[nysbirds-l] Manhattan, 2/18
Saturday, 18 February, 2012 Manhattan sightings today included the lingering Rufous Hummingbird - this bird was again making a visit to the nearby area in Central Park, while coming back in to the flowering shrubs at the American Museum of Natural History's "Rose Center" / planetarium entrance, off West 81 Street, between Columbus Ave. & Central Park West. (The Central Park appearance was just south of Tanner's Spring near the Winterdale Arch which sits astride the "bridle" path (no longer really used by horses, but still cindered). The hummingbird was back to the museum entry as of mid-morning. Also in Central Park, he lingering Red-headed Woodpecker (with a little more red showing each week) was on one of its favored trees, just northwest of the NW corner of Hallett Sanctuary, where I watched it fend off a bevy of European Starlings as well as a few less-agressive Blue Jays. The Red-headed was occasionally a bit vocal as it chased the starlings away, time after time - an often-seen situation from these 2 species at least in this city, when a Red-headed is lingering. At Union Square Park, the Yellow-breasted Chat showed nicely around the southwest corner of the park (near 14th Street and Union Square West) with the statue of M.K. Gandhi in view - the chat moving about but generally within that smaller space. In the larger portion of Union Square park the lingering White-crowned Sparrow was seen. In Bryant Park, between 40th & 42nd Streets, and between Fifth & Sixth Ave's., a fairly extensive search lasting well over an hour found 3 Gray Catbirds, all nearest Sixth Ave. & all 3 seen briefly-simultaneously, but mainly a bit apart, and two together closer to 42nd, while a third seemed to like the 40th St. side a bit more during my perambulation there. No chat nor any warbler species was noted, nor any Lincoln's Sparrow, but an E. Towhee (male) in the area near the rink entry. Also, in Central Park there at least a few E. Towhees, as well as catbirds, and a couple of Brown Thrashers plus some Hermit Thrushes, "red" Fox Sparrows, Wood Ducks, & a variety of other over-wintering birds - many of the usual species have been in song, some for weeks already; American Robins in various locations included. An Eastern Phoebe also has lingered on, mainly wandering in the s. section of the Ramble, but has also been to Turtle Pond, where it had "first" been seen as a very late lingerer as winter came on (on the calendar that is...) - - - - A recent post of mine referred to a Virginia's Warbler being seen in Maryland, which it still was today; however it was pointed out to me that the first sighting of that Maryland rarity was not in late Dec. but late Jan. 2012, as reflected in a 'correction' on that state's list. In addition, the records for a different warbler named for a lady (Lucy's) do include a modest few eastern records & thus that is not at all the rarest of the 3 western-breeding wood-warbler species that have women's common names - Grace's is by far the rarest to stray so far east. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Manhattan, 2/18
Saturday, 18 February, 2012 Manhattan sightings today included the lingering Rufous Hummingbird - this bird was again making a visit to the nearby area in Central Park, while coming back in to the flowering shrubs at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center / planetarium entrance, off West 81 Street, between Columbus Ave. Central Park West. (The Central Park appearance was just south of Tanner's Spring near the Winterdale Arch which sits astride the bridle path (no longer really used by horses, but still cindered). The hummingbird was back to the museum entry as of mid-morning. Also in Central Park, he lingering Red-headed Woodpecker (with a little more red showing each week) was on one of its favored trees, just northwest of the NW corner of Hallett Sanctuary, where I watched it fend off a bevy of European Starlings as well as a few less-agressive Blue Jays. The Red-headed was occasionally a bit vocal as it chased the starlings away, time after time - an often-seen situation from these 2 species at least in this city, when a Red-headed is lingering. At Union Square Park, the Yellow-breasted Chat showed nicely around the southwest corner of the park (near 14th Street and Union Square West) with the statue of M.K. Gandhi in view - the chat moving about but generally within that smaller space. In the larger portion of Union Square park the lingering White-crowned Sparrow was seen. In Bryant Park, between 40th 42nd Streets, and between Fifth Sixth Ave's., a fairly extensive search lasting well over an hour found 3 Gray Catbirds, all nearest Sixth Ave. all 3 seen briefly-simultaneously, but mainly a bit apart, and two together closer to 42nd, while a third seemed to like the 40th St. side a bit more during my perambulation there. No chat nor any warbler species was noted, nor any Lincoln's Sparrow, but an E. Towhee (male) in the area near the rink entry. Also, in Central Park there at least a few E. Towhees, as well as catbirds, and a couple of Brown Thrashers plus some Hermit Thrushes, red Fox Sparrows, Wood Ducks, a variety of other over-wintering birds - many of the usual species have been in song, some for weeks already; American Robins in various locations included. An Eastern Phoebe also has lingered on, mainly wandering in the s. section of the Ramble, but has also been to Turtle Pond, where it had first been seen as a very late lingerer as winter came on (on the calendar that is...) - - - - A recent post of mine referred to a Virginia's Warbler being seen in Maryland, which it still was today; however it was pointed out to me that the first sighting of that Maryland rarity was not in late Dec. but late Jan. 2012, as reflected in a 'correction' on that state's list. In addition, the records for a different warbler named for a lady (Lucy's) do include a modest few eastern records thus that is not at all the rarest of the 3 western-breeding wood-warbler species that have women's common names - Grace's is by far the rarest to stray so far east. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
