New York County, N.Y. City with a focus on Manhattan; also some reports also from Governors Island & Randall’s Island
A 1st-year Blue Grosbeak was noted at the Javits Center Expansion 'Green Roof' in a 2-hour birdwatch (T. Winston) on Thursday morning 10/20. No surprise (this period) that Tufted Titmouse was also recorded there at the same time, the latter species by now having been recorded from at least 250 individual locations within New York County, including more than 120 small parks, greenspaces, and church-yards, plazas, or squares with proper names in Manhattan alone in just the past 8 days, and also seen as fly-throughs on many many occasions and locations of the county in that same limited time-frame. Black-capped Chickadee sightings in N.Y. County, while up slightly, are not coming close to keeping-pace with the titmouse explosion. Two Horned Grebes were captured in a nice eBirded photo (T. Healy) off Randall’s Island (northeastern corner) shore on Thursday, 10/20, an uncommon species generally for the county although occasional (but not annual) even in Central Park’s reservoir. There also was still some nice sparrow diversity noted for Randall’s Island thru this week. The E. Bluebird seen on Governors Island on Monday, 10/17 (L. Beausoleil) is further confirmed in eBird, and Vesper Sparrow was also seen there on same date, same observer-reporter. Further sightings (not first of the southbound season) of [Red] Fox Sparrow were noted by at least Friday, Oct. 14th in Central Park. A Yellow-breasted Chat was reported for that day as well, although may not have been confirmed per eBird for the day. American Woodcock was seen in Central Park and elsewhere, as of Oct. 19th. At least 2 Green-winged Teal have been ongoing as have modest numbers of N. Shovelers, plus Ruddy Ducks, and Pied-billed Grebe plus American Coot, along with very long-staying Wood Duck and Gadwall, all in Central Park, Manhattan. Some [Atlantic] Brant have been seen this week in at least a few locations around the county, including off the n. end of Manhattan at the Hudson River. E. Meadowlarks have been on the move thru the county recently with sightings in multiple locations, including at Inwood Hill Park, multiples in Central Park, and into Thursday, 10/20 at Governors Island, all of these having been photographed by various observers; additional prior sightings also came from Randall’s Island, etc. Rusty Blackbirds are also starting to show, with a few in Central Park. Chimney Swifts were still being detected in numbers (some high numbers in some particular roost-area locations) in the county, into 10/20; milder weather for a while may allow some to stick around a bit longer. This is a species which is believed to (all) winter very far south into South America (i.e., not just up near the Caribbean shore or in northern-most parts of S. America) and is not documented for the U.S. in actual winter. Any large concentrations in the presumed wintering grounds seem to be nearly or wholly unknown or undocumented. Many of the (at least) 17 species of warblers seen on guided bird walks led for not-for-profit org’s. on Wed., 10/19 in Central Park (and some guided walks elsewhere in the county, also for not-for-profit environmental org’s) were found again, on Thursday. The several Rusty Blackbirds seen recently in Central Park were also again detected by leaders and for participants on several guided not-for-profit walks both Wed. and Thursday, 10/19 and 10/20 in Central Park. Migrants in general have been found in some diversity all around the county recently, and not just in one or only a few of the particular areas of Central Park, while other parks, some of them small, have produced a good mix of migrants. A Wood Thrush was seen and photo’d. by many observers in Central Park on 10/18; that species of thrush has, rarely, even been detected (and photo-documented) in mid-winter in N.Y. City, although quite unexpected in the region by then. An American Pipit was seen & photo’d. at Governors Island in a dedicated a.m. migration-watch (B. Bomkamp) last Saturday, 10/15, as were a good variety of other birds including many Tufted Titmice on the move, as well as 4 Purple Finches, & other irruptive and mainly-migrant species, Red-bellied Woodpecker recorded in numbers (18) being a bit notable for the county as a diurnal-mover. Also on Sat., 10/15 a Vesper Sparrow was found & photo’d. (L. Sheldon) at Turtle Pond in Central Park, while the most attention to a sparrow species continued to be for a Grasshopper Sparrow in the same general area, an individual that stayed (latter species) at least to 10/18, not reported again after that date in the same area of Central Park. The Vesper from that date is in the Macaulay Library photo and video archive: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/494506261 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/494506261> Of course the Grasshopper Sparrow had been photo’d. and seen by hundreds over the course of its stay in Central. At Union Square Park in lower Manhattan on Thurs. 10/20 at least 6 species of warblers were seen, the most notable of those perhaps Tennessee Warbler and also Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow was also noted on the same visit. American Redstart was reported from several locations in the county, including Inwood Hill Park as well as Randall’s Island, for 10/20. N. Waterthrush also was reported from more than one location in the county on Thursday, 10/20, and this species has been detected -rather rarely!- into December, in this county. Some of the other American warbler species seen recently in N.Y. County are a little “late" as per the typical peak dates of their occurence on passage, however a lot of these various species have been documented into November, and even (more rarely or scantly) into December in the county. An example -one of just many others- is Magnolia Warbler which has been photo-documented in Central Park in Manhattan in December, in a previous year. (A Magnolia Warbler was seen in lower Manhattan as has also been seen in other areas of Manhattan, to at least 10/20/‘22.) Some species have also occurred and have been documented into January in N.Y. County and in Manhattan, such as Cape May Warbler, and a number of other warbler species which are (mostly) far south of the region by mid to late autumn. Some of those very late-lingerers (or extraordinarily-late passage migrants) have been detected on (during) C.B.C. dates, and well-documented, in the county (and elsewhere in the city and the region) over the years. —— The most recent report -archived in eBird- for Prothonotary Warbler in the state of New York appears to be one individual, noted by 2 observers, with some details included in that report, from Suffolk County, N.Y., on Sept. 1st of this year; the report was submitted to eBird by one of the 2 observers. If any later reports for the state for that species this year are archived somewhere, it is possible details or other documentary evidence will appear. The only known Wood Warbler (Capitalized, as is the custom for individual, named by accepted common English name, species of birds) in the United States lately is the one individual continuing to 10/20 at Long Beach, **California**, a major rarity for the entire country and for anywhere in the Americas. Good birding, 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/ --
