Thursday, 24 February 2011 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City The overwintering VARIED THRUSH is still around, and has been seen in a variety of locations in & near the Ramble in the past week. It does still stop by the original area it frequented -and did so again this morning - the east side of the men's restroom at the maintenance building of the Ramble's n.-e. section, just south of the E. 79 St. transverse, & a bit west of the E. Drive of the park, with several observers including myself having views at about 8:45-9 a.m., the thrush also present there at least for a while at about sunrise. The bird has also been seen in a number of other areas, including the south edge of the Ramble (east of Bow Bridge) and again at times near the Delacorte Theatre and areas just west of there. It may yet get a little brighter in plumage, but is perhaps as colorful as a first- spring female is expected to be. It will be interesting of course to see just how late this bird sticks around, as spring comes along.
The also overwintering RED-HEADED WOODPECKER continues and it too has been wandering a bit, but generally is somewhere near the 66 Street transverse (both north or south sides), and often near the Carousel (merry-go-round) by that transverse, or on the south side of the path that runs south of Sheep Meadow, more to the eastern corner than the west. It has been gaining a small amount of color on it's mainly gray head as it comes into first-spring plumage. It can be quite un- noticeable for long periods, but is sometimes lively, especially with warmth. Today around 7:45 a.m., it was on a tree inside the south fence at Sheep Meadow, that is to the north of the 66 St. transverse road and it was a bit west of a prominent boulder in the field. I have sometimes spent well over an hour seeking this bird and at other times see it within a very short time, as happened this morning. A small number of migrants have come thru, including a few American Woodcock, with the first noted at least by Tuesday in the Ramble area and a few others also present in the north woods this week. Also passing thru in seemingly scant numbers but actually rather early were a few Killdeer; there will be more of these 2 early moving species to come. The other signs of any movement involve waterfowl that had returned, with more in the open waters of the reservoir & elsewhere, but a lot of the water had re-frozen in just the last few colder nights and thus many ducks moved, probably not all that far, out. The next thawing of the park may last through the remainder of (calendar) winter; it remains to be seen. The 2 drake Wood Ducks continue at The Pond & this morning were together north of Gapstow bridge & just south of the skating rink, among Mallards and possible black-mallard hybrids. A female Wood Duck was at the edge of the lake near where a couple of recent woodcock sightings also were, that is east of Bow Bridge, this morning. There has been some icterid movement, mainly Red-winged Blackbirds (no large flocks yet) and Common Grackles, which had also overwintered in rather good numbers in the park (and surroundings) this winter, despite the snow, ice & cold. The various other species that have been around all winter may have suffered and some certainly tried to move south thru the worst of the winter, but the few hardy individuals have made it, although the winter is not exactly over with... at least a couple of Hermit Thrush, at least one somewhat bedraggled Brown Thrasher, and a few other more typical wintering birds such as "red" Fox Sparrows have stayed thru. It was also interesting to see the few Swamp Sparrows that held on in locations that were, at times really battered with snow, ice and wind. Also interesting in Central is a Myrtle Warbler which may be the same individual seen by a few others, over the last 2 months, or it could be that an observation, from this morning, was of a newly-arrived bird even though very likely from a nearby wintering group. (It's really called Myrtle, now given full species status). The feeders in the Ramble continue to host a good number of American Goldfinch and so that would seem a hot spot to find a redpoll, with the numbers massing near the shores locally. A short watch this morning yielded none, only the various expected winter feeder-birds of the park. In a number of locations throughout the park, various birds were singing or otherwise vocal, including a number of American Robins, as well as smaller numbers of Red-winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows. At the north end, a Rusty Blackbird was around the Loch below the wildflower meadow. It otherwise seemed slightly quiet in the northern end, however I did not walk as extensively there as elsewhere. Throughout the park, a number of raptors are about -most readily seen, as typically, are Red-tailed Hawks. Good birding, 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/ --
