A Red Phalarope was discovered & “tweeted” in a mid-day report today, Wednesday 4/26, by David Barrett of Manhattan, at the northeastern edge of Randall’s Island, in New York County, & in the northeast part of the East River estuary off the eastern side of Manhattan island. I tried for this bird many hours after the discovery, but was not successful, and D.B. had already made a note that the phalarope was not seen again after the initial sighting & identification. It’s quite the rare sighting rather generally from land, being such a pelagic creature in winter & much of migration, but there are some solid records from Manhattan, at least one photo’d. in fall 2015, & a late-summer occurrence in Central Park, that being at The Lake just after a strong t-storm. (The observer for the latter, Norma Collin of Manhattan, provided an excruciatingly-detailed description, which matched in every way a sighting of a fading-plumaged female Red Phalarope. That bird was not seen even 1 hour later, as often can be with such weather-tossed wader-waifs.) I was concentrating on potential phalarope sightings when I visited Randall’s Island from about 5:45 - 6:45 pm, checking shore, creek, & marsh areas; on my way back to Manhattan island (via the foot-bridge at East 102 St.) I noticed a Horned Grebe on the Randall’s Island side of the river channel.
- - - - - - - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Wednesday, 4/26 - Paths near & along the Gill (a small stream) in the center of the Ramble are re-opened to the public, or so it seemed as of late in the day today; we shall all hope it is so. A Barred Owl was found in the Ramble, an uncommon species for Manhattan, although not without precedent, including within Central Park; it’s also likely the species has occurred at least slightly more often than is realized, as with some other regionally-resident owl species. The bird was documented with photographs in a respectful way, at a high roost, in a deciduous tree. Tuesday’s small batch of newer migrants seemed a bit reduced, yet there were some species found Wed. that either had not been ‘uncovered’ as of Tues. or perhaps did some skipping thru the rains & fog Tues. night, with at least 3 Indigo Buntings turning up (all adult males in rather bright color) in Central, 2 in one place & 1 along the s. edge of Sheep Meadow. Up at the north end of the park, although migrants certainly seemed “thin”, there was an adult White-crowned Sparrow mixed with a few White-throated, on the Great Hill’s upper part. The swallow numbers of Tues. at the reservoir seemed much reduced, at least by mid-morning there, although the same 3 spp. were present as had been Tues. - On the reservoir, a Red-necked Grebe is continuing & today, a very few N. Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, & modest no’s. of Buffleheads were also seen. Gulls of 3 species are still regular, and there have been ongoing but occasional fly-bys or drop-ins by Laughing Gull. (the 3 regulars in gulls here are of course, Ring-billed - now in lowered no’s., American Herring, and Great Black-backed). - - - - Tuesday, 4/25 - There was a minimal, but modestly-diverse, fresh arrival of some migrants overnight from Monday-Tuesday morning. In numbers, the most evident in one location within the park were of swallows, with conservatively 30+ at the reservoir, and consisting primarily of Tree Swallow. That these appeared in numbers on a damp day with E & NE winds is typical here in mid-spring; often the best weather for swallows, at Central Park is that with a NE or E. wind component, & sometimes rain or fog in combination with such a wind. Wild Turkey (female continuing at the south end of park, not that far from Seventh Ave.) Chimney Swift (2 or 3) Barn (5-6), N. Rough-winged (4+) & Tree (20+) Swallows (over reservoir’s NE sector, primarily) White-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo were all seen, the White-eyed just (east) across the West (park) Drive from Summit Rock. Warblers were very “thin” and not too easily discerned, at least by mid-morning & generally later on. There seemed to be a slight “concentration” (if it can be called that), on the park’s western side, esp. in the latitude of the 70’s to low 90’s streets (being adjacent to the park, that is). Of these species, the only few that seemed to be at all cooperative, for some & at certain times later in the day, were Blue-winged Warbler & of course Ovenbird. A Worm-eating Warbler was at the area just south of the park entrance at W. 77th St., which is not birded much, despite being very close to very-much-birded areas such as Strawberry Fields & some other locations. (This area was checked today, Wed. but no warblers were seen; an Orange-crowned Warbler was above the south side of the W. 79th St. Transverse, in another small area that is not so much looked-at despite its proximity to well-birded areas, such as Shakespeare Garden & Belvedere Castle. Wood Thrush were heard calling (& one sang, softly) from both the upper Ramble, and a site in the n. woods where they are often seen at least into late spring. Tuesday’s Warblers included: Blue-winged, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow, [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warbler (rather few), Palm Warbler (very few), Black-and-white, Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbird, & Louisiana Waterthrush. (there may have been a few others, seen by other observers). Many of the somewhat-expected migrant species of late April remain scant or nearly unseen in Manhattan thus far, but all that could change by this coming end-of-April weekend. Good variety, if not tremendous numbers of migrants have been occurring into parts of NY state & New England over this week. - - - - - - - "When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable, and to the citizen, most dismal swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place – a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow of nature. The wild-wood covers the virgin mould - and the same soil is good for men and trees." - Henry David Thoreau, naturalist, jailed tax-resister, pencil-factory-worker, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, development critic, etc.; died of tuberculosis in 1862, at the age of 44. good -and ethical- birding, Tom Fiore manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
