It has been an exciting, interesting week or so for those doing Christmas Bird Counts, & their scouting as well as pre / post birding in that manner (effort!) and among the latest of wonderful discoveries - Thank You, John Gluth for getting word out for your find of a TOWNSEND'S Warbler for the S. Nassua County, NY CBC, seen by many after John’s find, & also still present (& tip ‘o’ the hat to A.Gilbert), also notifying NYS Birds list-readers here, of this ongoing rarity from the American west-&-Mexico-onwards- where many of that species typically may winter. We might yet see a few more such unexpeced visitors esp. with CBC-style effort being made!
— A BROWN PELICAN as reported in part here on this list, had continued around the N.Y. (City) harbor area into the period noted; it may have also wandered again into N.Y. County waters in this time-frame. It is also very possible that more than one individual of the species was involved in the last several sightings which include the ones from Staten Island, N.Y. City and nearby in N.J. coastal waters not far from N.Y. City. In Manhattan, we have had the lingering first-winter RED-HEADED Woodpecker in Central Park, observed by many hundreds of people by now, staying in its preferred area near W. 97th St. & between the west (SW) edges of the N. Meadow ballfield fences & the bridle path which is a smaller cindred trail adjacent the West Park Drive (road, in the park) all this not far at all from Central Park West. This woodpecker, long-lingering & likely to remain thru the winter, has been stashing its’ acorn supplies as normally done by this species, and in recent days almost all done in typical fashion, in trees around it’s small ‘territory’ & roosting place. It has gained a bit of color, easiest to see on sunnier days, or with the use of a camera or higher-powered optics. It has been vocalizing at times, & knowing the calls may lead one to spot it more readily; as winter continues, watch for this, and any young Red-headed, to gain more & more adult coloration as fresh molt occurs. We have been treated to some nice gulls in the past week+ with multiple sightings of both ICELAND (in several age & cycle plumages, including at least one, possibly two, at the Central Parkj reservoir, intermittently from Dec. 24th if not before, thru Sunday, 12/29 at least) and also some Lesser Black-bacaked Gulls (also in several plumage cycles) for a number of locations & days, including at least one adult previously found at the Central Park reservoir - & both these gull spp. at waters east as well as south of Manhattan island, and within New York County. It’s worth a check of any gull-gatherings now, for what may be more than the ‘usual’ three of the local area’s gull-species mix… Other gull species, less-common for New York County in winter, are nonetheless possible & several of these have been recorded in the last decade or so, some of them more than once. Somewhat notable have been lingering warblers, esp. of a couple of species that are less-common for winter in this region, this far into December, in particular - yet see the lists of such species being found in a good many regional CBC’s, & elsewhen & where, thru this month, as indicators of definite lingering by some of these & other usually well-south-dispersed and long-gone species which are migratory & only very rarely fully winter in this state or even this region (all of which is subject to change, and is likely to based on climate-modeling and by actual observed events of recent years!) At least 6 American Warbler species were still around in New York County in the past week & some were seen as of Sat., Dec. 28th at various locations. SOME of the other highlights of the past week or so in New York County, including Manahattan & Central Park, N.Y. City have been: Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Snow Goose,Wood Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneyes, Bald Eagles, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, American Woodcock, Iceland Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Monk Parakeet, multiple Owl Species, Belted Kingfishers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Yellow-shafted Flickers, Brown Creepers, Carolina Wrens, Winter Wrens, Golden-crowned & Ruby-crowned Kinglets, E. Bluebirds, Hermit Thrushes, Gray Catbirds, Br. Thrashers, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Pine Warblers, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, E. Towhees, Chipping Sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird… Thanks to the many ethical birders who responsibly found, watched, photographed & reported a good many of these & other birds in the county. And thanks also to 'M.R. & company' for maintaining a means of ethically-based reporting of local specialty species & others. Members of NYC & Nat’l. Audubon, the Linnaean Society of New York, & multiple other non-profit org’s. which do great things also are thanked for a lot tremendous works. A further list of some of what has been found by serious, observant birders on New York County ground, sky, & waters since Dec. 24th thru 29th: Red-throated Loon Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Brown Pelican Great Cormorant Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Snow Goose [Greater] Canada Goose [Atlantic] Brant Mute Swan Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk (several sightings, & photo’d in multiple locations this week) Red-tailed Hawk - American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot Killdeer American Woodcock [American] Herring Gull Iceland Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Monk Parakeet (Harlem, Manhattan - a 2nd observation in past 2 weeks) Great Horned Owl Long-eared Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl E. Screech-owl (resident, native, breeds on Manhattan) Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker (as noted at top) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Common Raven (several sightings & a few add’l. reports) Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird (at least 2 thru Dec. 24th, Central Park, n. end) Hermit Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow [Red] Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (LATE, Bella Abzug Park, Manhattan - to 12/28 at least, in northwest sector) Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal - Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler Pine Warbler Ovenbird Common Yellowthroat - Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch [nb, a report of Pine Siskin in Central Park was eyebrow-raising but lacked any details whatsoever] House Sparrow - - - - “I Don’t Have a Short Temper I Just Have a Quick Reaction to ‘BullSweat!’ “ [expletive, family-friendlied] - Dame Elizabeth Taylor, DBE [1932-2011, actress-activist, devoting her last 25 years to HIV-AIDS awareness / research / funding] Good birding to all & thanks to all making CBC efforts as well as in-general keeping a tradition of working for the good of the birds! Happy 2020, Tom Fiore manhattan, and points far beyond. -- 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/ --
