Manhattan, N.Y. City - thru Friday, November 8th - An adult Red-headed Woodpecker was reported from Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan on Friday. A sighting at Central Park of a Passerina-genus bunting has been reported as a young Indigo Bunting, which it most likely is. We have had that species successfully overwinter, albeit very rarely. In one of those instances, where one stayed in the area of feeding stations in the Central Park zoo, the bunting was seen to molt into bright alternate male plumage from its drab winter colors, as that spring began.
A number of recent Eastern Meadowlarks include sightings from along the Hudson River on Manhattans west side recently. There was a report of a Yellow-headed Blackbird in a large mixed blackbird flock flying past northern Manhattan, the rare blackbird not re-found or so far again reported and may well have continued on southward. At Central Park, a number of Wood Ducks were ongoing recently, and a drake N. Pintail was also noted by some observers, not the first find of that species in that park this fall. Other waterfowl and waterbirds had not yet increased here by that much in the first week of November. Many kinds of neotropical-wintering migrants have moved on, from all of New York County in recent days, or earlier and particularly so for many American warblers. We still have some straggling warblers and at least a few species will likely show again in this month if not right on into CBC season. For sparrows, White-crowned as well as Lincolns Sparrows were lingering at Central Park and perhaps elsewhere in Manhattan, and Red Fox Sparrows continued to be found as some typically will overwinter here. .... The most recent Blue-headed Vireo sighting to be reported earlier this week was from Governors Island just south of Manhattan, after a spate of Manhattan sightings. November and December can be months when rare and unexpected migrants, some far off their most typical migration routes, may show up, and it’s a good idea to closely scrutinize most any hummingbird, swift, wren, thrush, etc. as well as many other migrants in various bird families, for the possibility of rarer species. Photos, videos, audio and good note-taking all can help in ones own ID processing and in learning, as well as for the sake of overburdened reviewers of checklists and of rare species. Good birding to all, Tom Fiore manhattan -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
