Tuesday, 12 April, 2016 - Quite a strong (for this part of spring) migration took place area- wide Mon. night, at least in southeast NY into much of e. New England, some nocturnal movement also crossing the waters off NJ & Long Island, also (potentially) some of the conditions that bring "overshoot" types of migrants - a few of which had already turned up around here, but have also reached at least to Nova Scotia, Canada (as for example, recent Blue Grosbeaks in that maritime province, & other spp.)
... and of the Maritimes of e. Canada, birders in those parts have begun the annual interest in possibilities for vagrant birds that come from the east - birds of Eurasian (w. Europe & Iceland, Greenland & etc.) affiliation, such as (in Newfoundland, essentially annual in April to perhaps early May in the proper conditions) - European Golden- Plover... & other species which both have, and have not, been found on eastern N. American soil or inshore waters. But we'd need exceptional weather to get most of those sorts of birds to drop in on NY state... which of course has happened, i.e. N. Lapwing, & etc. but is not at all expected, whereas in Newfoundland so far down-east, there is basically a "watch" for such in April, according to the conditions that is. (Read up on NFLD. birding at: http://brucemactavish1.blogspot.com/ ) Thinking again on the very good passage of migrants Mon. night, it was discernible in radar imagery as well as by simply listening up, meaning literally putting ears to the skies overnight, & listening, whole lotta birds getting past this city, even if a bunch did drop in for a short visit. .................... Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - A male E. Bluebird was at the NW part of the North Meadow ballfields, in trees that are near that corner section, in the mid-morning rain. I was unable to find it again a bit later, & it's most typical that bluebirds do not linger much, if at all, in Central... this is at least the 3rd of the species to have shown in this year, which is nice. Purple Finch were passing thru, as shown by a few singing first thing in the morning, & a couple buzzing around the Ramble a bit later, although seeming not to care about the feeders where Amer. Goldfinch are still showing (as well as skittering in the treetops as they always do in mid-spring, & their passages grow high in volume). One of the relatively few mostly-migrant species that put down in very large numbers & were counted in the hundreds in Central Park were sparrows, and especially Chipping Sparrow, of which 400+ were in the n. end of the park alone, when still raining & drizzling - these consisting of a few flocks of 85-90+, a few more of 40+, and a number of discrete flocks of 25+, as well as scattered multiples all thru. The flight of them that came in seemed esp. concentrated north of the 100th St. parallel, but in other areas of the park were still fair no's., easily another 100+. Also showing a new uptick were Song Sparrow, & in lesser but still notable infusions were Swamp & yet more White-throated (no's. of white-throated can build to crazy numbers in a site like Central, although such a level is not reached every year we've had as many as 10,000+ of them in the most ridiculous fall-outs of them (& other sparrows) in just the last few decades. Various other sightings on this new-normal dark-cloudy-rainy, then bright-sunny-milder day included - Snowy Egret (3 flying past, seen with Tom Perlman, north end, early a.m.), Great Egret, Wood Duck (male) Belted Kingfsisher (all 3 prior spp. on the Lake, a.m.), American Woodcock (whizzing away from 1 of the uncountable numbers of off-leash dogs in areas where they are never supposed to be off-leash, par for Central's zero-enforcement non-policies; this was not the first, second, or hundredth time this has occurred with this bird in this park, and is a major reason for so few field-meadow-groundfeeding birds to come in & stay at all, in the last several decades - yes, there are other reasons... but doggies that run free anywhere anytime), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (near-normal mid-April no's.), Yellow-shafted Flicker (ok numbers), E. Phoebe (modest no's.), HOUSE Wren (a bit early but not really, and seen by others in the region already, this individual in the Ramble likely had at least a dozen or more observers today, thanks to R. Lieberman & co. (Linnaean group), Winter Wren (very modest fresh arrival), *RED*-breasted Nuthatch (near the Pinetum, not in pine tree, not very common so far this year), Ruby (mostly) & Golden-crowned Kinglets, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5+), Gray Catbird (4), Brown Thrasher (8+), N. Mockingbird (12+)... Hermit Thrush (60+, esp. in Ramble area, but scattered around all of the park, some also seen in street-side locations last several days), Warblers: Black-and-white (Ramble), Pine, Palm, & Louisiana Waterthrush (1 anyhow, & maybe a 2nd or even a 3rd), & a couple fly- bys that sounded like Yellow-rumped & likely were. I've sought other spp. (of warblers) and had little luck, but there will be more of all, and the search is partly just to look in areas that seem to be under- birded within this most heavily-used of urban parks. Also: Rusty Blackbird, some mentioned several; I saw one, in the Ramble. Ring-necked Duck (fly-over circling reservoir, but seemed not to want to land, veered off to west/northwest after a few minutes of circling & coming fairly low), not a late date but a long time since any had been seen in the park. - and at (on) the CP reservoir (a.m.): Double-crested Cormorant (multiple) American Coot (3 lingering) Canada Goose (rather few) Gadwall Mallard Northern Shoveler (fewer & fewer) Bufflehead (dozen or so) Hooded Merganser (2 continue) Ruddy Duck (fewer & fewer) Ring-billed, Herring, & Great Black-backed Gulls, and some Swallows, with at least a couple of Barn, a few Tree, & (mostly) N. Rough-winged (and the latter at other locations in park also). Time to keep watch for other swallow spp. & even martin, rare in the park. There were some interesting things heard-only, but we'll see when they are visually observed in Central... will be soon enough. About 7 hours total time spent roaming almost all of the park - raining & then sun. 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/ --
