New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island -
*At least* 140 species of wild, free, and unrestrained birds were seen in the county for Wed., a reduction of some 10-15% from fairly recent days, but still showing excellent ongoing diversity. The late-day in particular (and on thru dusk) brought the heavest movements-north of Brant (presumed all or almost-all to be expected Atlantic Brant) of this season so far, with at least 7,000+ moving past the county (some seen actually over adjacent county’s air-spaces, but observed from N.Y. County and by various obs. in a number of locations). Numbers were already on the wing by later in afternoon but the pace quickened in the after 6 pm hours thru after 8 pm as seen from at least several sites. Virtually all of the Brant headed-northerly. Common Nighthawks were again moving (mainly north-ish) in the late-day & early-eve. & this past dusk, I also found a few from the Hudson River path & the lookout at Riverbank S.P. (above W. 137th St. entered off Riverside Drive, where a lot of the Brant flight also was very visible). There were more Nighthawks as well seen by others out on Randall’s Island and in a few other locations in late-day or around dusk in the county. A modest flight of those (maybe) but not too bad - and there are likely a good many more still to pass. A wholelotta Black-crowned Night-Heron activity - not too unexpected by now, but in addition to usual-sorts of no’s. in the usual areas at and after-dusk, were some moving along the Hudson River (north of W. 125th St.) and a very good no. of them at and passing Randall’s Island all going someplace[s] to feed, presumably - as well as many-multiples in places like Central Park quite late in the day Wed.; there are as is usual some Great Blue Herons about; some may show up having come to feed in locations from fairly far-off roost sites & this can be so of many other ardeids in this county, such as the Snowy & Great Egrets that pass over (& some stopping) Central, Riverside, and multiple other parks, neighborhoods, etc. thru the summer. Good no’s. of D.-cr. Cormorants have been noted as flyover-flocks as well as the many that hang out & may be seen feeding locally. Waders a.k.a. shorebirds, included some newly-arrived and/or passing Spotted, Solitary, and Least Sandipers as well as some unid. ‘peep’ species from various sites, including Governors Island late in the day Wed. as well as some thru Central & other Manhattan parks - and at least no’s. of Spotted also from / on Randall’s Island too. The most-usual of all are Killdeer, for the ‘other’ islands and these do attempt to nest, some with success. In general, the wader-flow seemed a lot less & of more-usual species for Wed., compared to such excellent rarer species and higher no’s. of some regulars over other recent days. We also have an ongoing-hopeful Common Tern colony of some no’s. at Governors Island, with occ. sightings of that species elsewhere, mainly from NY Harbor & the lower rivers. ANY other tern species in (for) N.Y. County is “rare”-there, and ought if possible to be photo / video documented. Laughing Gull is lately very regular and near-common as seen from some parts of N.Y. County, & there can be fly-bys seen at times from almost any point in the county, even if most-frequent from NY Harbor and adjacent lower Hudson & East River locations as well as up to and near Randall’s Island - also some sightings all around the county, as fly-overs. At times, the Laughers will also show on the Central Park reservoir, albeit not always lingering long there (many gulls come and go as they will ‘rinse off’ in the fresh water of the reservoir and may not stay all that long, per individual gull). Indeed, on Wed. a small no. of Laughing Gulls were at C.P. reservoir for a while and joining them, the 3 other most-typical gull species, although Ring-billed are by now tougher to come up with at times there (other 2 now-regular being [American] Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls. And also ongoing at Central Park (and Wed. on the reservoir at times) are at least 3 Wood Ducks, as well as a smatter of other duckage & gooslings etc. (Gadwall are persisting as they also are in other county locations, not at all uncommonly for the season). An apparent Louisiana Waterthrush was a late-now sighting on 5/18, at Central Park in the area by “the Pond” in the s.e. corner of that park (thanks to C. Weiner & others for that latest sighting). It’s possible that this may be a long-lingering individual, so could bear further watching if still present for more of this month. The “default” migrant waterthrushes now for this county are Northern, but the presence of late-Louisiana have been seen into late May in other years. What is sort-of amazing is that in some years, the first returnees among Louisianas might show in later June! (and almost certainly in early thru mid-July in this area.) Marsh Wren was found (again) by Inwood Hill Park, at the Muscota Marsh area off W. 218th St., & there have been a good many migrants on many recent days seen in and around that park as well as the just-south (of Dyckman St.) Fort Tryon Park (which includes the Cloisters ‘annex' to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the lovely Heather Garden area, & more areas that can make for great birding, including some big-sky views. These parks in particular have good coverage by loyal-local osbervers all thru migrations as well as many other times of year. A few sightings of very-late (for this county) Red-shouldered Hawk have been made & confirmed this week, esp. noted in Central Park. This species has shown more & more proclivity to showing in urban-areas of this and other cities in recent times than was previously-seen (or realized). Among other recent diurnal raptors have been Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Sharp-shinned (few) and Cooper’s Hawks as well as the near-common Red-tailed Hawks of the city (and many are nesting), as well as At least a few Purple Finches (incl. adult males) have still been around, esp. noted from Central Park but also other locations across Manhattan, and some of these seen by many (again). A Monk Parakeet was reported from Tompkins Square in lower-east Manhattan and this species has been reported in that area a few other *recent* times; it’s also good to double-check any of parrot-ish birds in that (or any) areas on the chance they can be (and some over the years have been, there) other spp. of parrot or parrot-relatives, in free flight. On Wed., Tompkins also had - surprise, surprise, at least Am. Redstart & Blackpoll Warbler for migrant-warblers & some other now-expected migrants as well. That park’s got some devoted watchers getting quite a bit in their local-patch, and it’s had a good share of supersurprise species at times, with (for example) the excellently-photographed female Eve.Grosbeak of MAY 6, 2021 among the more recent of “YES” birds of that patch; of course that being an exceptional sighting in general for this county. Another standout species for that park, which is not-quite to the East River, were the 2 Glossy Ibis seen from there, roughly fifty+ months ago by several observers. As already noted, the getting-his-spring-red male SUMMER Tanager was being seen by many on the Great Hill at Central Park’s n.w. sector all day Wed. 5/18. That general area (north end) of that park has also been pretty good in flycatcher diversity, including the (all) five species of Empidonax that we expect to pass thru in spring & fall (and still wishing-for some sounds that are further confirming for Alder Fly., anywhere and anytime in this county; that species could be passing thru over the next couple of weeks, but many are already on-territory in some parts of their breeding range.) At least 3 flycatcher spp. are likely to nest in the county, even in Central Park, and with Empidonax added, perhaps at least 2 more spp. in the county. And there can be E. Phoebe nesting, although that species is not a common midsummer bird, in N.Y. County. (to eliminate any mystery, the 3 regular-nester spp. of flycatcher in the county are, in possible order of likelihood and numbers of pairs - E. Kingbird, E. Wood-Pewee, and Great Crested Flycatcher. Only the E. Kingbirds can make their nest-places 'somewhat obvious' to seekers and censusers. Emidonax can be tricky in this county as late spring comes in, since there seem to be isntances of lingering species (Acadian being an example) which may or may not be mated. But careful, patient, quiet watches may reveal things. - - - Noted by many lately, there are in addition to (now-far-fewer) Hermit Thrush or (some-nesting) Wood Thrushes, as well as lingering Veery and (many - THE common migrant thrush of this season & in general) Swainson’s Thrushes, a fair no. of the Gray-cheeked/ Bicknell’s type and many staying rather quiet much of the time (as well as often being among the shyest of all the types of migrant thrush - these can fade into the shadows more-so than the other species, even as any thrush may do just that. How many of these quiet gray-cheeked-looking migrants are in fact Bicknell’s - a question we can ‘guess’ at - and that may include educated guess-work - but may not have a full answer for. There is no doubt at all that Bicknell’s pass directly through and across N.Y. City each spring and fall, and that they are not so rare as seem in this area on passages - but rarely identified with absolute certainty to species. That’s why many, even highly experienced observers, including those who may have spent time with both spp. (or Bicknell’s in particular) on breeding areas, will often mark up a list or place into reports “Gray-cheeked or Bicknell’s” - as a sister-species group, rather than as an unsure ’tick’ of a poss. one or the other of these in migration/visitation. It is well worth any efforts to try and observe these, mainly just Bicknell’s, on breeding areas, and there are some locations in the northeast where this is possible by driving and not having huge (or even any) walks or hikes. To see Gray-cheeked on the breeding-grounds, one might try in Newfoundland, or parts of very-boreal n. Canada in other provinces, but also of course in parts of Alaska & certainly also in Yukon and the other parts of what is part-of or adjacent with n.-w. Canada, mainly n. of British Columbia. And in Siberia but that’s another place entirely - some Gray-cheeked do nest in far-east Siberia as well, after a voyage from wintering areas deep inside S. America. (My own experiences include a lot of Gray-cheeks in Newfoundland, a place I highly recommend to all eastern birders, even as the great state of Alaska will beckon with so many potential species of birds there. However, I’m also aware that expert observers living and working in NFLD. in recent times show some declines, and even ‘drastic’ declines there, for breeding Gray-cheekeds. This seems to have been going on esp. in this 21st century. (and there is a particular ’subspecies’ or sub-taxon that breeds in NFLD. which may be in some trouble now, unless more of that form are using Labrador too, where a lot less work has been done. Interestingly those ‘minimus’ form in NFLD. can also slightly more resemble Bicknell’s in some aspects for additional consideration for the gray-cheeked-types as noted on migrations. But all of those NFLD. forms are also known to winter solely within South America, as is so of all known populations of Gray-cheeked Thrush. It is only Bicknell’s, among the 2 sister-species, which winters almost-exclusively on the Greater Antilles, esp. Hispaniola). Good 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/ --
