N.Y. County (in N.Y. City) - Wed., Oct. 27th - Two species of scoter were detected and photographed in a watch of the Hudson River in the morning from Inwood Hill Park’s Dyckman Fields section, at the western terminus of Dyckman St. in northern Manhattan, with multiple observers - one-dozen Scoters in all, with a single Surf Scoter and the other 11, all White-winged Scoters. Both are very uncommonly noted from the county, even though possibly-annual moving along the Hudson on migration for the local area (of Manhattan) and simply a bit under-detected; the 2 species seen seem to have long been the more ‘expected’ of 3 scoter species with Black Scoter the rarest find (of the three) in N.Y. County. These sightings for Wed. also paralleled some movement of the scoters and of waterfowl more generally all through the region as well as specifically along the Hudson.
The Yellow-breasted Chat found the day before along W. 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan was seen on this day by 'vast throngs' of birders, and by some passersby as well, in its non-skulking appearance for a sometimes-shy species. Some observers were still watching and even arriving there close on sunset-hour to see that bird. Of various warblers still hanging-in around the county, a Magnolia Warbler was yet again seen & photographed (A. Lazaurus) at Stuyvesant Cove Park. There were a multitude of Ovenbird sightings from quite a few locations on the day; it is rather typical that some of this species may linger & lurk in even some of the smaller of parks and greenspaces in all parts of the county. Blue-headed Vireo, E. Phoebe, and White-crowned Sparrow were among species still being found, but in greatly-diminished no’s. from just the week prior. Some ongoing species (amongst many many others) included Brown Creeper, both Kinglet spp., Winter Wren, and multitudes of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers; even more-minimal now are sightings of Lincoln’s Sparrow (with Swamp Sparrow still fairly-common). Two Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were persisting at Randall’s Island (E. Schwarz) in 2 separate locations there, as in prior days. Two Green-winged Teal as well as Wood Duck persisted at The Pool in Central Park’s north end, and there were a Pied-billed Grebe, American Coots, and some Buffleheads, N. Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks and more-typical Gadwall & so forth on the Central Park reservoir. ... Tuesday, Oct. 26th - Yet another Yellow-breasted Chat for the southbound season, in N.Y. County, the latest in a place that’s favored the species at times before, and occasionally has provided overwintering for them. It might be added that the recent (weeks) couple of Y.-br. Chats in Manhattan are not ‘isolated’ occurences in the region by any means, others of the species have been seen in multiple locations in the past week or so, from Long Island’s counties, & northeast in Connecticut as well as elsewhere. Moving down the Hudson river on the rainy day-Tuesday (a.m.) were several Red-breasted Mergansers, and a flock of at least 14 Hooded Merganser, all seen in flight only, and after some of the heaviest rain had passed; it’s reasonable to presume some Red-breasted Merg’s. may be detected in local waters, including those of N.Y. County, at any dates from now forward, although later next month will likely produce a lot more. Many gulls (hundreds per hour, at times) were noted moving (mainly southward) along the Hudson river adjacent to Manhattan, during Tuesday, with a very high percentage being American Herring Gulls, as well as much more modest numbers of the other two species of ‘typical’ gulls of the city and wider region near-coastally, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gull. There were Laughing Gulls seen as well, but no-higher numbers of the latter than might be expected for the season in this county on a more standard fine-weather day. Some warblers found in or after the rains on Tuesday included multiple Cape May Warblers, including a few in smaller parks of lower Manhattan, as well as in Central Park, where at least one Nashville Warbler was lingering & (again) seen very late in the day at the Meer’s south side, in that park’s north end. An adult male American Redstart was seen (A. Burke, in addition to the nearby Chat) on the Fifth Ave. side, & then poss. into the main part, of Bryant Park in midtown (those sightings: A. Burke; the Chat seen & photo’d. by many ‘chatterers' later after the initial report. Incidentally many -indeed most- eastern-breeding Y.-br. Chats go south to southern Mexico & esp. into Central America for the colder parts of the year, although a modest number may try to winter in the U.S., with perhaps mixed success in more-northerly attempts.) 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/[email protected]/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/ --
