New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island as well as other sections of same county.
… how many Y.-br. Chats? How many Western Tanagers? How many Orange-crowned Warblers? and what else is lurking in the sun (today), or in poss. cooler winds of this week-end? On Wednesday, 12/15 (then a day ahead of the county’s CBC date-period for 1 week), the Yellow-breasted Chat-count was at a *minimum* of three individuals, with the one mentioned by A. Drogin at Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s west side -which I also saw on Wed., 12/15, there- (nearer to the n. end of B. Abzug Park), and previous Y.-br. Chat seen (& photo’d; M.B. Kooper) at Governors Island on Tuesday, 12/14 (which is rather unlikely to the the same individual as any of the others, at the other county-locations) - and, also on Wed., 12/15, another Y.-br. Chat at the Conservatory Garden of Central Park (in the southwest part of that garden) which I (my opinion) think has possibly or even probably been in *that area* for a very long time, undetected again until early Wed. a.m. (w/ a heads-up from M. Freeman, on the presence of that garden-bird) - I also suspect that there could be yet even further Chats (Yellow-breasted, that is) in the county, still lurking in some of the areas where, or near where, sightings came over this past autumn, now December - it’s not that uncommon for that species to tend to linger, sometimes rather surreptitiously, for weeks and even months, little- or even un- detected, and then show again at a time of their ‘choosing', rather than on any eager-birder’s wishes or (CBC, etc.) schedules. Also it seems plausible / possible some additional ‘lingerers' may yet be around the county including -possibly- some of the warbler species that were detected in the county earlier in December. And-or that some arrivals from points-elsewhere come in, or show on the arriving weather of this week-end. Also found on *Wed*., 12/15 were the two Western Tanagers of Manhattan, the one seen at Clinton Community Garden in morning, but with (er, ‘stereotypical') NYC noise-levels including the raucous verbalizations of a number of construction-workers immediately across narrow West 48th Street by the garden, with said rare tanager being seen in the taller trees in the front of that garden, and then not seen (by me) later mid-day of the 15th; whereas the W. Tanager at Carl Schurz Park on Manhattan’s far-east edge was seen a number of times, both morning & later in that day, coming to the feeder and also in surrounding trees and shrubs at the site, just inside the park from East End Ave. The Clinton-neighborhood streets should be a bit quieter on Sundays - but do they have a *third* tanager - or has that Clinton bird moved about 2+ miles north to within Central Park, near or just north of W. 103rd St.? By Thursday, Central Park’s (latest) W. Tanager was discovered only later in the day (& seen by multiple observers, after Kris. John’s find) on 12/16; and, well - only if there was a confirmed sighting of the Clinton / W. 48th St. tanager *simultaneous* to the newly-found Central Park bird, can it be absolutely stated that there were 3 different western tan’s. in Manhattan… (the Carl Schurz Park W. Tanager was however seen later in the day again on Thursday - and that’s been consistent in that park, or close vicinity). At *least* 3 Orange-crowned Warblers were again present in Manhattan - one seen & photo’d. (badly, but still) in the s.w. corner of Union Square Park (and also seen to fly to the tip-top branch of one essentially-bare tree, then hop-fly across to the extreme s.-w. portion of Union Square, but quickly revert to the main section of that park again. The initital sighting I had of that Orange-crowned was in the low shrubbery near the (now-shut) dog-run area in the s.-w. part of the main section of that park, & also as described, an active little warbler indeed. Two other warbler species were also found in short order in the vicinity - Common Yellowthroat, and Ovenbird, and those associating at least loosely with the various White-throated & poss. other Sparrows, in the west and south parts of Union Square Park. Among other less-uncommon species seen in a short time in that park were Swamp Sparrow and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, as well as Gray Catbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush and motley other birds. The park was very busy with human activity with all the markets (both farm & holiday-stalls exceedingly bustling). Another Orange-crowned Warbler was continuing on at Sherman Creek / Swindler Cove Park, at the e. end of Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan (having been seen there previously as well) and, a bit farther north & west, yet another (and ongoing) Orange-crowned Warbler at Inwood Hill Park (near its n. edge) which may have been lingering in much the same area for some while - and was again seen on Thursday, Dec. 16th there. It’s still possible that some other warblers are present in N.Y. County - and other warbler species most-definitely were/are around the rest of N.Y. City, as well as sightings of some from farther north in NY state & in parts of New England, with at least a few of the late-or-lingering species still in areas quite far north of where at all ‘expected’ by December (or even by into November far more generally). Further N.Y. County sightings on Wed., 12/15 include the (also lingering) drake Northern Pintail at the West 79th Street Boat-Basin (marina) on the Hudson River, west of Riverside Park and visible from that park’s river-edge path; photo’d. there by me & seen by others as well there on the day. (The long-visiting/staying "feral Muscovy-ish duck” was also present sitting up next to one of the marina doors on a dock, maybe hoping for some holiday-treats. And the usual gang of Mallards with some suspiciously-long in the tails.) Other duckage also continued into Wed. in multiple waterbodies of Central Park, with decent duck variety of the season there. A rather drab Pine Warbler was still in the pines near the Pinetum area in Central Park late on Thurs., seen in some of the trees at the western / s.w. border to that area, not too far from the park’s W. Drive & cindered bridle path. That, like some of the other warblers scattered around Manhattan & perhaps elsewhere in the county is (are) presumably or at least mostly very-long-lingering bird[s]. There was still at least one (and perhaps more than one) Rusty Blackbird in Central Park to Wed., 12/15 and that or those may be lingering on. Randall’s Island continued to show up some species such as the long-lingering Yellow-crowned Night-Heron at Little Hell Gate marsh area, along with other birds - and some of those seen there recently could still [re]appear in the coming days as well as new species or individuals showing. For Thursday 12/16, an Eastern Phoebe was still at Morningside Park’s pond, sometimes easily seen - and sometimes not. That pond & vicinity have attracted very late & occasionally “early” Eastern Phoebes in other years, as well as this month’s. (Given that at least 3 other flycatcher species have been in N.Y. City or very nearby - as in, the adjacent state of Conecticut, in recent weeks & even in recent days for some of those, it’s worth checking on any flycatcher sightings, or reports of, wherever they come, as further species are still very much a possibility in addition to the E. Phoebe staying on.) As some will very well have noted, there’s also a palearctic rarity in the form of N. Lapwing that’s been seen not all that far east-northeast of N.Y. City, at Milford, Connecticut on 12/16 (T. Murray, et al). Many more and varied other birds were seen in multiple locations the past 3 days in N.Y. County - and all (& more) will be sought over coming days by some of those participating in the upcoming bird counts. As just one sort of indication of the many insect-eating species that may be lingering around, the no’s. of Ruby-crowned Kinglets in N.Y. County over this past week appear to run well into double-digit numbers, perhaps far into multiple-dozens spread all around the county. In some parks & green-spaces, several were appearing in one small space at a time, and it’s rather likely more are or were present in total than any few observers were finding. And getting back to flycatcher findings (beyond E. Phoebe) we can all keep eyes & ears open for the possibility of *any* Empidonax species showing, which very-superficially could initially seem to resemble an active R.-cr. Kinglet… this note also reminding us that stray-vagrant ‘western’ species of Empidonax have occurred in ‘winter’ (& even in N.Y. County alone, as well as other southeast NY counties) over past rather-recent years. And I’d add a note, although it’s well-south in New Jersey, a Dec. 12th photographed Eastern Kingbird is yet another (but extremely late and very unexpected for mid-Dec. - perhaps just a 2nd northeast modern & documented record of that species so late in the year) flycatcher in the larger region, in addition to N.J.’s Western Kingbird & Ash-throated Flycatcher, of late. Good birding, and good health-[& awareness] to all... despite mild weather for this Friday, have all of that winter-weather gear & face-mask all set to go for these coming days... 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/ --
