Tuesday, 17 May, 2011 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
On returning to seek the male Boat-tailed Grackle I photographed in Central Park earlier in the afternoon, i did not see it again, nor at the Meer, another logical place to look given that the first couple of sightings were at that place. Early in the morning and again around mid-day, I sought the overwintered Red-Headed Woodpecker south of Sheep Meadow, but I did not see it, even on a second try and i'd guess it's moved on. Wet, windy and relatively quiet, as was more or less expected. I worked from Summit Rock (near W. 82-85 Sts.) to the Pond & Hallett Sanctuary, before early rain came on fully again, and later visited the reservoir & points north in lulls between heavier showers. The north end seemed a bit less active, although there were some migrants and I did not do that thorough a tour of all the wooded areas. The reservoir had fewer swallows (yet still many dozens, primarily Barn) while the Meer showed an increase in swallows, with also an impressive mass of Chimney Swifts feeding much higher. Migrants were around in very minimal numbers, and that's likely to be so here until this weather system pulls out. In passing the Hallett Sanctuary, I heard a few warblers sing, but no Mourning, this morning. In all, I came up with these dozen warbler species either seen, or heard: N. Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sisded (2), Magnolia, Black-throated Blue (2), Blackpoll (3), American Redstart, Ovenbird, N. Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat (several), Canada, and Wilson's Warbler[s].- roughly corresponding with the species I'd been seeing or hearing most regularly here in the past few days. Also seen & heard were a few Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, and Veery, Warbling, Red- eyed, and Yellow-throated (1) Vireo[s], Scarlet Tanager (females, and a singing male near The Dene - E. 67 St.), & Baltimore Oriole (which breed in the park). Many of these were single birds, other than the species noted above as more than (1). I'd also guess that many were in the park the day before as well, and only the most localised movement took place overnight, but there could have been a bit of exodus. This list could appear to be a "lot" but it's almost as minimal as could be for the date. A few days prior, let's say on Saturday there were probably ten or more times the number of birds (migrants, that is) in this park. Earlier still, there were far more. - - - - - Riverside Park (Manhattan) - was generally quiet in late morning (as expected) but there were some migrants, and almost all that i encountered were females (thus some of the quietude), with at least 7 warbler species seen (including Black-and-white, not noted by me in Central, although likely present there, along with any number of other lingering or straggling migrants), or heard (a B.-t. Blue and C. Yellowthroat), plus Great Crested Flycatcher and Scarlet Tanager (female). These past several days here have featured far fewer birds (in overall numbers) than would typically be expected here for these dates, smack in the midst of May. A lot had already moved on and into breeding areas, yet there will be a further push of the later-arriving species &/or stragglers. There has been tremendous movement in areas of central & western NY, & farther west. A lot of the species that are primarily insectivorous are struggling with feeding in some northern areas as the chilly weather makes for a lot less food for them; that should change by the coming weekend with sun reappearing and milder weather. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES 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://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
