[nysbirds-l] Central Park NYC - Sun. Dec. 22, 2019: Pied-billed Grebe, Fish Crow, Snow Goose, Red-headed Woodpecker, Long-eared Owl
Central Park NYCSunday, December 22, 2019OBS: Robert DeCandido, PhD, Deborah Allen, m.ob. Highlights: Snow Goose, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Red-headed Woodpecker, Fish Crow, Fox Sparrow. On Sunday afternoon Stephen Dunn photographed a Long-eared Owl in Central Park reporting via the Manhattan Bird Alert @BirdCentralPark. We went to Inwood Hill Park later and saw and heard one or two Eastern Screech-Owls. Snow Goose - 2 immature birds NW Reservoir (Deb - early)Canada Goose - around 400 Reservoir & flyoversNorthern Shoveler - around 350 ReservoirMallard - around 100 ReservoirBufflehead - 8 ReservoirHooded Merganser - 4 ReservoirRuddy Duck - 209 ReservoirPied-billed Grebe - 1 south end ReservoirMourning Dove - 8Ring-billed Gull - 150-200Herring Gull - 15Great Black-backed Gull - 7Great Blue Heron - 1 Upper LobeCooper's Hawk - 2 or 3Red-tailed Hawk - flyover Maintenance FieldEastern Screech-Owl - one or two (Inwood Hill Park)Long-eared Owl - reported (see highlights)Red-headed Woodpecker - first-winter bird continues SW side of North Meadow Ball Fields (Deb - early)Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3 or 4Downy Woodpecker - 3 malesBlue Jay - 4Fish Crow - heard flyover (Bob - early)White-breasted Nuthatch - Evodia Field American Robin - 4House Finch - 2 dozen Evodia FieldFox Sparrow - 2 (Swampy Pin Oak & Evodia Field)White-throated Sparrow - around 200Dark-eyed Junco - 6Eastern Towhee - 4 (1 male, 3 females)Northern Cardinal - 6Happy Holidays,Deb AllenFollow us on twitter @BirdingBobNYC & @DAllenNYC -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds ABA Please submit your observations to eBird! --
[nysbirds-l] Montauk CBC
I don't get to NY very often these days but I was back for the Montauk CBC (90th). As usual I worked Accabonac, so I thought I'd report my highlights. Owls: the still of predawn meant that we heard Screech Owl at every location. I think our team had 20 Screech, 4 Great Horneds and a Saw Whet. Landing Lane in Accabonac was productive as usual with 4 Virginia Rails, 1 Clapper Rail, and 4 Marsh Wrens. A drake Harlequinn Duck was found east of the Hog Creek Inlet, as were Purple Sandpipers. Quail Hill Farm produced a Palm Warbler, an American Tree Sparrow, a flock of 44 Chipping Sparrows and a Yellow-breasted Chat (on the western end of the western field) Stony Hill had 4 Pine Warblers and a Palm Warbler We found different first year Iceland Gulls at Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett and the north end of Accabonac Harbor. Snow Buntings were also at Atlantic Ave. A Bald Eagle was frequenting Accabonac harbor, and one was seen both Friday & Saturday on the south end of Cartwright Shoal and flying out over the water.. The count totals were pretty impressive, but we'll have to wait for Brent or Angus fill us in on the details. Hugh -- Hugh McGuinness Washington, D.C. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Odd Red-headed Woodpecker behavior (Central Park, NYC)
As most of you already know, an immature Red-headed Woodpecker has been present in Central Park's North End for the past several weeks. I finally caught up with this individual last Sunday, 15 December, when I assisted in the CBC and was counting birds in the NW sector. The bird was observed on the western edge of the North Meadow and was frequenting lamppost #9707, just east of the West Drive, at the latitude of 97th Street. Specifically it was plucking fresh acorns from the branch of a nearby oak tree, and caching them in the upper hole of the lamppost! It did this repeatedly during my visit. We all thought this behavior to be highly amusing because it appeared to be having fun "playing the slot machine", but we were also a bit concerned. Others report it doing the same thing today, 22 December, at the same lamppost. Although caching food for later use in winter is common practice among some mammals and birds, this woodpecker picked a storage spot where retrieval appears to be impossible. Per Stephen A. Shunk, author of The Peterson Guide to Woodpeckers of North America (2016), the Red-headed Woodpecker "...follows an unusual storage ritual, first stashing foods in [a] single tree or small area (larder-hoarding), then redistributing pieces to scattered storage sites throughout territory (scatter-hoarding)." To my knowledge, this particular individual is not using any other location yet to store its food, so it is presumably still in Phase 1. Hopefully it will attempt to start scatter-hoarding soon, so that it will realize the error of its ways. Thoughts, anyone? All documentation of this individual's behavior would be much appreciated, especially if it can submitted to eBird. My observations from last Sunday are documented here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S62507462 Thanks, Karen Fung NYC -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Marshlands Conservancy birds
12/22/19 - Marshlands Conservancy, Rye, NY Only birded by the nature center area. 6 Canada Goose7 Wild Turkeys10 Mourning Doves1 Sharp-shinned Hawk1 Red-bellied Woodpecker1 Downy Woodpecker5+ Blue Jays3 American Crows2 Black-capped Chickadees3 Tufted Titmice2 White-breasted Nuthatches1 Winter Wren2 Carolina Wrens3 American Robins7 House Sparrows5 House Finches6 American Goldfinches1 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT2 Eastern Towhees7 American Tree Sparrows1 Field Sparrow1 Fox Sparrow10+ Song Sparrows1 Swamp Sparrow30+ White-throated Sparrows1 Dark-eyed Junco5+ Northern Cardinals12+ Red-winged Blackbirds5 Common Grackles Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4629 www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
