New York County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan island, Randalls Island, Governors Island, and Roosevelt Island, and the adjacent waters and skies above - thru Wednesday, February 12 -
A Northern House Wren was again seen at Randalls Island, this certainly the individual, and an uncommon-winterer at best in this county, which was first noted for the winter --by J. Suzuki- at the precise same location, this species may sometimes be slightly overlooked as to wintering, or attempted-overwintering birds, esp when they are in locations that are either not checked very regularly and, may be far quieter than the typical busy-active-noisy house wren we know for the warmer months of the year, a regular breeder and very common migrant. The latest sighting of the N. House Wren at Randalls by the finder of the recent Clay-colored Sparrow there as is noted immediately-below. A Clay-colored Sparrow, an overwintered bird - certainly not an arrival from farther-south, but possibly having moved from a more-northerly site recently, or simply a locally-wintering individual that was overlooked, or re-located to where seen on Sunday, 2-9, at Randalls Island, with photos -A. Cunningham- for some added documentation. Other sparrow species found have included Savannah, Field, fairly-recent Chipping, Red Fox, Swamp, Song, and as-usual many White-throated, as well as E. Towhee, and Dark-eyed Junco of the slate-colored form. American Tree Sparrows are not too-regular in a lot of locations in this county, but are about-annual in appropriate habitat, and at least occasional in areas where less-frequent, over multiple winters. There may be some additional sparrow species lurking in places not as regularly-checked in this county. A fairly-bright Pine Warbler has continued to winter at Central Park, most often seen in the Ramble area including along that sector of the Lake shore, and in the interior of the Ramble, this individual present for many, many weeks there. At Carl Schurz Park on Manhattans upper east side, one of the long-staying Orange-crowned Warblers of this county was still being seen regularly thru all the weather events, and it is fairly-likely that some of the other wintering Orange-crowned Warblers seen into Jan. or Feb. are still around their respective areas even now, in mid-February. Other warbler species may also have stayed and survived the varied weather of this winter so far, including possible Myrtle Warblers, and perhaps also Ovenbird and Common Yellowthroat. The long lingering single Snow Goose continued to be seen thru Feb. 12, in Central Park and occasionally flying over that park, possibly just in its regular movements to and from the C.P. reservoir with the Canada Geese its been associating with. Other waterfowl of recent includes American Wigeon, only briefly in observations from Governors Island, and both Lesser and Greater Scaup in a few locations. A drake N. Pintail appeared off Inwood Hill Park on Tues., 2-11 with a few other recent reports of that latter species in addition. Also showing have been Long-tailed Duck in NY harbor, off Governors Island, and Green-winged Teal at Central Park ongoing in this month. Other ongoing ducks in the county include some Common Goldeneye in their few expected areas, and various other species that are quite regular and annual, such as Wood Duck. The long-long-lingering Wild Turkey of Roosevelt Island continues her presence on that island. An uncommon-here in N.Y. County Horned Grebe was photographed only on 2-7 in the East River off upper Manhattan, not re-found since, but could perhaps still be in the area - or the species seen in any of the county water, by chance and with scanning. The rarer gulls of this county have not been noted in recent weeks, with some still checking sites where a number of the gulls had been, including in particular the Central Park reservoir. Many other species of birds are being found this month, and at any point in coming days and weeks, a fresh, if subtle movement of northbound early-migrators may be seen such as various blackbirds, woodcock of the usual-expected species, and at least a few other possibilities for this month. Thanks to many observers and photographers for many sightings and reports, all via non-x alert systems and as-always via eBird with the Macaulay Library for media archives. 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/ --
