Riverdale, Bronx County, N.Y. City - thru Friday, Jan. 5th A MacGillivrays Warbler present since its discovery on Dec. 23rd during the Bronx-Westchester C.B.C. was still being seen occasionally at the same locations at and around W. 231 St., west of Independence Ave. - and along the NW part of that junction at times, as it has moved about perhaps slightly more than in its initial week of observations. The Townsends Warbler that was found here on Dec. 30th has been seeming more elusive as of Thursday, Jan. 4th however still in the area - it may have widened its foraging circuit, or simply chosen any somewhat more sheltered feeding, in higher winds that developed as Thursday went along. The Townsends did make an appearance in its favored pine tree, late Thursday 1/4, on W. 231 St., but possibly spent much of that day elsewhere. Not that many saw the warbler on Thurs., it seems.
On Friday, the MacGillivrays Warbler gave great views on multiple occasions and as in at least a few prior recent days, showed from at least the n.w. corner of West 231st and Independence Ave, in yards visible from the public streets, as well as west down 231 Street to where that street becomes more of a sloping, not flat, inclined street... Thus the MacG. is And has been increasingly at the north edges, and some yards along W. 231st. It however still shows well on the south side of 231st also, west of Independence Ave., that is. I called out abruptly at the instant I noticed that the Townsends Warbler had come in to what seems a favorite, or at least favored pine - a true pine, not the blue spruce which is also on n. side of W. 231st and is quite a bit taller - and blue-green in foliage color. The pine referenced is not far from the street, but has a smaller deciduous tree with essentially no leaves, but whose dry branches or twigs very-slightly block full views of the actual pine, located nearly between two standard sized private driveways. At that time, shortly before the noon hour, the Townsends had at least a 15-20 minutes long foray thru much of the magic pine tree, as some have called it, when the magic works, and before noon Friday, at least 6 others, hopefully more, were able to watch / photo the Townsends, which as per all other days there, was highly active within the pine boughs. It also has given its light chip note calls, less-obvious to my, and some other seekers hearing or ability, relative to the more-vocal or simply louder MacGillivrays at this location. At some moments, the two warblers were within a few yards or less of each other. The Townsends also flew back slightly south, across 231 St, and where else it likes to spend time is not quite known, but may include the areas inside that nursing homes grounds, which is off-limits now to us, and we should all respect the request that birders keep out of their parking lot by the nursing home itself and the driveway that goes in to that inner section as well. Patience is often helpful in attempting to see both of these western-vagrant warblers in this location, each quite rare in the county, the city, and the state... Even in a season with seemingly high numbers of various western-breeding birds showing in the east, including the northeast sector of North America. We shall see what develops in this weekends weather, and how these birds fare, if we can find them again post-storm. For Friday, each warbler looked to be feeding vigorously, at least by mid morning, despite temps which had been below freezing overnight. 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/ --
