Wednesday, 2 May, 2012 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City There is a pretty big movement of migrants through Manhattan, and in Central Park's Ramble early this a.m., I found 2 species of particular note: a male GOLDEN-WINGED Warbler, moving in company with a small flock that included N. Parula, Yellow-rumped, and likely a few additional warbler species; the Golden-winged was seen rather briefly but very well as it landed in one of the low branches immediately west of Belvedere Castle, after which it and the small flock all seemed to head west to either the Shakespeare Garden tree-tops or possibly further on. This was at about 6:40 a.m.
A half-hour or so before that, I found a calling (not singing) adult male SUMMER Tanager on the Point, this bird also moving up and seeming to go into the heart of the Ramble (Evodia-Azalea Pond sections) but I lost it and could not pick up calls again after a 15-minute loop. I tried the Point again but did not re-find the tanager. A LOT of migrants are flying in & out and all around; it "feels" like many may just be coming in to land in these trees, as indicated by behavior but also some direct observation of birds "falling out" from the low clouds - there may be birds 'all around' today. I also made a very brief pass through the northern end of the park (nearest 110 St.) and at least 2 birders there were finding a fair variety of warblers & other migrants in a short time, and also mentioned seeing the migrants moving out of the park (going north) as well as seeming to drop out of the low cloud cover & into the tree- tops. I saw only one birder in the Ramble area (before 7 a.m.) and the 2 birders at the north end, Malcolm Morris and Brenda Inskeep, who reported (word-of-mouth) Blackburnian Warbler & multiple other species ,in the north woods sections. Good luck - worth getting out for any length of time for this migration! Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --