New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island Tuesday, May 10th -
On a day when it seemed that some of the migrants had dispersed a bit (possibly including some of the rarer species of past several days here), the overall diversity of migrant species - and the enthusiasm of birders - was not flagging, and at least some of the ‘stars’ of Central Park - a bright adult (of which the gender is undetermined) RED-HEADED Woodpecker was continuing, as was a brightly-plumaged Yellow-breasted CHAT, each in the n. end of that park in respective areas where seen in prior days. There were also up to 25 (or more) American Warbler species in Central Park alone (with many species of these also being found all around the county, and diversity seeming to rise in some of northern Manhattan) and that tally in Central Park included a most-impressive number of Cape May Warblers - with easily more than 15 of that species just in Central Park in many locations (at times, up to 3 or 4 at one time being seen) and for the county overall, at least double (but more likely triple+) of the same; a long way up from not-so-long-ago years when we would struggle to see more than a ‘few’ Cape May in one spring, or fall; that is among the spruce-budworm specialist species (feeding on that type of insect larvae in the northern-boreal forests of trees of that type, along with a number of other breeding, nomadic, and/or resident boreal-breeding bird species) and the spruce-budworm outbreaks in recent times have clearly helped along those birds’ populations at least in the areas where / when outbreaks of such a rich food-source have been esp. plentiful. A fun photo of Central Park’s (n. end) CHAT on May 10th, by an area-regular birder, E. Mackevicius is in the Macaulay Library archive: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/446599851 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/446599851> - seems that bird’s been feeding reasonably well, at the least even with plenty of attention at times there on the days of its’ being watched and enjoyed. Of a few of the rarer warbler spp. of the past week+, there were apparently no sightings by Tues., such as Kentucky Warbler or Yellow-throated Warbler (from Central Park, or any part of the county). At least 1 Mourning Warbler was seen by some, again in the area of Central where previously found, and for that latter species there will also be more in the coming weeks! We also had some sightings of early-to-migrate species still showing in modest or fairly-low no’s. by Tues. such as Palm Warbler, and Pine Warbler and somewhat notably for this county, a number of Golden-crowned Kinglets still pushing through (the latter seen in a variety of locations including from Governors Island, from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, and Central Park as well as some additional locations this week) along with (few) decidely late Winter Wrens. Also seen & in some instances photo’d. were a couple of late-now Louisiana Waterthrush in more than 1 location into Tuesday. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were still being seen in a number of N.Y. County locations thru Tuesday, & these are decidely ‘late’ although this seems to happen now every spring, and a few of these may actually linger into summer - just as some (non-breeding!) White-throated Sparrows typically remain in some of the county’s parks or green-spaces all through summer, to the surprise and delight of summer-watchers. For many migrants seen to Tuesday, multiples were (still) noted including such ones as Hooded Warbler, and lots of others. We are still ‘working’ on some of the gray-cheeked type thrushes, which are not-that many yet & for which the hope lies mainly in hearing vocalizations - from the bird[s], not from someone’s ‘app’ or speakers, etc.! - with a chance of documenting a Bicknell’s, and/or the equally-likely (& far more numerous in world-populations) Gray-cheeked, among that near-pair of species of Catharus. Far more of either of these two thrush species will be passing through in coming days/weeks to their breeding areas. For flycatchers, we are still seeing the earlier species to move such as E. Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, & Least Flycatcher as well as E. Kingbird, while some E. Wood-Pewees have also shown (but not that many yet), and the other Empidonax seem to be limited (in terms of definite ID’s made by hearing vocalizations clearly) to Acadian Flycatcher (the status of which has incidentally changed dramatically in the past few decades, as that species has moved far north in succsesful expansion of the breeding range; I have been in boreal-vicinity areas in northern New England & in northern NY state in the past & seen 1 or two of that Empidonax (when rare) and now can find them far more regularly in some areas where formerly unknown - this species also has bred (successfully) in N.Y. City and is a candidate for nesting in N.Y. County (“again”, which is not always the same as *success* in breeding, of course!) We should be seeing some further passage of Olive-sided Flycatcher