Monday, 24 September, 2012 Manhattan, N.Y. City (mainly: Central Park, Riverside Park, Fort Tryon Park)
A nice new push of migrants, far more than had been 24 hours prior. There were some species perhaps new to the southbound season for this year in Manhattan. Passerines and other small nocturnal migrants were going over but many also dropped in for the day, with a modest morning flight in Manhattan to at least about 9 a.m. and some birds still moving, especially those typically diurnally moving on favorable winds and weather, such as Blue Jays, Swallows (almost all I saw from Manhattan being Tree), some finches (mainly American Goldfinch) and a smattering of others such as orioles (with Baltimore the most likely by far of those), and other icterids, including a very few modestly latish Bobolinks, plus various others, simply very high and moving in the morning hours. Some water birds of the season are moving and as recently as just yesterday there was Pied-billed Grebe, and today Ruddy Duck seen in Central. In Central Park's north end in the first 3 hours of daylight, nice variety was eclipsed by sheer numbers, with most areas in that sector of the park having from some, to many migrants, most extremely active (that is, hungry). New to me in Manhattan for this half of the year were Brown Creeper, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Dark-eyed Junco (although I'd heard of a few before today), and White-crowned Sparrow. Seen in good numbers were Blackpoll and Palm Warblers, the latter more of the "western" type than the "yellow" type, along with great numbers of Yellow-shafted Flickers, Cedar Waxwings, and thrushes, especially Swainson's Thrush, but also some numbers of Grey-cheeked and Wood Thrush, particularly visible in the least-visited corners of the north end and where fruits are plentiful - with similar results in Riverside Park later in the day. In the early morning, one veteran birder watching just a few trees on the Great Hill (at the NW corner) managed a dozen warblers in half-an-hour before having to get to work, and I managed to add a few additionals in that very active spot before 8:30, as warblers, vireos and some flycatchers ate their way through a nice hatch of small invertebrates. A tally of E. Phoebe for just the n. end of the park rose significantly when a fenceline at the Sharp gardens area (Great Hill) produced a baker's dozen (13) of that species all visible in one long view, mainly on the fence. Overall, the Great Hill seemed busiest and allowed the views of passing flyovers as the morning progressed. A look in the wildflower meadow was productive but not as much so as just a few days ago at the hours that I looked in. It wasn't all phoebes in the flyacatcher arena, with fair numbers of E. Wood-Pewees and some Empidonax still in the mix. Riverside Park featured a nice variety in the latitudes from about 97th to 122 Streets in that park, with just a quick look at "the drip" area, and modest activity, for a short time (only 20 minutes or so produced a half-dozen warbler spp. and a few Red-eyed Vireos and other typical migrants). Fort Tryon Park later on had a very nice, if modest selection of raptors going over, as well as some migrants within the grounds. A number of hummingbirds went through - all presumed still Ruby-throated in their typical migration period. 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/ --
