island again on 10/7. At least some of those latter were deliniated as the subspecific form ‘subvirgata’ (A. Burke, & others as well), while many reports left the subspecies out of their reporting. A ‘late' Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was reported & confirmed in eBird (L. Weir) from Randall’s Island on Thurs., 10/7. An Eastern Meadowlark was seen again Thursday at Randall’s Island, and nicely photo’d. too (M.B. Kooper). That latter species might be sought as well on Governors Isalnd in N.Y. County, with good patches of habitat there for the species & for other grassland-loving migrants or visitors. Note that both Saltmarsh, and Nelson’s Sparrows were again being found at Randall’s Island, as well as multiple Yellow-crowned Night-Herons there, and of course many many other birds there and all around N.Y. County for FRIDAY, Oct. 8th. And ‘separately', continuing to be found are Red-breasted Nuthatches, in generally modest numbers (but still more could be arriving). Black-billed Cuckoo was among the sightings from Central Park in a walk there (for a non-profit org., led by J. Giunta) on Thursday; also seen & photo’d. by others. Yellow-billed Cuckoos also have continued to be found in at least several locations in the county. A White-eyed Vireo was again seen (& photo’d) at Central Park as of 10/7, and a N. Waterthrush also was seen where that last W.-e. Vireo was, near The Pond in that park’s s.-e. quadrant; an earlier but recent W.-e. Vireo had been in the Ramble area of Central Park, to at least this past Sunday. A bright adult-plumaged male Mourning Warbler was still being found at the World Trade Center memorial area in lower Manhattan to 10/7, Thursday, with close photos again obtained by some & again, with many (!!) observers to see the late-lingering & uncommon-in-that-plumage bird (for Oct. in N.Y.) as well as other migrants there & in nearby lower Manhattan locations. (It’s possible that the male Mourning is still in that same area, with multiple birders still seeking migrants around that space, and many other species still being seen to FRIDAY there, October 8th.) Among the many warbler species still lately around the county, also running late are Blackburnian Warbler, with a further confirmed report of that species from Inwood Hill Park. While many, many observers were aware of Bay-breasted Warbler lingering at Central Park to at least Wed. 10/6, one of that species also was photo’d. (J. Keane) at Randall’s Island on Thursday, 10/7. Blackpoll Warblers were also still around in fair numbers with multiple locations have more than just one or two of them. Chestnut-sided Warblers were also still to be found in some several locations, these included individal birds seen during walks led (for non-profit org’s) by Joe Giunta in Central Park (& also indepenent observers there) , & by Gabriel Willow, the latter at Carl Schurz Park on Manhattan’s east side, also a fine photo (C. Quinn) from the U.N. grounds (United Nations H.Q., partly non-public access), and all of those birds from 10/7; that’s still just a partial list (as with many of these migrants noted within this report). An indication as to how numerous Savannah Sparrows have been in a variety of areas of N.Y. County lately, one of that species was found (L. Goggin) in the modest-sized urban garden “El Jardin del Paraiso” in lower Manhattan. (On a personal note, I greatly enjoy seeing birds & reports of them from urban gardens, a project I was once part of, planting and maintaining in parts of N.Y. City, on a volunteer-basis, and a side-benefit then as now, to find wildlife in those same gardens.) Note that in many instances, the urban / community gardens many not be open to the public at all times or on all days; for some, it’s possible to view some birds reasonably well from outside. In N.Y. County overall, there have been at least ten species of native sparrows this week, including the less-common; we are finding more Juncos just in recent days, & many other sparrows should be on the increase from now on into the late autumn. In ways subtle to less-subtle, the diversity of birds seen now is starting to turn slightly more each day to the autumnal expectations and, the anticipation of what can be a most-intriguing time of the year, bird-wise. In addition to walks briefly-noted above, the Linnaean Society of New York has been, & continues to have walks in N.Y. County, as does the N.Y. City Audubon, also many with leaders for the American Museum of Natural History (N.Y.) with some other non-profit organizations also offering various guided walks at various times and locations, on into the autumn. .. .. N.B., one very keen birder has noted (privately) that in many reports (including some of mine), notations as to plumages seen in fall-season are either/both guesses hazarded or simply not exactly accurate, as so many migrants & some other birds seen at this time of year are highly *likely* to be first-of-fall (hatched this same year) individuals. However there are also ‘mistakes’ made on this in either direction at times, and that can include those making use of bander’s terms, etc. Some small errors in this vein can be easily attributed to the simplest reason, excitement for seeing a particular bird at all, and some in brighter-than-anticipated plumage. This is in reference to age &/or gender plumages in individual birds observed, and not to errors in identifying sprecies, which would be a different matter. Plenty more to be noted from N.Y. County, in coming days. We also are still seeing insect activity in many parts of the county, which may continue for some time with rather mild tempartures - and no signs for some time to come of even light frosts, locally. good birding to all - and thanks to all of the many observers quietly & patiently observing, and those also reporting sightings. 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/ --