as well along with more of its smaller & more-common / widespread cousin, E. Wood-Pewee this month. The latter also breeds in N.Y. County, albeit in low numbers. Some daunting birders made the trip to Governors Island to again seek a Seaside Sparrow, however by Tues. that species was not seen (or not reported) despite efforts on that island; however many other migrants, including diverse sparrow species, were seen again (on Governors as well as at Randall’s Island[s], and in general around the county. It will be worth watching at Governors Island in particular for the terns that may ‘turn’ up again, and hopefully can nest - Common Tern being the expected one. A few American Coots were still lingering or passing thru in the county, with a couple seen (again) at Central Park’s reservoir and an odd one off Randall’s Island on Tues., & in waterfowl, the stalwarts of several group bird-walks found 2 Wood Ducks again for Central Park on Tues. - the bird-walks being led for and by folks involved in not-for-profit organizations, such as the Linnaean Society of New York, the NYCAS (N.Y. City Audubon), the A.M.N.H. series-walks (American Museum of Natural History) & some other non-profit org’s. as well, all very much deserving of support, and all inviting anyone interested to sign on for the many walks led within birding locations all around the county (and some well-beyond, in some instances). There have been but (relatively) few reports / sightings of shorebird species lately beyond the very-regular migrants and a breeding species (that’s Killdeer), with Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers still fairly regularly and a couple of good reports of Greater Yellowlegs (at least to Mon. at Inwood Hill Park, and Tues. from Swindler Cove and Sherman Creek, each of those locations in n. Manhattan and each well-worth regular scans for wading birds and in general for "the unexpected", as well), with thanks to their respective observers. We had a few reports for Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, even from Central Park, although some had no real details on the distinction from the very-regular (and frequent) all-summer-long appearances of Black-crowned Night-Herons (which show up in varying plumages all season long). Great & Snowy Egrets continue as regular sightings, in particular as flyovers of the Snowy Egret on moving from roost areas to-from some feeding areas, as seen even (and often) over for example Central Park’s n. end (and also seen well by active observers in east-west Harlem, as well as occasionally from other parts of the county, and in particular also at Randall’s Island and vicinity. Many migrants have already reached breeding-areas on their varied respective grounds in NY State (& beyond) this week, some perhaps just-arriving the last day or two. This is of course a critical time for all species, so many of which are working up to courtship or already in nest-finding / making phase of the season, and vastly more of that activity to come. All observing ought be done as quietly and carefully as possible, the birds will be best off with the most successes for having energies devoted to their works at hand in this season. - - - - - Going back about 2 weeks to April 27, it was a Pileated Woodpecker sighting (from that date, but others were also being reported in n. Manhattan around that time & previously in April - along with sightings of that species in a variety of less-expected places in the city and overall local-region) which there is now a record for in the Macaulay Library archive, thanks to an observer and photographer at Inwood Hill Park, W. Andermann, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/441068281 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/441068281> with the close-up of the bird noted that day in that location, among the likeliest (for an ‘unlikely’ N.Y. County bird) location to find the largest U.S. woodpecker of them all. It’s rather typical that some of these Pileated are wandering in the months of March-April (sometimes into May) in a lot of the region, and in N.Y. County (and city) some of those ‘wanderers’ will show up at times, esp. in those months, which will be found on their spring-flings. Most (almost all) of those do not seem to stick for long in the unexpected areas, and esp. so for Pileateds entering Manhattan! At the same time, the species is breeding (regularly) in areas within just 5-ten miles of Manhattan, for example in parts of Bergen County, N.J. and elsewhere along the lower Hudson. I've seen this species in parts of that latter county, attending young, in protected areas in that county less than 5 miles straight-line distances from n. Manhattan, over the years and recently. That however does not translate to a *lot* of visitors coming across-river to take a peek at life in the big busy city (or its’ many parks). Bronx and Richmond Counties (both in N.Y. City) are where that species is known as a potential / actual nester, some in less-visited areas of each county. good ongoing May-migrations 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/ --
