Manhattan, N.Y. City - into Thursday, Feb. 20 - Multiple Horned Grebes were seen off Manhattan, all recently apparently mainly off Inwood Hill Park in far-northern Manhattan, and also on the Hudson River within a short distance south of that area, when at least 3 grebes were seen in the same vicinity on Feb. 19, as well as more sightings on the Hudson for Thursday, 2-20 with a couple additional sightings by and near the West 79th St. boat-basin -or marina- seen there again on Thursday, and still more sightings in the area of the harbor off Governors Island, some visible from lower Manhattan. NB, also ongoing at Governors Island were several American Wigeon, rather uncommon in N.Y. County, as well as Greater Scaup. These grebe movenents come shortly after a modest showing of loons, both Common Loon, and Red-throated Loon which were showing up in slightly increased number over a week prior and some still around in the county waters. For the Horned Grebe sightings, the species is not so unusual in this county, but numbers may be slightly elevated, and more checking of a lot of areas could reveal more in various waterbirds in this month, often a good time of year for such birds to be moving a bit.
Waterfowl have been of much the same species and numbers but some movement has occurred, at least locally. A Snow Goose was still being seen at Central Park over this week, and a few Common Mergansers were both there and in other locations, with Hooded Mergansers ongoing at Central Park, and Red-breasted Mergansers as a regular feature of waters in and around the county in winter. Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, and Ruddy Duck all continued on thru the colder days and nights just recently, in Central Park, and some in other sites, along with some more common and typical wintering waterfowl, with Atlantic Brant a large component, by the numbers. There was a fresh report of Long-tailed Duck moving about on the Hudson river off mid-Manhattan, and some other sea-duck or bay-duck species may also be around the local waters, in particuar in and close to NY Harbor, as well as the western edges of Long Island Sound at the eastern edges of the county. Common Goldeneyes were also ongoing to 2-20 in two of their most-regular areas of the county. A Pine Warbler has continued on at Central Park, often around the suet and in the vicinity of feeders in the Ramble, but ranges around there, and with far more than 75 observers of that warbler this month, and while Pine Warbler is likely also still hanging in at Randalls Island - which incidentally has a site with a very close-by -not publicly accessible- sewage treatment area, and warm flows of water and microclimate in that facility at times all thru winter. There are also ongoing Orange-crowned Warblers, with the most regularly watched this month the one still around Carl Schurz Park in upper-east Manhattan and which latter individual may disappear at times in the grounds of Gracie mansion, adjacent to that park and also not publicly-accessible beyond what may be glimpsed over the outer walls or fences. Yellow-rumped Warbler, of the usual-here Myrtle form was also still being found. As noted before, a few other warbler species may be overwintering in this county, especially in some of the mid and lower Manhattan greenspaces that have had warblers in past winters. More to be reported as the weekend upcoming passes, with some weather-changes -to milder- a probability. Thanks to all observers and photographers offering reports of recent birds, 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/ --
