Friday, 2 December, 2011 Central Park (mainly), Manhattan, N.Y. City
A try for some of the sane warblers as seen yesterday yielded a little less, perhaps because I also spent considerable time looking where I had not on Thursday as well as a bit more time in the vicinity of the prior (days ago) reports of a Black-throated Gray - which was unproductive except for some expected late-season birds. A Prairie Warbler as well as a Palm Warbler continued near the Pool, first on the south side of the Great Hill and then the Prairie flew over to the south shoreline of the Pool itself where after some searching I re-found it west of the waterfall. The Palm Warbler seemed to stay in position on the hill. Not all that far away in the northern end of the park, but close to the Lasker skating rink, which is at the SW corner of the Meer, a very obliging Orange-crowned Warbler showed, at first near the rink, but then moving across the Drive to just south of the rink, or about 100 feet, perhaps less, east of the eastern end of the Loch where it flows beneath the park drive. It seemed to be of the eastern race, not as bright as some western Orange-crowneds can be. I was not able to find any warblers in the Ramble (parts of which continue to be closed to the public from the late Oct. storm "clean- up") but did see a number of birds moving around on the slopes in conifers of Cedar Hill, including both species of Kinglet, Brown Creeper, numerous Slate-colored Juncos, & some others. There also were a few Golden, & at least one Ruby-crowned Kinglet[s] in the north end of Central. A look around the SE portion of the park yielded little other than thousands of visiting tourists but there was a Hermit Thrush near the Pond. The reservoir at Central Park had a decent collection of ducks and other waterbirds, including 2 Pied-billed Grebes, at least 22 American Coots,a female Green-winged Teal, 50+ N. Shovelers, 45+ Gadwall, 5+ Hooded Mergansers, and 40+ Ruddy Ducks, plus a few Bufflehead, the latter species also in modest numbers at the Pool and on the Meer. At least one pair of Wood Ducks were on the Lake and a female was at the Pond, semi-hiding at the time I spotted her. Gulls sorted through on the reservoir appeared to be of the 3 most regularly-seen spp. Feeders in the Ramble include a rather dry-lloking orange half or two, in hopes of orioles, troupials and the like, no doubt. In my brief look at those feeders, only the most common species of the season were about, but that area could easily attract any birds in the vicinity at times. The feeder area is accessible while much of the heart of the Ramble just west is still closed off. I did not get to Bryant Park, & had just a brief look in some of Riverside Park (each in Manhattan), but am now heading to Riverside again for a closer look at some of the northern areas there,; will only report again today if there's anything very notable seen. 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/ --
