Manhattan, New York City Saturday, 7th of May, 2016: A reminder: in various sections of Central Park & other NYC parks it is a violation of law to play anything amplified without special permit from the City of New York, & in the case of bird-sounds or any sounds that cause undue disruption to birds, it is hugely - unscientifically-sound, causes birds to lose essential feeding, foraging & resting time as well as disrupting courtship & nesting activities for those which now are (& that is a violation of federal law), and also disparages all birders and many other park users. We Central Park & Manhattan and New York birders are far, far better than that. With apologies to the vast many who know all this, & disgrace to any (very, very, few) who may not be following common-sense, good public behavior, and the most basic principles of conservation-science and biology "101", even having been told time & again of the harm such action as listed above can cause to these migrants & nesting species. This is not a joking matter. and it will be pursued by legal means, if there is not a full cessation to such activities within any N.Y.C. public spaces. ............................... A Summer Tanager at Riverside Drive (near the far west side of the island) late Saturday is the second to be reported for the spring on Manhattan island. Interestingly, Summer Tanagers are sometimes well- reported "along" (near) the Hudson river in upper Manhattan, and it's at least possible there is something they like about these parks and green-spaces. The mix of trees is a bit different in some of the river- edge parks, from the most-heavily-birded (& trafficked) of the Manhattan parks- Central.
At least 4 Seaside Sparrows continued thru this Saturday afternoon on Manhattan island, 3 of them the ones almost all have been observing near the Hudson River green-way ped.-bike path, just west of the W.Side Hwy. and in the "Clinton Cove" area, west end of W. 55 St. - a fourth also continued about 1/2-mile north of that location, very near the river's edge, and within the "riverside-south" portion of the Hudson R. green-way, this latter much harder to quickly spot or to follow with a lot more cover & area of cover available to it. Other migrant sparrows are also in the vicinity of these unusual-for- Manhattan Ammodramus [genus of] sparrows, as well as our nearly- ubiquitous 'city' sparrow, the non-native House Sparrow. Likely more than 100 observers have thus far been able to view the W. 55 St./ greenway sparrow trio. ................. A nice find (or perhaps, re-find) at Inwood Hill Park, northern Manhattan today was a singing male Cerulean Warbler, in the upper woods area in the area known as the Ridge, within northern portion; this sp. was previously found here so there's a chance an individual lingered & wandered in this week of less-than-ideal May weather locally; it's also equally possible it was a more recent new arrival. Other (N.Y.C.) borough's city parks are also receiving Cerulean Warbler, just within this week: a 'good find' in the city, even while there are multiple breeding areas, within 35-99+ miles of the city. .................... Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City 25 Warbler species found today in Central Park (park-wide, multiple observers, dawn to 7 p.m.) included all these: Worm-eating Warbler (Ramble & elsewhere) Ovenbird (multiple) Northern Waterthrush (multiple) Louisiana Waterthrush ("late", even in an odd-weather/mid-spring year) Common Yellowthroat (not that many, for this date) Hooded Warbler (male, Ramble, multiple observers) Wilson's Warbler (male, Ramble) Canada Warbler (males, n. end & Ramble) Blue-winged Warbler (multiple but "uncommon", so far) Tennessee Warbler (singing male, very high in Ramble trees, early a.m.) Nashville Warbler (multiple) Northern Parula (multiple) Yellow Warbler (multiple) Chestnut-sided Warbler (few, soon to be more) Magnolia Warbler (few, fairly soon to be many more) Cape May Warbler (several, including 1 lingering in 1 place for many days) Black-throated Blue Warbler (multiple, but many more expected soon) Myrtle/Yellow-rumped Warbler (still fairly common, but not abundant today) Black-throated Green Warbler (multiple) Blackburnian Warbler (multiple, now including some females, as well) Prairie Warbler (multiple in the Ramble alone, plus others elsewhere) Palm Warbler (still more than a few, & more & more being females) Blackpoll Warbler (few, & not esp. notable for just a few by this date) Black-and-white Warbler (multiple, many of them now females) American Redstart (not many, as compared to no's. a week or so away) Other migrants & resident spp. of (wild & free) birds included: Double-crested Cormorant Great Egret (multiple, esp. of flyovers seen from n. end of park) Snowy Egret (typical daily north end fly-bys, going east & west) Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Canada Goose Wood Duck (long-lingering male, multiple observers) Gadwall (multiple pairs) Mallard Bufflehead (reservoir & elsewhere) Ruddy Duck (dozen or more continued all day. reservoir) Osprey (early fly-over) Red-tailed Hawk (species seen from many vantage points) American Kestrel (multiple & nesting at various nearby bldgs.) Peregrine Falcon (several sightings from the park) Spotted Sandpiper (more than several) Laughing Gull (some fly-bys over reservoir area) Ring-billed Gull (less numerous lately) Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (mostly on & around Reservoir) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Chimney Swift (in good no's.) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (several sightings, male & female) Belted Kingfisher ("late", but not at all unprecedented in May) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ("late", but not unprecedently so) Downy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (few and some looking to nest) Least Flycatcher (seen & heard) Empidonax SP. (silent, & possibly other than Least) Eastern Phoebe (a bit 'late' for Central) Great Crested Flycatcher (at least several, Ramble & N. End) Eastern Kingbird (multiple, including some on nest territories) White-eyed Vireo (lingering and a regular breeder in NYC) Blue-headed Vireo (still numerous) Yellow-throated Vireo (at least several) Warbling Vireo (many on territories, of which there are 8+ in the park) Red-eyed Vireo (multiple, also a breeder in NYC) Blue Jay American Crow The following 4 swallow species over the reservoir with careful watching, and only Barn & N. Rough-winged noted as rather common there. Total swallow no's. varying between 40+ & 75+ at various times today all day. Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren (uncommon so far this spring) House Wren (many & some on their territories) Winter Wren ("late" but not at all unprecedented) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (not "rare" yet this spring) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (an occasional nester) Veery (nearly common) Swainson's Thrush (few) Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (at least several) Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow (multiple) Dark-eyed Junco ("late", even for this odd-weather spring) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak (multiple) Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole (multiple) Purple Finch House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow ... these migrants were generally increased, in variety without doubt, and for some spp. in numbers of individuals, from the day before (Fri. 5/6) and this again shows that despite what some see as "contrary" weather, & indeed slowed migration, the birds themselves are working their way to where they need to be for the breeding period, and even with the recent bouts of north & east winds here, as well as rain, migration is coming along and will be in coming days & weeks. Winds have shifted even this before this eve. & this may (potentially) bring many more migrants into the entire region - there's one way to learn that. quiet, & ethical birding to all, with thanks to many hundreds of responsible birders out & about this eventually-sunny day. 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/ --