[nysbirds-l] Manhattan / N.Y. County, 4/25-26-27 - Blue Grosbeak, Grasshopper Sparrow lingering, & more
A note to N.Y. City folks, on Tuesday 4/28 in (about) the noon-hour, there is a scheduled & announced fly-over for at least 3 or 4 boroughs (counties) of that city, by the U.S.A.F. ‘Thunderbirds' and the U.S.N. ‘Blue Angels’ aircraft, in honor of all who have been working in this time of viral pandemic. — New arrivals in this 3-day period included RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, WARBLING VIREO, CLIFF SWALLOW, BANK SWALLOW, BLUE GROSBEAK, NASHVILLE WARBLER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, as well as a few species new for the spring season within Central Park. (And there may have been yet some others!) A fair amount of migration starting Friday night and increasing greatly Saturday night brought further new migrants and reinforced numbers of many species which had first arrived earlier. A brightly-plumaged singing male BLUE GROSBEAK found Monday morning (4/27) in Ft. Tryon Park’s Heather Garden (multiple obs., photo’d.) was a good sign of the potential for yet further discoveries all-around, both birds which may have made it thru rather inclement weather or ‘contrary’ winds, and also some that may have come thru over a period of some days, and are just being discovered by birders. Thanks to M.Waldron for an early report on the Blue Grosbeak (in which he states, “not the finder”); I’m not certain but believe we have L.Rozowicz to thank for the find, so thank you Linda. Anyone going, and not familiar with this area of that park should be prepared to allow patience, and social-distancing protocols, as some pathways are quite narrow there - but not all. At the least in respect to local, neighborhood residents who use that park a lot, please use a face-mask or scarf out of respect to elders, and really to all park-goers. A RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was contiuning on, in the same area in Central Park where it had been for 6 full months. A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW continued its multi-day stay at one location in Central Park, at least through Monday 4/27, withstanding the more-than-occasional romps in its favored feeding zone by unleashed dogs, & more-tolerant of watchful & considerate birders coming to see this special visitor. -- Saturday, 4/25 - which was WORLD PENGUIN DAY. (if you are able to, help clean up a beach or any waterway or wetland. Somewhere, a penguin will thank you.) The overall migration which was quite good mostly over-flew &/or bypassed Manhattan, but some birds dropped in, and at the same time, a number of species already present did stay put at least for the time-being. However, in the complexities of migration, some birds certainly took advantage of good conditions for departure, and did just that on Friday night. Among those departures were many sparrows. Also clearly having moved in numbers were Ring-billed Gull, which were significantly fewer in general around Manhattan, especially of fully-adult Ring-bills. Greater Yellowlegs were well-noted (2 at Inwood Hill Park; N.O’Reilly), Orchard Oriole & Baltimore Oriole were both seen (separately), as were a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Warbling Vireo was a new arrival for the year. In warblers: Nashville (1, Central Park north woods), Ovenbird (at least several, multiple parks), Northern Waterthrush (at least several), Louisiana Waterthrush (multiple parks; minimum of 5 in Central Park), Black-and-white (in at least 8 locations thru Manhattan), Yellow (at least several), Northern Parula (at least several), Pine (low numbers), Palm (relatively low numbers but at least 12 thru Manhattan), Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] (relatively low no’s. but at least 20 thru Manhattan), Black-throated Green (at least 2 in Central Park), & Common Yellowthroat (at least 10 thru Manhattan, multiple greenspaces and parks); that’s an even dozen warbler spp., even if all in low or just-singleton number. There were several (at least) of Indigo Bunting in Manhattan, with more than 1 in Central Park, although just one garnered the lion’s share of attention, & for a time had a competing domestic fowl, a black-plumaged pet chicken on the loose, as visual ‘competiion’, for some ‘north-end’ observers- harkening-back to days when chickens, usually roosters, were regularly-seen in the parks, & esp. in parts of parks not far from vendors of live chickens... -- Sunday, 4/26 - Very strong migration / movement over Saturday night; with rain moving in locally from the south by early morning, and a wind fetching out of the east, keeping temperatures quite low all day long. This weather actually may contribute (at this time of year, late April into first part of May, esp.) to the concentration at some locations of swallows & swifts. In any event, more Chimney Swifts were seen bucking the winds and moving over parts of Manhattan, sometimes lost in the rather low cloud deck, sometimes easier to see. And of swalllows, all five of our most regular species (for Manhattan) showed in Central Park, with highlights of several Cliff, and at least one Bank
