Tuesday, 14 September, 2010 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Certainly some fresh arrivals of migrants from Monday night into Tuesday; a modest morning flight included some thrush movement and a somewhat thin, but apparently widespread movement of warblers and other smallish passerines. The thrushes were made up of more Swainson's than all others but some Veery, Wood, and at least a few Gray-cheeked types of thrushes were also to be found. As is typical the more isolated areas of the n. woods were the best barometer of just how much thrush arrival there was. In many sections of the park the thrushes are feeding and staying much of the time in the canopy and can be under-counted, although their calls may give some away even if not seen well. (In the isolated areas (where fewer people & dogs roam) the thrushes get to the ground more regularly...)
At least 22 species of wood-warblers were collectively seen in Central on Tuesday (likely not by any one observer) and among those a highlight for at least a few folks (hopefully more than a few) was a canopy-feeding Golden-winged Warbler, first spotted in the Ramble just south of the Azalea Pond, by Richard Leiberman leading a Linnaean Society of New York bird-walk. The Golden-winged apparently was not re- found later and may have been a bit difficult to see in the first instance. That species has declined in migration to the point where it is essentially as rare a sighting now as some of the more southern- affinity warblers we see in the region. To give a sense of overall diversity in the park on Tues., the warbler list is below - with (1) added for species where I am aware of only one observation on the day. As is rather typical the greatest activity was early in the morning with the sun just coming up. Blue-winged Warbler (1) Golden-winged Warbler (1, Ramble - as reported by others) Tennessee Warbler (few) Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler (few) Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler (1, 1st-year, on north end's Great Hill) Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler (few) Black-throated Green Warbler Palm Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler (1, 1st-year, Loch near wildflower meadow) Wilson's Warbler (few) Canada Warbler (few) There are also very modest numbers (so far) of migrant sparrows trickling into the city with Chipping Sparrow perhaps leading the pack. A number of people in separate locations around Manhattan saw at least modest numbers and variety of passerines, particularly of wood- warblers, dropping into small pocket parks, gardens, and such small urban oases. - - - - - - - - At the "Fire Island" hawk-watch site at Robert Moses State Park on the outer barrier beach of Long Island, NY, an apparent record-setting number of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were counted going past the watch: 60 'hummers' - and "only" 3 Dickcissels, plus a few Red- breasted Nuthatches (not unusual this fall, it seems) & Purple Finch as well, among the non-raptor observations from the watch. The 81 Merlins seen there for the day are no tiny number, either... that report is up at: http://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=359&go=Go+to+site (hawk- watch reports often include a lot more than only raptors; even some insect sightings are often added) Hawk-watch sites regionally saw a modest flight of raptors with Bald Eagles in good numbers at some sites Tuesday, and some sites going into the mid-high hundreds of Broad-winged Hawks on their way south- west to S. America...the larger flights generally on the inland ridge & mountain watches. Today, Wednesday 9/15 is expected to be another good day all around, for raptors and likely many other migrant birds to be seen. - - - - - - - - Apparently no one was able to re-find a possible wagtail or any similar such bird as had been reported from Stratford, Connecticut (along Long Island Sound's north side opposite Long Island NY) - this is a bit typical of the extremely scant reports of any wagtail species seen and reported in the eastern parts of N. America. Good birding; think and act peacefully. Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
