Tuesday, 8 December, 2009 - northern Staten Island, N.Y. City
Clove Lakes Park, esp. the northern section (south of Forest Avenue, not far from Clove Rd., & Martling & Slosson Ave's.) was my birding focus on Tuesday. The continuing (young male) Summer Tanager still favored a rather small area near the stream, about 50-80 ft. north of a high concrete bridge. There is also one last red wooden foot-bridge (lower) on the north side. Clove Lakes Park's layout is somewhat linear in that it parallels a small stream that widens to a series of ponds at its southern portion. Victory Blvd. is along the south end, Forest Ave. by it's north end. The stream & the park actually are on somewhat of a northwest to southeast axis.
White Pine trees nearest Clove Rd. & Forest Ave. (the n. end of the park) held other birds besides the tanager, along with tangles of vines & shrubs on the east bank at the edge of the larger grassy area, with at least 3 differently-plumaged Baltimore Orioles (all 1st-fall males, I think; although one perhaps female), a rather bright Pine Warbler, an Orange-crowned Warbler (also fairly brightly plumaged), a minimum of 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches (seen simultaneously at one point), as well as a few 'Red' Fox Sparrows in with a larger number of White-throated Sparrows - these & some other expected species all within 150 ft. or less of the tanager's 'select' spot.
I found a young Red-headed Woodpecker briefly working an area on the east side of the stream (oak trees) near a more southern 'red' bridge, and that woodpecker was chased a bit by Red-bellieds in tandem, & then later heard the (assuming just one?) Red-headed calling from a few oaks at least 100 yards farther up-stream (south) than before. The immature Red-headed Woodpecker also flew across the stream at one point and was caching acorns possibly in more than one area, again assuming just one of them.
The Summer Tanager seemed to move only a little - however, at about 10 a.m. or so it was at the edge of one of the nearest White Pines to the stream (on the east/Clove Rd. side), where there were at least for a short time 3 Balt. Orioles, a Pine Warbler and 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches, along with some Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglets (several), American Goldfinch, & likely a few additional species working through the biggest pines & close trees.
Later, watching the tanager from the concrete (high) bridge, looking down (12x binoculars help!), a much-closer Orange-crowned Warbler was working tangles on the e. bank close to the water & also went higher where it eventually went out of my view. At one point mid-day, 4 Red- breasted Nuthatches simultaneously flew off together a bit south (although perhaps returned to the cone-laden big pines). Other parts of Clove Lakes Park seemed far less "birdy", indeed some sections felt very quiet although it was in typical quiet hours by then. I turned up a female Eastern Towhee & a Hermit Thrush farther up towards Victory Blvd. Waterbirds included 2 Great Blue Herons, a 'hunkered'-in Black- crowned Night-Heron, several Wood Ducks, a female N. Pintail at the central pond (with some Mallards), at least 8 Hooded Mergansers spread thru the ponds plus some other expected birds.
The Rufous Hummingbird continues at the residence of H. Fischer, 122 Hillside Ave. & vicinity. It was clearly able to find some insect life but also must be finding a feeder... there are still a few flowers around, but how much nectar can any of them have at this point? - a reminder of recent weather-change: lingering crusts of snow, seen in shaded spots. As always in residential areas, I wonder if other (regular) bird-feeders are in use.
At nearby Silver Lake Park & Reservoir (along Victory Blvd. farther NE), I scanned the Canada Geese, checking to see if a certain white- fronted goose might be back yet again - I did not find one but the canada flocks in that area may be worth checking over. A limited selection of ducks on the reservoir; a smattering of American Coots, plus P.-b. Grebe, & in the brushy e. corner of the reservoir's bank, single Rusty Blackbird which also gave a few calls, & sang once. A flock of 200+ American Robins seemed to have dropped in at Silver Lake park in the interim from my first pass. Another bird with the robins by crab-apple trees was a lone flicker along with the many feeding robins.
Full list for n. Staten Isl. 12/8: Double-crested Cormorant Red-throated Loon (on bay) Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Ring-necked Duck Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck Red-tailed Hawk American Coot (S.L. reservoir) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker (imm.) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern [Yellow-shafted] Flicker Blue Jay American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch (4+) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush American Robin (220+) Gray Catbird (1) Northern Mockingbird European Starling Orange-crowned Warbler Pine Warbler SUMMER TANAGER (imm. male, LATE) Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow E. [Red] Fox Sparrow (several) Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird (1, S.L. Res. edge) Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird (2 fly-over) Baltimore Oriole (3) House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan _________ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