[nysbirds-l] Manhattan / N.Y. County, 4/25-26-27 - Blue Grosbeak, Grasshopper Sparrow lingering, & more
A note to N.Y. City folks, on Tuesday 4/28 in (about) the noon-hour, there is a scheduled & announced fly-over for at least 3 or 4 boroughs (counties) of that city, by the U.S.A.F. ‘Thunderbirds' and the U.S.N. ‘Blue Angels’ aircraft, in honor of all who have been working in this time of viral pandemic. — New arrivals in this 3-day period included RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, WARBLING VIREO, CLIFF SWALLOW, BANK SWALLOW, BLUE GROSBEAK, NASHVILLE WARBLER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, as well as a few species new for the spring season within Central Park. (And there may have been yet some others!) A fair amount of migration starting Friday night and increasing greatly Saturday night brought further new migrants and reinforced numbers of many species which had first arrived earlier. A brightly-plumaged singing male BLUE GROSBEAK found Monday morning (4/27) in Ft. Tryon Park’s Heather Garden (multiple obs., photo’d.) was a good sign of the potential for yet further discoveries all-around, both birds which may have made it thru rather inclement weather or ‘contrary’ winds, and also some that may have come thru over a period of some days, and are just being discovered by birders. Thanks to M.Waldron for an early report on the Blue Grosbeak (in which he states, “not the finder”); I’m not certain but believe we have L.Rozowicz to thank for the find, so thank you Linda. Anyone going, and not familiar with this area of that park should be prepared to allow patience, and social-distancing protocols, as some pathways are quite narrow there - but not all. At the least in respect to local, neighborhood residents who use that park a lot, please use a face-mask or scarf out of respect to elders, and really to all park-goers. A RED-HEADED WOODPECKER was contiuning on, in the same area in Central Park where it had been for 6 full months. A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW continued its multi-day stay at one location in Central Park, at least through Monday 4/27, withstanding the more-than-occasional romps in its favored feeding zone by unleashed dogs, & more-tolerant of watchful & considerate birders coming to see this special visitor. -- Saturday, 4/25 - which was WORLD PENGUIN DAY. (if you are able to, help clean up a beach or any waterway or wetland. Somewhere, a penguin will thank you.) The overall migration which was quite good mostly over-flew &/or bypassed Manhattan, but some birds dropped in, and at the same time, a number of species already present did stay put at least for the time-being. However, in the complexities of migration, some birds certainly took advantage of good conditions for departure, and did just that on Friday night. Among those departures were many sparrows. Also clearly having moved in numbers were Ring-billed Gull, which were significantly fewer in general around Manhattan, especially of fully-adult Ring-bills. Greater Yellowlegs were well-noted (2 at Inwood Hill Park; N.O’Reilly), Orchard Oriole & Baltimore Oriole were both seen (separately), as were a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Warbling Vireo was a new arrival for the year. In warblers: Nashville (1, Central Park north woods), Ovenbird (at least several, multiple parks), Northern Waterthrush (at least several), Louisiana Waterthrush (multiple parks; minimum of 5 in Central Park), Black-and-white (in at least 8 locations thru Manhattan), Yellow (at least several), Northern Parula (at least several), Pine (low numbers), Palm (relatively low numbers but at least 12 thru Manhattan), Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] (relatively low no’s. but at least 20 thru Manhattan), Black-throated Green (at least 2 in Central Park), & Common Yellowthroat (at least 10 thru Manhattan, multiple greenspaces and parks); that’s an even dozen warbler