Saturday, 30 April, 2011 - Riverside and Central Parks, Manhattan, N.Y. City
At Riverside Park's north end, a female Summer Tanager was found in the morning by Jacob Drucker & Lila Fried, with additional observers later on, and a number of the later observers got to see the tanager go to the "drip", also captured in a photo by Barrie Raik, later. I also had an observation of that bird, much higher in pin oaks near W. 114 Street inside the park, at least 3 or 4 short blocks south of the drip in late afternoon (after it had been seen at the drip), & I also made a count of the Scarlet Tanagers present in trees from 120 Street thru 100 St. inside Riverside Park (in the trees visible from the Drive's park-side promenade & the inside perimeter wall) - there were a minimum of a dozen, and very likely more, with at least 4 male Scarlet Tanagers in the northern-most areas, and at least 8 female- looking Scarlet Tanagers, which were almost all farther south of where the males were concentrated... this was among the highest concentration of these in a smallish area I've seen in recent years and certainly the most I've encountered all in one area within Riverside Park. Among other Riverside Park sightings were at least 17 Warbler species, from multiple observers at different times of day and including areas of the northern woods as well as some farther south in Riverside, but mainly around & at the sanctuary and the "drip" areas. A Worm-eating Warbler was on a steep slope well north of the tennis courts near 120 St., and among some of the later-to-migrate warbler species were: Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, and Canada Warbler. There also were a few Veery, Swainson's Thrush, and Wood Thrush, along with Red-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, and some additional migrants. A total of at least 20 observers contributed to these sightings, and at least some were out there thanks to the timely post about the earlier sighting of the Summer Tanager from Lila and Jacob. More birders sometimes do equal more birds seen :-) - - - - - Another great day in Central Park, with many folks out in the morning and some on into or getting a later start in the afternoon. Among the many highlights were a lingering (assuming the same individual as on Friday, as most do assume) singing male Cerulean Warbler in the Ramble, and a small number of Cape May and Bay-breasted Warblers, with at least 2, possibly 3 or more Cape May in as many locations, and at least 4 or 5, likely 6 or even more Bay-breasted, in almost that many various locations. There was also at least one Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and a whole bunch of additional newly or recently arrived migrants. That said, and as with Riverside, Central did not have migrants "dripping" from every tree - far from it, one did need to work and go find the flocks and sometimes find individual birds, with some areas of the park being relatively quiet. It was excellent for migrant variety on a date still (barely) in April, yet it's to be seen if we have a truly tremendous day with total numbers of migrants that inundate the park. (Such a phenomenon does not necessarily happen even once in each spring season.) *The "Five-Boro Bike Ride" takes place Sunday, May 1st- this will impact Central Park, particularly the entire C.P. East Drive and adjacent areas of the park for, at a minimum, all morning. - - - - - A later-in-the-day search for a (reported early on Saturday) White Ibis in southern Staten Island seems not to have been successful in re- finding that rarity. - - - - - A Purple Gallinule was reported Saturday from Preque Isle State Park, Lake Erie, Pennsylvania (about 15 miles west of the NY-PA border near Ripley, NY). - - - - - One veteran of 50+ years of birding has stated what a number of us, even if less-experienced, may also think: "never have i seen such an early spring with so many early arrivals!" 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/ --
