The MONDAY (May 16th) sighting of a Mississippi KITE on Staten Island (Richmond County, NYC) by Clifford Hagen - later in the afternoon hours for that county -on that day- is in eBird, and confirmed for the date… adding to the record[s]. This part of May is typically good for Kites on the move - in general, in the northeast - and other species of KITE are also *possible* - eyes to the skies as well as in any known-or-anticipated sites. (As many readers of these &/or eBird reports may be aware, a moving-Mississippi Kite was also seen by multi-observers - at least 7, I believe - from-by (observers located in) Manhattan NYC on May 14th, that also a confirmed-report.) - - - - New York County, in this report esp. noting migration-on-Manhattan, with some focus on the south and north ends of Manhattan island, & as-'can’t-be-avoided', little-old Central Park too...
Tues., May 17th - thru noon-hour (to 1pm) only… Notes on female-songbirds here, too. Such Flycatcher-diversity - the way we like to see and hear it… Olive-sideds asking for 3-beers (or, pip-pip-ing from snags on taller trees), E. Kingbirds on passage and in better numbers, all 5 of the Empidonax [genus] - although still wishing for full-song Alder on the season *here*, but a calling (not “singing”) bird or three will do for now, and the calls of Willow, Least, Acadian as well as calls and sight-ID’s of a few Yellow-bellied all round-up these little angels (or ‘devils’ if one can’t-deal) of the forests and wetlands they are headed for, also still an E. Phoebe or two (are you paying attention to them, still as we should?) and Great Cresteds a-plenty, plus a nice increase of E. Wood-Pewee as that species always indicates a good arrival when found in high numbers here on Manhattan island & other parts of this county. Both species of Cuckoo that we get are on the move and each of those species were again being seen (a few also being heard at times) for Tuesday, with not-a-few Black-billed - in some locations, along with the typically more-noticed and earlier-to-have-arrived Yellow-billed. Patient, slow-and-quiet watching with these sometimes rewards, with super views for some areas. 22+ American Warbler species by mid-day in Central Park alone (and some other parks likely equalling that species-tally which also may grow for the day as more reports come through with some details) - and while now-numerous, NOT led in numbers by Blackpolls - the males of that latter warbler sp. makin' a racket are not-yet the most-numerous warbler in Manhattan nor in general and (at least) several other species are in greater no’s. for now. Yep! Dare to guess the most-numerous Warbler of them all in Manhattan for this Tuesday? I will lay it on the line: American as their name implies, the redstart of our eastern woods is the one. (and not quite a close-second? Third? None of the top 3 are named blackpoll… not yet… no matter what the ‘ears' seem to shout.) LOOK at-and-for **all of those female warblers** that are much more quietly in the trees, shrubs and other thickened vegetation. This is gonna ‘hurt', but even YELLOW Warbler is more-numerous (for Tuesday, in Manhattan & N.Y. County overall) than is Blackpoll… again, look for those non-singers in all sorts of places, and look-again in more spaces. And as for N. Parula - again, watch those *many females*, not just the usual-noisy males... Many, many many - did I note: many! smaller parks and greenspaces were host to from a dozen to even 18 (or more) warbler spp. on the morning, 5/17 and some of those parks are really a bit under-birded, although the folks who are / were out there have been rewarded nicely with such diversity, songs-calls and sights. As well as for some (of those smaller parks and their devotees) a selection of other diverse migrants on the move - nice to see these many sightings. It is still happily in the later-stages of the 'MIDDLE-part' of songbird migration, and that is indicated by any number of things. Which thrush species is rather-common now but not-yet at peak? - Swainson’s, in the last few days & nights - not yet Gray-cheeked (nor rarer Bicknell’s), and these Swainson’s will be moving for a bit longer still as (many) Gray-cheeked (or their sister-species of more rarity) take their sweet time. There were (as of noon, Tues.) no sightings nor hearings of Bicknell’s for at least the area of that migrant thrush species at Central Park’s n. end and it is plausible that the 1st-year bird (that hatched last summer) had at-last lifted off again on its way, on Monday night. The Bicknell’s are as-expected starting to show in some of their breeding areas by now, in NY (and likely also elsewhere). We are still getting such flycatcher species as Great Crested in numbers & that is not a late-season mover here (other than the ones that are here to try to breed), and, in all the many warblers still pushing though, we see a nice fresh/further-arrival of American Redstart, a sure bet of the start of the next-phase in latter half of songbird movement - key word is “start” of. We also are getting almost as many or more of Magnolia Warblers - many **now being females** and also 1st-spring males, and not a domination by Blackpolls - even if many keen ear-birders are overwhelmed by the ringing songs of those hypedup-male Blackpolls now showing in good no’s. (& some females too, as previously noted in these reports) - further, we still have many N. Parulas and a lot of other Parulidae-species in quantity, so the Blackpoll contingent is not at all the dominant, not for a while. And in fact we also still have Myrtle the Yellow-rumps in good numbers, with more & more representation among their females now, yet another indication of “it’s not into any final-phase” of the songbird movement, this all beng written EVEN as fellow-observers are exclaiming in Canadian-border areas (& in Canada’s east) of all the many migrants now showing up (this week, in particular) with improved weather for long-distance passage-and-carriage to the far north (but still many, many more kms. to go for many migrators, such as those Yellow Warblers which will touch-down in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle - some of the latter greeting the already-there Palm Warblers, and the Blackpolls and N. Waterthrushes and various more songbirds that will try and get almost that far in some instances) ... the BOBO’s were on the fly again, and at least a couple of these had put down on some surfaces for Tues.-morn’ such as Randall’s Island (where likely as regular on spring & fall passage as the sightings from Governors Island are; this species also shows at various Manhattan parks and green-spaces but may be more-likely as fly-throughs - in spring, the males bubbling songs - or snatches of the phrases, as well as calls from females and males, may draw the attention to one or more-likely a party of bubbling-Bobolinks for a nice sighting, even if only fleeting as they move on out of big-city-spaces where less-inclined to hang around. And yes, we are seeing (& hearing) plenty ‘o’ females as well as ongoing males of the species. Just as we are finding lots of females of many migrant species in concert with and-or on their own from males of those migrants - in some species, the female bobolinks are the dominant in number now, as so many males were already through (here). For those listening-looking in the earliest a.m. a number of bobolinks were on the fly thru Manhattan - over & beyond Central Park’s n. end, as well as some areas in n. Manhattan… we will collect any additional reports from the county later on in the night-time. As also for a lot of other sightngs for a good migration, still in-progress… thanks to the hundreds of quiet and careful observers finding so many migrants, in all parts of N.Y. County. - and great birds 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/ --
