New York County -in N.Y. City- with, among -many, many other- locations,
Central Park in Manhattan -
Monday, May 6th -
A Black Tern is always a very rare and special sighting within New York County,
and this latest sighting on Monday May 6th was by one of our many bird-walk
guides and leaders who work with not-for-profit organizations, in this instance
G. Willow, who works with the NYC Bird Alliance -formerly also known as the NYC
Audubon org-. this tern sighting from Governors Island, and in concert with the
expected and now-regular Common Terns, those latter-only also breeding on the
island-edge in a viewable, but no-public-access pier area. Other tern species
can be a possibility and this may be one of the better land-based locations of
this county to seek any other species of terns - the other options also being
to be on a boat, with a boat dedicated to bird-finding the ideal but
rather-rare, in this county. The various ferries and tour-boats are a
-poor-mans-pelagic- so to say, in this county. Also found ON Governors Island
on Monday, 5-6, and not just as a fly-by, as a good-many Ibis sightings for
N.Y. County can be, a singleton Glossy Ibis, which was photographed at a
distance out of respect to the feeding bird, by M. Davis, that photo and
associated report in eBird - with a Macaulay Library archive to hold the photos.
Purple Sandpipers to the tune of a dozen or so, at the shores of Governors
Island were seen on Monday, May 6, and over on Randalls Island, among the
shorebird sightings there were a duo of Lesser Yellowlegs in the Little Hell
Gate marsh, although likely they moved on. That island, as for Governors and
also certainly Manhattan island, had many, many more migrant and visitant and
some breeding birds on Monday, for a very good overall migration which was
widespread in the whole area of greater N.Y City and also far-beyond. Many
locations with any appropriate habitat in N.Y. County were seeing some
shorebirds on Monday, and amongst these, a good number of both Spotted and
Solitary Sandpipers were around, some lingering at least all of the day, for
many observers, such as in Central Park.
A Grasshopper Sparrow was found at Inwood Hill Park, and while a few photos may
have been made with the available means, getting to a definitive-ID for that
bird was a small-team-effort and is now confirmed as that, a nice find anywhere
in the county, and for that northern-Manhattan park, thanks to B. Balliett and
to others who added ID assistance for the initial find on May 4th. The Inwood
Hill Park Grasshopper Sparrow was present again to May 6th and seen by many
more observers and very nicely-photographed as well. - - This may have been
just the 2nd of the year in the county for the species, after a great
surprise-visit by one at Canal Park in lower Manhattan recently. It is a
species that just-may occur a bit more widely than is thought to, and can, like
some other of our shier sparrows, often evades being detected at all.
A female-plumaged Summer Tanager was lingering in the northern end of Central
Park thru Monday. There also was a reported "Kentucky" warbler in that area,
which will possibly have more details to come, if the report can be confirmed -
that follows the photographed and well-described Kentucky Warbler that was seen
by just a few in Tompkins Square Park, not long ago and which was a very good
find for that park, which is well-watched by a good many area birders thru the
seasons. The Summer Tanagers that have been seen in Central Park, first males
and just-lately female birds, were each photographed by multiple observers.
At Central Park alone, at least 25 migratory American warbler species were
present on Monday, May 6th and all 25+ of those warbler species were seen well
by many observers, and many also well-photographed. Of the many species of
warblers, quite common still were Myrtle a.k.a. Yellow-rumped with plenty of
females of that species still moving, also common were Black-and-white Warblers
with again many females also moving, and a number of other rather-numerous
warbler species which included Black-throated Green, Yellow, and Ovenbird as
well as Common Yellowthroat, in addition to some other warbler species in the
high-multiples. Both Governors Island and Randalls Island had at least 15
different warbler spp on the day, and quite possibly more in total. A
slightly-late Louisiana Waterthrush was well seen and photod, and videod, at
Central Park on Monday, with the now-more-expected Northern Waterthrush in many
locations, some of that latter waterthrush-species not right-by any water on
the migrations here. There were -zero- birds of any type that were
characterized as -early- sightings, a euphemism not used by any leaders for
not-for-profit bird walks in N.Y. City, and also not used by most observers for
any sightings.
Thanks to all of the many keen, quiet observers and photographers who are
sharing their
