The TOWNSEND'S Warbler found on Friday in Green-Wood Cemetery - in Brooklyn [Kings County, N.Y. City] was again present for the foggy-start of SATURDAY 5/21, and being seen & documented by MANY on-scene. *Please heed the requests for polite and considerate observing and use* of that site (Thank You), which is an actively-used cemetery for many - and has permitted birders to enter and quietly observe birds in their large and beautifully-maintained grounds. See various alerts via eBird and all-local alerts for this warbler as it remains and delights so many.
____________ Sat., May 21st - Manhattan, N.Y. City (with notes also for other parts of N.Y. County on prior recent days): A [presumptive] GRASSHOPPER Sparrow has been reported (and photographed) at HighBridge Park, in the “Heights” of northern Manhattan, by finder-observer E. Schumann, quite early on Saturday May 21. This may be the first-of-year in N.Y. County (I’m aware of the sighting of this species for Randall’s Island - in same county - from last December, shortly before the C.B.C. period then) and is always a good find. It’s also a good thing to think “outside the box” and consider potential alternative species, esp. with any members of the sparrow tribe in the Americas. A presumed (& perhaps soon-confirmed in archival records) FORSTER’S Tern was seen at Randall’s Island Sat. morning (5/21) by multiple obs. and this following a confirmed/documented sighting of one farther south at Governors Island 2 days prior (see below); many many other nice sightings also continue to made from Randall’s (in N.Y. County) as the spring moves along - this still included more than a dozen species of (many migrant) Warblers there, & a selection of sparrow species, etc. for Saturday. - - - With (**multiple**) BICKNELL’S Thrushes having been fairly-well documented by many keen, quiet observers over recent days (including that at the Upper Lobe area of Central Park’s “Lake” - an area which is adjacent to “the Ramble” - from FRIDAY, May 20th there - as well as by more quiet obs. (and photographers & videographers) again on SAT., May 21st - along with the Bicknell’s Thrush sightings ongoing at the n.-w. sector of Central Park and yet-more of this species being reported, some with good details and (at least) photos, if not with call or song recordings made with care, and without disturning these (a very-threatened thrush-species, with low global population, vastly fewer in world population than all other of our typical N. American-breeding migrant thrushes in the northeastern region of the continent) there have been presumed sightings/hearings of this species from a good many areas & locations in the county, most (of this season) in the last week. The “Upper Lobe” Central Park Bicknell’s -of Friday- was seen & heard by many, some just observing visually, some also having heard calls or song. BAY-BREASTED Warblers had a fantastic showing in N.Y. County for Friday 5/20 and many were still around the county on Sat. 5/21. Likely *more than 100 individuals* of the latter species were noted for *all of the county* on Friday. (This species, like Cape May, Tennessee, and some other songbirds has done fairly well on breeding grounds in recent times, in part thanks to ongoing strong spruce budworm occurrences, esp. in those boreal-forest areas in parts of eastern Canada.) Saturday was bringing a lot of freshly-arrived migrants and still quite nice diversity, with songbirds being found ALL around the county, not merely in the several “usual” sites where a lot of observers concentrate efforts. Much more may be reported for this weekend at a future time-date. A ‘late’ Y.-b. Sapsucker was lingering at Battery Park City Park to at least Saturday, 5/21 (C. Williams, et al), and others of that species have been seen, some in the smaller parks and greenspaces around the county into late May. SUMMER Tanager was still being seen in Central Park (and poss. lingering elsewhere in the county) - at least documented thru Friday May 20, at Central’s n. end (by some of our keenest observers) on-site. This last species can show a procilivity to linger a while - in some years, for extended periods of a given season, in a given location (in this county). A Broad-winged Hawk was photo-confirmed for Friday, 5/20 in Central Park, an uncommonly late date for that site in particular in spring. >From Wood Duck thru both [of our species of migrant] Cuckoos (and >Yellow-billed in the multiple) along with Mourning Warblers (females and male) >in Central Park on Saturday (5/21) there were well over 100 species in that >one park alone, and far more species for ther county overall, including >sightings on the ‘other islands” in addition to Manhattan island. Blackpoll Warblers are now reigning high in the Parulidae migrations and many more female Blackpolls have started to show. (The super find of a Townsend’s Warbler just recently in the county of Kings, NY is a reminder that excellent - and some rather unexpected - birds may [and will] show in the later and latter parts of spring’s songbird & landbird movements. This is also possible right on into June, here. More than 1-dozen Warbler spp. were seen at Riverside Park to Sat. 5/21 as well and of those, Blackpoll -& also Bay-breasted- were again numerous. Also seen Saturday (5/21) at Central Park were at least 5 spp. of Vireos (two of which breed annually), and by mid-morning there at least 18 spp. of American Warblers, with a few slightly late but not at all unprecedented. With all those many Blackpolls have also been lots-more of Cedar Waxwings, another good indicator for the later phases of spring/northward landbird movement hereabouts. We can detail some of the finds of Caprimulgidae (3 species) from N.Y. County in the past few days (and including all on May 21st, pre-dawn hours) at a later date. For owl species, at least the 2 resident speecies of the county continue on (and the vistitant species which consisted of at least 5 additional owl species from last autumn thru [some] recently), are safe and securely on to their breeding areas or at least on to other parts. Two of the Caprimulgid spp. seen & heard thru Sat. 5/21 were in Central Park, and one - Com. Nighthawk - were seen in the multiple. - - - Excellent additional recent finds for N.Y. County - from Friday, May 20th - include a Caspian Tern, and also a Lesser Black-backed Gull, among a lot of other species seen at Randall’s Island by some keen (and frequent) visitors to that location) - those also having been photographed. In addition, 2 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were seen as fly-overs on the day at that location. N.Y. County also added a great sighting of Forster’s Tern (also nicely photo’d.) by one of the region’s keenest world-birders (from Kings Co./Brooklyn) when one of that species came by Governors Island on Thursday, May 19th. That day’s finds by the same observer included a confirmed Alder Flycatcher for Governor’s Island - a species that perhaps is quite regular every spring (and fall) during migration, but is very uncommonly-to-rarely identified to exact species (many remain noted as either Empidonax-sp., or some as “Traill’s” types (Alder or Willow, as a ‘sister’ pair within the Empidonax. - - - - Many, many insects are emerging in the heat and humidity, and vastly more will be just now. Also, for birders there may be opportunities to witness “hatches” of insects where migrant bird swarm in to feast… and of course, sources of bathing-drinking water for birds may prove popular, the more so in such increasing heat and humidity. ____ [there was no re-find and no additional news on the unfortunately disappearing-bunting of Thursday late-afternoon, in Central Park, which is presumptively a painted bunting based on photos and description, with gender perhaps not definitely-determined. Should there be any more of that or another such, the sighting might be more-rapidly made public, assuming there is a way of doing so and that any observer[s] have a strong sense of the possible ‘rarity' involved.] good -and quietly-observed- birds to all, with thanks to so many fine observers-reporters, 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/ --