spp., even if all in low or just-singleton number. There were several (at least) of Indigo Bunting in Manhattan, with more than 1 in Central Park, although just one garnered the lion’s share of attention, & for a time had a competing domestic fowl, a black-plumaged pet chicken on the loose, as visual ‘competiion’, for some ‘north-end’ observers- harkening-back to days when chickens, usually roosters, were regularly-seen in the parks, & esp. in parts of parks not far from vendors of live chickens... -- Sunday, 4/26 - Very strong migration / movement over Saturday night; with rain moving in locally from the south by early morning, and a wind fetching out of the east, keeping temperatures quite low all day long. This weather actually may contribute (at this time of year, late April into first part of May, esp.) to the concentration at some locations of swallows & swifts. In any event, more Chimney Swifts were seen bucking the winds and moving over parts of Manhattan, sometimes lost in the rather low cloud deck, sometimes easier to see. And of swalllows, all five of our most regular species (for Manhattan) showed in Central Park, with highlights of several Cliff, and at least one Bank
[nysbirds-l] Syracuse area RBA
RBA * New York * Syracuse * April 27, 2020 * NYSY 04. 27. 20 Hotline: Syracuse Rare bird Alert Dates(s): April 20 2020 to April 27, 2020 to report by e-mail: brinjoseph AT yahoo.com covering upstate NY counties: Cayuga, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) (just outside Cayuga County), Onondaga, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, Oneida, Herkimer, Madison & Cortland compiled: April 27 AT 3:00 p.m. (EDT) compiler: Joseph Brin Onondaga Audubon Homepage: www.onondagaaudubon.org #699 Monday April 27, 2020 Greetings. This is the Syracuse Area Rare Bird Alert for the week of April 20, 2020 Highlights: --- RED-THROATED LOON RED-NECKED GREBE WHITE-PELICAN AMERICAN BITTERN BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON GREAT EGRET EURASIAN WIGEON SURF SCOTER NORTHERN GOSHAWK GOLDEN EAGLE BLACK VULTURE SORA SPOTTED SANDPIPER DUNLIN PECTORAL SANDPIPER PIPING PLOVER ICELAND GULL RED-HEADED WOODPECKER Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) Two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS are still being seen just south of the Montezuma complex. they were reported from Frontenac harbor on Cayuga Lake this week. 4/20: A BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON was seen from Railroad Road off of VanDyne Spoor Road. 4/25: An early LEAST SANDPIPER was seen at the Visitor’s Center. A SORA and an AMERICAN BITTERN were seen at Guy Baldassarre Marsh. 4/26: An early SOLITARY SANDPIPER was seen along the Wildlife Trail. A PECTORAL SANDPIPER and a DUNLIN were found at Carncross Road. An AMERICAN BITTERN was seen at the Visitor’s Center. Onondaga County 4/22: An early GRAY CATBIRD was founs at Barry Park in Syracuse. It (another) was seen on the 26th. 4/24: A BLACK VULTURE was seen near the OCCRA site in Jamesville. 4/25: A RED-THROATED LOON and 3 RED-NECKED GREBES were seen from the West Shore Trail of Onondaga Lake. A SORA and an AMERICAN BITTERN were found off of Ladd Road near Oneida Shores Park. 4/27: A SURF SCOTER was seen from the West Shore Trail of Onondaga Lake. Derby Hill Bird Observatory Another slow week at Derby. Only 3,303 raptors were recorded and only one day had over a thousand hawks . BROAD-WINGED HAWKS have taken over as the most numerous raptors counted as TURKEY VULTURE numbers drop off. 2 GOLDEN EAGLES and a NORTHERN GOSHAWK were counted this week. Oswego County 4/21: 2 RED-NECKED GREBES were seen in Muskrat Bay near Oneida Shores Park in Oneida Lake. 4/23: A female PIPING PLOVER was seen near the Sandy Pond Outlet of Lake Ontario. A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was seen near Pennelville. 4/25: An EURASIAN WIGEON was seen in Peter Scott Swamp north of Phoenix. 4/26: 2 SURF-SCOTERS were seen at Phillips Point of Oneida Lake. A SOLITARY SANDPIPER was seen at the Prior Road Wetlands north of Phoenix. Madison County 4/24: A PECTORAL SANDPIPER was seen at the Madison Street Impoundment north of Hamilton. 4/25: An ICELAND GULL was seen on Ditchbank Road north of Canastota. Oneida county 4/23: 2 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS continue at Verona Beach State Park. Herkimer County 4/25: A GREAT EGRET was seen at the McKoons Road Wetland north of richfield Springs. End Report Joseph Brin Baldwinsville NY Region 5 -- 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] Syracuse area RBA
