Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
Monday, 22 March - Some of the weekend's migrant arrivals seemed to
have moved on, although a few likely lingered, including Chipping &
Field Sparrow (Cedar Hill), and a few E. Phoebes and N. [Yellow-
shafted] Flickers (north end). A drake Ring-necked Duck was on the
reservoir, which otherwise had much the same mix of 40+ N. Shovelers,
20+ Bufflehead, a few Gadwall and Ruddy Ducks and Double-crested
Cormorant, along with the usual 3 spp. of gulls. Even with robins-
apleny many of them had also moved on in the night. Brown Thrashers
were in the Ramble, & probably had recently arrived although a few
also may have spent the entire winter in Manhattan.
Tuesday, 23 March - Three Brown Thashers cavorted in the same shrub at
the Ramble's eastern edge; a Red-breasted Nuthatch at the park's
southeast corner, & 160+ N. Shovelers (most just arrived, on the
reservoir), with more than 2,000 American Robins & 800+ Common
Grackles carpeting some lawns & ball fields. [Red] Fox Sparrows were
singing even at mid-day in a number of areas. I did not find Ring-
necked Duck again and other than all the shovelers, many other ducks
seemed to have moved on. Likewise some of the earlier batch of E.
Phoebes and kinglets and sparrows had also moved north.
Wed., 24 March - cool & gusty NW wind; arrivals included Great Egret,
& low no's. of N. Flicker & Hermit Thrush, and departure of many of
the N. Shovelers off the reservoir. A bright male Pine Warbler was in
an area near a small park entrance across from the American Museum of
Natural History, just south of W. 81 Street, but was not re-found
later despite a bit of searching. This was not the only Pine Warbler
around, as a presumably different one was seen later, in the north
woods. (And still in Manhattan but downtown in the Chelsea
neighborhood [along the NYC Greenway park strip by the Hudson River]
were sightings of another Pine Warbler plus a couple of Fox Sparrows
and other migrants, observed by Catherine Hamilton & Luke Tiller.)
Back uptown, on this day's NW wind a few raptors moving by included
Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawks (2) and Red-tailed Hawks. (these last
perhaps all "locals") Also in Central Park, Rusty Blackbird along the
Gill (small stream in the Ramble), & a bit of a flock of typical early
March birds and just-arrived 'reinforcements', such as some [Red] Fox
Sparrows & White-throated Sparrows.
Thursday, 25 March - Seemed quieter than Wed. and I was about to give
up finding a Pine Warbler again, when I heard a different song from
among the vocal junco flock just north of the Delacorte Theatre (west
of the Great Lawn) and there it was, up fairly high as it sang and
sought the insects in the canopy - something that seems to happen
whenever rain is coming in and often during a spring rain. Otherwise I
found relatively few migrants, and did not find Wed.'s Great Egret on
any park waterbody, only a pair (hen & drake) of Ring-necked Ducks on
the Meer were new to me at that location. Overall numbers of every
migrant bird species seemed a bit lower.
A few reports this week of American Woodcock which may have been just
1 or 2, seen on several days, by several folks.
- - - -
and FYI: Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata), is split into
four taxa: Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronata), Audubon's Warbler
(Dendroica auduboni), Black-fronted Warbler (Dendroica nigrifrons),
and Goldman's Warbler (Dendroica goldmani), by International
Ornithological Congress. This will be dealt with this summer by the
American Ornithological Union.
Good birding,
Tom Fiore,
Manhattan
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