Manhattan (part of N.Y. County, in N.Y. City) Saturday, 5/30 through Tuesday, 6/2, 2020 -
New spring sightings (as fast-flyovers only) included Mississippi Kite, Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher. — Sat., 5/30 - Several lines of showers as part of a weather front pushed thru the region overnight; migrants were on the move, many kept on and at least some dropped in, as well as some migrant birds still lingering. Black Vulture was reported from northern Manhattan, near the Harlem river / Sherman creek and cove, east of Dyckman St. Cuckoos were around the county again, esp. so of Yellow-billed. Flycatchers, especially of a couple of Empidonax spp. - Yellow-bellied, Acadian, & Willow/Alder - these latter ID’d only by voice if & when vocal. And a tremendous fresh movement of Cedar Waxwing. Numbers of American Redstarts actually seemed a bit higher than all other warblers, even the now somewhat-common Blackpolls. In Nocturnal Flight Call recording, fly-bys of some shorebirds that are rarely-reported from N.Y. County were noted (A.Farnsworth), in particular: Semipalmated Plover & Short-billed Dowitcher, as well as some other shorebirds, and a variety of other migrants. — Sunday, 5/31 - A weather change with winds from NW overnight; migration was ongoing. For some context, it was & still may be a sort of ritual of late spring, for those who frequented the place, to see if, and then how many, Mississippit Kites might come past Cape May, New Jersey in the last week or so of May & on into early June. And for years, it also was wondered what became of those kites that came through, heading north from that southern point of New Jersey. Now we know that a fair number get into the northeastern states & some nest as well, while there are surely some that don’t at least not in a 1st pass into or thru the region. It will be interesting for those watching in another quarter-century, what these kites, and so many other once “southern”-ish species will have done in terms of occurrence, including nestings, by then. Otherwise not too much that was as unexpected or unusual on this day, with still at least a dozen warbler spp. found on Manhattan for the day, and also both Scarlet & Summer Tanagers (in Central Park) & a variety of other typical late-spring migrants, including both Yellow-billed & Black-billed Cuckoos. And still not the last-hurrahs of the Blackpoll Warbler, although numbers of them have slowly increased and females of the species also on the rise. -- Monday, 6/1 - NW winds again, a rather chilly start to a first-of-June day here. An American Woodcock was continuing on at Bryant Park, midtown Manhattan. That park is known to ‘hold’ birds for unusually long periods; there also are still multiple White-throated Sparrows there plus Eastern Towhee, and a very few warblers & also a few thrushes, at least one of which, Hermit Thrush, might have been there for many months - if it’s one of those which had overwintered. Various other small parks & greenspaces of Manhattan also have long-lingering birds that might be expected to have moved-on, for breeding grounds. More generally, there were still a variety of expected later-moving migrants, in low to modest numbers for the date. There continue to be small numbers of Catharus thrush of several species, the scant and potentially-nesting Wood, a very few Swainson’s, & Gray-cheeked ‘types’, some of which could also be Bicknell’s, & of which a very few of the latter have been heard & possibly photographed this latter part of migration. The 2 cuckoo species continue moving, with Yellow-billed still more regularly found than Black-billed overall. — Tuesday, 6/2 - Winds were lighter in the night, & flow may have been from northwest, yet also more variable than prior 2 nights, with some light precip. in a few places far to the south; many birds were again on the move overnight, this likely included many waders (a.k.a. shorebirds in the U.S. parlance) along with a variety of other types of migrants. A drake Wood Duck is lingering on at the Meer in Central Park; it’s not unprecdented for one or more of this species to summer in that park. At least 2 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were again seen at Randall’s Island (part of N.Y. County) & that species might be watched for a chance of breeding as it does breed in most of the counties southwest, just east & just north of this one, and has increased somewhat in the current millennium-era. There were still a few vocal Empidonax [genus] flycatchers in at least 3 of the larger parks today including Acadian, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers plus non-vocals which may have been “Traill’s” type (willow or alder), and there was a slightly-late Olive-sided Flycatcher on the Great Hill of Central Park (seen singing). Some Gray-cheeked & even a few Swainson’s Thrushes continued, as did a very few Scarlet Tamagers, & warblers of at least the following species (thru all of the county for the day): Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, Wilson’s, & Canada Warbler[s], plus American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, & Common Yellowthroat, which totals 16 species of these still passing thru, the 2 exceptions which do breed in the county being Yellow & Common Yellowthroat (with 1 other rather less-likely, but at least possible from other years). It’s possible that 2 or 3 of the species noted on the day were seen only as singles (Blackburnian, Cape May, and poss. Bay-breasted) while just 4 or 5 of these made it to double-digits for the county as a whole on the day. American Redstart may have edged-out Blackpoll as most-seen warbler of the day, but perhaps not of the last 4 days. good birding- and stay safe while out in the world, Tom Fiore manhattan -- 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/ --