RBA * New York * Syracuse * April 27, 2020 * NYSY 04. 27. 20 Hotline: Syracuse Rare bird Alert Dates(s): April 20 2020 to April 27, 2020 to report by e-mail: brinjoseph AT yahoo.com covering upstate NY counties: Cayuga, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) (just outside Cayuga County), Onondaga, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, Oneida, Herkimer, Madison & Cortland compiled: April 27 AT 3:00 p.m. (EDT) compiler: Joseph Brin Onondaga Audubon Homepage: www.onondagaaudubon.org #699 Monday April 27, 2020 Greetings. This is the Syracuse Area Rare Bird Alert for the week of April 20, 2020 Highlights: --- RED-THROATED LOON RED-NECKED GREBE WHITE-PELICAN AMERICAN BITTERN BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON GREAT EGRET EURASIAN WIGEON SURF SCOTER NORTHERN GOSHAWK GOLDEN EAGLE BLACK VULTURE SORA SPOTTED SANDPIPER DUNLIN PECTORAL SANDPIPER PIPING PLOVER ICELAND GULL RED-HEADED WOODPECKER Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) Two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS are still being seen just south of the Montezuma complex. they were reported from Frontenac harbor on Cayuga Lake this week. 4/20: A BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON was seen from Railroad Road off of VanDyne Spoor Road. 4/25: An early LEAST SANDPIPER was seen at the Visitor’s Center. A SORA and an AMERICAN BITTERN were seen at Guy Baldassarre Marsh. 4/26: An early SOLITARY SANDPIPER was seen along the Wildlife Trail. A PECTORAL SANDPIPER and a DUNLIN were found at Carncross Road. An AMERICAN BITTERN was seen at the Visitor’s Center. Onondaga County 4/22: An early GRAY CATBIRD was founs at Barry Park in Syracuse. It (another) was seen on the 26th. 4/24: A BLACK VULTURE was seen near the OCCRA site in Jamesville. 4/25: A RED-THROATED LOON and 3 RED-NECKED GREBES were seen from the West Shore Trail of Onondaga Lake. A SORA and an AMERICAN BITTERN were found off of Ladd Road near Oneida Shores Park. 4/27: A SURF SCOTER was seen from the West Shore Trail of Onondaga Lake. Derby Hill Bird Observatory Another slow week at Derby. Only 3,303 raptors were recorded and only one day had over a thousand hawks . BROAD-WINGED HAWKS have taken over as the most numerous raptors counted as TURKEY VULTURE numbers drop off. 2 GOLDEN EAGLES and a NORTHERN GOSHAWK were counted this week. Oswego County 4/21: 2 RED-NECKED GREBES were seen in Muskrat Bay near Oneida Shores Park in Oneida Lake. 4/23: A female PIPING PLOVER was seen near the Sandy Pond Outlet of Lake Ontario. A RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was seen near Pennelville. 4/25: An EURASIAN WIGEON was seen in Peter Scott Swamp north of Phoenix. 4/26: 2 SURF-SCOTERS were seen at Phillips Point of Oneida Lake. A SOLITARY SANDPIPER was seen at the Prior Road Wetlands north of Phoenix. Madison County 4/24: A PECTORAL SANDPIPER was seen at the Madison Street Impoundment north of Hamilton. 4/25: An ICELAND GULL was seen on Ditchbank Road north of Canastota. Oneida county 4/23: 2 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS continue at Verona Beach State Park. Herkimer County 4/25: A GREAT EGRET was seen at the McKoons Road Wetland north of richfield Springs. End Report Joseph Brin Baldwinsville NY Region 5 -- 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] The Spring Shorebird Migration So Far
The past several weeks we’ve experienced an unusually frequent series of storms with easterly winds and rain. Birding them has been interesting: we’ve watched the age distribution of Lesser Black-backed Gulls shift from older to younger from one storm to the next (full adults were 20/36 at RMSP on 13 April but 0/24 on 26 April); we’ve picked up some oddities (a very early Common Tern on 13 April, a Black-legged Kittiwake on 21 April, and a Black-headed Gull on the 24th); but mostly we’ve been enjoying an interesting start to the spring shorebird migration. Since Pat and I began birding together in April 1999, our overall pattern of coverage has been fairly uniform; even this year, while restricting ourselves mostly to southwestern Suffolk County rather than ranging more widely from Staten Island to Rhode Island, we feel that we’ve obtained a good feel for the tempo and mode of the migration. One thing we’ve noticed over the years is a pattern of correlation among some of the scarcer migrant shorebirds. Our first spring together, 1999, is a good case in point: one or both of us recorded American Golden-Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Ruff, and Red-necked Phalarope; Whimbrels