Article in the NY Times on birding in Central Park (shared already to this list, it is dated 4/17) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/nyregion/spotted-late-blooming-urban-bird-watcher.html
There's at least one N. Mockingbird in the north end of Central Park that's worked up a version of 'the wren', aka Winter Wren, which while not a convincing rendition of one of the most-complex passerine (or other) birdsongs on earth, is still impressive, if just for the dauntless airing of the attempt. And from a different Mocker, a bit of a bobolink-burble is quite the wake-up, although it's sort of lost in the other portions of 'recalled' songs; not a mimidae member for naught. Look for a good push of fresh arrivals of migrants in the next couple of days, starting Monday, on the southerly winds already in progress. And don't be shocked if Tues. is also pretty good, for potential odd things & for some nice April raptor movement on the shifting-NW wind, that is down in "raptor-poor" SE NY in the spring migration of them. I had a mid-morning spin thru & past 4 of the midtown-to-West Village smaller parks in Manhattan, not finding all that much, & certainly nothing that had not been seen in recent days or prior. Some of those overwintered Gray Catbirds made it thru and are looking o.k., while at least some of the birds that tried to overwinter may have either moved on or did not love the times when a temp. of zero F. was reached, or the snowdrift was 2 feet high... it seems a long time ago! The U.S. Gulf Coast is where birds are massing & moving in the many- millions, right now - literally... ............................................................... Saturday & Sunday, 16 & 17 April, 2016 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Sunday, 17 April - While the weather induced some movement again in the overnight period, a lot of that was to the west of NYC, and the more modest movement in the city may have been as much of exodus as of influx. However, some of the species that are fully-expected in the area as migrants were in, and a few were in reasonable numbers, if not close to peak. It will wait another few days or so to find out if some early-spring migrants have already attained their max. no's. of the season at Central Park - species such as Pine Warbler, for example, which in a more typical spring may have reached a peak here by this date. On some days this month, Pine Warbler totals in the park reached double- digit no's., but not often! (It may have done so again this weekend, though - that's why it will be interesting to see if those no's. grow or decline in the next few days, as just a sampler of the migration thus far in 1 well-covered location.) A modest search for Yellow-throated Warbler, mainly near its prior areas of observations, did not come up with the species, although I suspect that that individual was still floating about in the park, & perhaps still in the same "mid-park" general area. One 'new' species in the park (as far as I know) was Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a male visiting the "lily ponds" trickle of water in the far n. woods, east of the Blockhouse, late in the day. It's not esp. early for that species, although the mass arrival is likely a few weeks yet. One already reported (perhaps not to this list), is Yellow Warbler, which had been seen in the last week; one was present at the n. end of the park today, and in the Ramble area earlier in the week. A bit on the early side, but hardly unprecedented for Central. These are single sightings, not representative of a more general arrival, for which the timing is later, but this year, who knows... if the arctic-influenced, "back-door" cold front pattern is wiped off the eastern seaboard's new calendar for the latter part of April, things may warm up in more ways than the temp's. in the migration of birds, locally. The general pattern has been one of suppression of land-bird migration for the most part lately, more evident at the near-coastal sites but also somewhat generally in much of the northeast. At the same time, many expected mid-April arrivals have begun to reach breeding areas in the region, already. The entire weekend featured at least 9 warbler species in Central, but nearly half may have been represented by singles. (Yellow-throated Warbler to at least Saturday, Ovenbird, Yellow Warbler, & N. Parula), while others were seen in mainly minimal no's. (Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, & Myrtle/Yellow- rumped Warbler). There was also a reasonable 'rumor' of a (tenth) warbler species at the n. end of the park, but heard-only, so we'll wait to see it, soon. ...................... Sat., 16 April - A stronger push of migrants Friday night, more so of migrants that were already in the park, in particular: Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, & various sparrows... with a very small uptick in some warblers, esp. Yellow-rumped. The evidence for a fairly good migration, seen early Sat., was in great part by checking the northern fringes of Central, esp. in the first 2 hours of daylight, & finding the above species in numbers above that seen in any previous day so far this year. This sort of concentration in the northern 10% or less of the park is almost always a strong indication of a rather good migration, of whatever species. In this instance, from what was observed, a tremendous no. of these, & doubtless a great many other migrant species, were successful in clearing the park, and further clearing Manhattan on clear nights with relatively light (enough) winds to bring birds to where they would be trying to head, which is of course, in general - "north"... to & towards nesting areas... Ovenbird was among the (at least) 6 warbler species in the n. end of Central on Sat. morning - that bird was on the s. slope of the Great Hill, & was singing a little early in the a.m.; that arrival is a fairly early but hardly unprecedented date here. The other warblers in the n. end included Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white, Pine, Palm (in modest numbers, many feeding in trees rather than on or near the ground), Pine, & Myrtle/Yellow-rumped (also in modest no's. with a mix of drabber & brighter individuals). By far, most of the warblers in the very early morning were north of a line at about 103rd, & even more n. of a line at 106th, which is to say within the 4 northern-most "blocks" of the park entire. At least 1 species appearing in Central as of Friday (15 April) that did not seem to be mentioned to this list: Green Heron, in a fairly typical park location for them. Also, appearing in the 3 sections of the park (south, Ramble-area, and north) have been Blue-headed Vireo, with a couple of them singing, one of those not far from where a White- eyed Vireo has also been noted. good birding, & get out Monday-Tues. if you're able to, 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/ --
