Sorry - meant to add this to the thread. NYBG has been frozen, as much of the NYC area. Our crabapples and any other fruit/seed producing trees have been stripped bare with some strands left. If the grosbeak over wintered at the zoo there would have been more available food.
In the last two weeks NYBG had a weak migration of grackles, red winged blackbirds and rusty blackbirds. The earliest record I have of a grosbeak at NYBG is mid -April from 1998 which was a very warm winter and early spring. Debbie Becker On Mar 14, 2015, at 11:07 AM, Hugh McGuinness <hdmcguinn...@gmail.com> wrote: To further support the over-wintering hypothesis, we would predict that if this were a migrant, there would currently be a spate of records along the Gulf Coast. Checking e-bird, there are exactly two March 2015 records for the species, with none in the Caribbean. Hugh On Sat, Mar 14, 2015 at 12:41 AM, Joe DiCostanzo <jdic...@nyc.rr.com> wrote: > As Gabriel Willow and Tom Fiore have already pointed out, given the proximity > of the New York Botanical Garden to the Bronx Zoo where a female > Rose-breasted Grosbeak was reported on December 28 and February 17, this is > far more likely to be that same individual than an early arrival from the > species’ Neotropical wintering area. Though extremely rare in winter locally, > the species is not unprecedented at that season. I found an immature male > Rose-breasted in the southern part of the Botanical Garden, across the road > from the Bronx Zoo on the CBC 32 years ago on December 26, 1982. In the > species account in Bull’s Birds of New York State (1998), Bob McKinney > reports : “… there are many CBC reports and many other records of individuals > persisting for several weeks or longer with food available at feeders.” In > his earlier Birds of New York State (1974), John Bull says the species has > been recorded during the winter months, but that he wondered about the > possibility of confusion with Black-headed Grosbeak. However, he does cite > two mid-winter undoubted occurrences: 1) a bird at a feeder in Dunkirk, > December 1965 to late January 1966, seen by many, and 2) a male filmed at a > feeder in Poughkeepsie December 25, 1966 to January 12, 1967. In some > neighboring states, Dick Veit and Wayne Peterson in Birds of Massachusetts > (1993) record a handful of winter records and a few early March records [also > likely to be over-wintering birds]; and Joan Walsh, et al. in Birds of New > Jersey (1999) after reporting four CBC records state: “There are also a few > mid-winter reports, mainly of birds appearing at feeders.” > > > > While the above records show that the species has overwintered in the > Northeast on rare occasions, it is truly remarkable that this individual > apparently managed the feat in the at times brutally cold and snowy winter we > have just gone through! > > > > Joe DiCostanzo > > www.greatgullisland.org > > www.inwoodbirder.blogspot.com > > > > From: bounce-118934956-3714...@list.cornell.edu > [mailto:bounce-118934956-3714...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Sharron > Crocker > Sent: Friday, March 13, 2015 6:37 PM > To: Birds - nysbirds-l@cornell.edu > Subject: [nysbirds-l] Female Rose Breasted Grosbeak > > > > > > I've been told that this is an early sighting. New York Botanical Garden, > Bronx, NY, Thursday 3/12/15 around 2:00 at the swamp (Mitsubishi Wetlands) ... > > Sharron Crocker > > NYC > > -- > > Sharron Lee Crocker > > Visit my website at: UntamedNewYork.com > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > > Welcome and Basics > > Rules and Information > > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > > Archives: > > The Mail Archive > > Surfbirds > > BirdingOnThe.Net > > Please submit your observations to eBird! > > -- > > -- > NYSbirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Hugh McGuinness Washington, D.C. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- 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/ --