were found in better than usual numbers by others. Furthermore, it was a good spring for Lesser yellowlegs—a more numerous species but one that shares habitat preferences with most of the species just named and like them is much more numerous in fall than spring. Apart from Lesser Yellowlegs, these species are scarce enough in spring that Pat and I tend to detect them during ca. 30-50% of springs, in the course of our habitual field work (Ruff in 6/20 springs through 2019, with hope remaining in 2020). Their apparent co-occurrence in “good springs” and mutual absence in “bad springs” has been a topic of discussion: assuming it’s genuine and not an artifact of small samples, is it driven by year to year variation in habitat conditions or by variation in weather and migration dynamics? April 2020 has been a very good spring for this cohort so far, and probably my best ever for Lesser Yellowlegs (a conservative estimate of 50 at Captree Island on 24 April is an exceptional number for spring on LI). In discussing this with Doug Gochfeld the other day, he noted that all of these species undertake long flights northward and even northeastward over our region, making them prone to grounding by easterly storms. I agree with this interpretation, and note further that other rare-in-spring shorebird species, whose spring migrations from southeastern north America are oriented sharply westward rather than northward, have been absent this year: Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Western Willet, Long-billed Dowitcher, Western Sandpiper, and Wilson’s Phalarope. Shai Mitra Bay Shore -- 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] The Spring Shorebird Migration So Far
The past several weeks we’ve experienced an unusually frequent series of storms with easterly winds and rain. Birding them has been interesting: we’ve watched the age distribution of Lesser Black-backed Gulls shift from older to younger from one storm to the next (full adults were 20/36 at RMSP on 13 April but 0/24 on 26 April); we’ve picked up some oddities (a very early Common Tern on 13 April, a Black-legged Kittiwake on 21 April, and a Black-headed Gull on the 24th); but mostly we’ve been enjoying an interesting start to the spring shorebird migration. Since Pat and I began birding together in April 1999, our overall pattern of coverage has been fairly uniform; even this year, while restricting ourselves mostly to southwestern Suffolk County rather than ranging more widely from Staten Island to Rhode Island, we feel that we’ve obtained a good feel for the tempo and mode of the migration. One thing we’ve noticed over the years is a pattern of correlation among some of the scarcer migrant shorebirds. Our first spring together, 1999, is a good case in point: one or both of us recorded American Golden-Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Ruff, and Red-necked Phalarope; Whimbrels were found in better than usual numbers by others. Furthermore, it was a good spring for Lesser yellowlegs—a more numerous species but one that shares habitat preferences with most of the species just named and like them is much more numerous in fall than spring. Apart from Lesser Yellowlegs, these species are scarce enough in spring that Pat and I tend to detect them during ca. 30-50% of springs, in the course of our habitual field work (Ruff in 6/20 springs through 2019, with hope remaining in 2020). Their apparent co-occurrence in “good springs” and mutual absence in “bad springs” has been a topic of discussion: assuming it’s genuine and not an artifact of small samples, is it driven by year to year variation in habitat conditions or by variation in weather and migration dynamics? April 2020 has been a very good spring for this cohort so far, and probably my best ever for Lesser Yellowlegs (a conservative estimate of 50 at Captree Island on 24 April is an exceptional number for spring on LI). In discussing this with Doug Gochfeld the other day, he noted that all of these species undertake long flights northward and even northeastward over our region, making them prone to grounding by easterly storms. I agree with this interpretation, and note further that other rare-in-spring shorebird species, whose spring migrations from southeastern north America are oriented sharply westward rather than northward, have been absent this year: Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Western Willet, Long-billed Dowitcher, Western Sandpiper, and Wilson’s Phalarope. Shai Mitra Bay Shore -- 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/ --
