Not noted as much just lately, the Mountain Bluebird was seen again at Esopus Meadows Preserve in eastern Ulster County, NY at least to Tuesday, Feb. 1st; that suggests it could still be in the same area - and was still associating somewhat with a few E. Bluebirds, as well as many other songbirds being in the general vicinity.
A Thick-billed Murre was present again off Great Kills Park, Staten Island (Richmond Co., NY) on Sat., Feb. 5th as seen by a number of observers. . . . There've been some indications of a bit of some February movements for winter-finches in the northeast, this could turn out to be very minimal in the NYC and coastal / SE region of N.Y. state, but worth at least bearing in mind - an example, a single Common Redpoll was photo’d. on 2/4/‘22 in (coastal) Atlantic County, New Jersey; some others are filtering in with goldfinches, etc. in adjacent states, i.e. Pennsylvania. And much more broadly, some observers are finding American Goldfinches moving about in numbers recently, with rather a lot more -as expected- happening finch-wise in the North Country of NY and New England, in just the past week or so. A very few Evening Grosbeaks have shown in coastal New England south of Maine lately. Not really related, & not so unusual, some Rough-legged Hawks seem to have been moving around a bit as well in some of the wider region. Not moving on, at least lately a Brambling was continuing (to Sat., 2/5) at Grondines / *Quebec* in Canada - where it is still a very rare sighting. - - - - New York County, including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island (open all year) Sat., February 5th: The 2 Western Tanagers were each present in their long-staying same locations in Manhattan, the usually-easier to spot the one at Carl Schurz Park, east of East End Ave. which typically comes around to and near a feeder array, not far from the west edge of the park, and a bit south of the E. 86 St. entrance (up some steps to the feeders); the other Western Tanager also continuing over on the West Side in Manhattan’s Clinton / Hell’s Kitchen area, seen Sat. as well, in mid-afternoon at West 48th St., in some of the trees along & next to the Clinton Community Garden, which is also one of the area’s sites to check (by peeking thru the fence from sidewalk), as well as worth a check of Hell’s Kitchen park at Tenth Ave., between 47th & 48th Streets - all to or on the eastern side of Tenth & do keep in mind that this in particular can be / is a busy residential neighborhood; please be courteous to all other walkers in both of these areas while seeking birds. I did not watch the w.side tanager for any long while at W. 48th, & that bird can be quite mobile (and can ‘disappear' for long periods!) in the area. While a good many gulls came along to check out and some to sit on the Central Park reservoir, there also were the becoming-very-regular visits in the a.m. & p.m. hours of an adult Bald Eagle, as well as some over-flights by Peregrines, and a few fly-bys of the very-regular Red-tailed Hawks and a Cooper’s Hawk or two. All of that, most esp. the return of that eagle, have kept high numbers of gulls from lingering as much as they perhaps otherwise might. When some gulls did show, amongst the many was at least 1 Iceland Gull, but for good looks or photos, the flock was first too active on the water & ice, then spooked by the raptor arrivals, but there were a fair no. that returned as well, and the Iceland was one of those. There are at least some murmurs from some of the gull-watchers of Central, as to the chance that Slaty-backed may have been seen, but not recognized as that, even some weeks prior. This could be, as it’s not a species still too high in the typical birder’s ‘radar’ and also not one that many will have had much if any prior experience of. Methodical looks at prior photos might give some clues, or just as readily might not in this instance. And, note that I’d count myself as one who missed cues or clues if it were so that a very-rare gull species was indeed showing on the waters of Central Park earlier this year. A nice find was the presumed same adult Black-headed Gull over on Randall’s Island (where seen at times previous to recent visits to Central Park), and there were plenty of signs of various other birds moving about post-storm, and with the cold front adding to possible need for some birds to get to other feeding areas. At least some of the waterfowl seen recently in Central Park have dispersed and it’s likely some made it just as far as to and near Randall’s Island, the E. River, & some assorted more-protected areas with any feeding or resting places. At least 2 Snow Geese were again seen on Randall’s Island, and many Canada Geese have remained in the county, along with [Atlantic] Brant. Plenty of Canada Geese have continued around Central Park. Also clearly on the move, even if in fairly modest no’s. were among others, American Robins and Common Grackles, but in addition, some sparrows continue to shuffle around, and this can be a good time to watch out for all sorts of field-&-scrub-loving birds on the move - that movement likely to be more southbound, not ‘early spring’, although in a few weeks or so, we will see what goes on. There are not many sighting of Cedar Waxwings for this month so far in N.Y. County, but at least a few small groups have shown, here & there. Obviously, once fruits are cleaned up from one area, they will move on at this time of the year. A couple of Rusty Blackbirds were continuing in Central Park, one being most-often found in the Ramble area. Also in Central Park, seen again by some were both species of Kinglets, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, & up to six sparrow species, all likely lingering on in various locations; the one species that could be moving a bit even now, American Tree Sparrow, along with some other winter-specialty passerines - Horned Larks and the latter sparrow species were found on Randall’s Island, and also there were a few Savannah Sparrows. There’s the chance any of these & other birds-of-winter in the county could show on Governors Island, which has varied habitat to support a number of *potential* winter-visiting species. Some areas in Manhattan also could potentially see some or even any of these species showing. Chipping, Field, [Red] Fox, Swamp, Song, & White-throated Sparrows, as well as many Slate-colored Juncos, are some of the lingerers in Central Park & also some elsewhere, plus E. Towhee in various locations. Winter Wrens have continued in at least a few locations; Carolina Wrens are the more regular and more widespread in the county, as essentially resident breeders. The most scarce of ‘winter’ birds in the county have been chickadees and titmice, each in very minimal numbers for months. Bald Eagles have shown in a number of locations, the Hudson river lately has been a good prospective place to watch for them, even potentially sitting on some of the ice floes that had been rather regular floating down on the current or falling tides. Also, continuing to be seen from various locations in the county are Common Ravens. … An E. Phoebe has been confirmed as still being found as of Jan. 30th at Morningside Park (Manhattan, Harlem/west side) & vicinity; my guess that this bird has roosted & perhaps spent much time just outside of that park in colder weather, it is almost certain to be the individual that lingered late in the year just past, in that area. (There’ve been other wintering E. Phoebes in N.Y. City and the region, and there’ve been very rarely a few that managed to winter in N.Y. County, although a lot either have taken off in the cold-snaps of the past, or as likely have not all survived all of past harsh weather. But some will, and do.) Also confirmed for Jan. 30th was Snow Bunting at Governors Island, a likely place for the species to turn up and *potentially*, to linger as well. good birding to all, with thanks again to many others also out & about in all weather seeking, finding, and reporting many birds. 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/ --
