Sunday, 4 June, 2017 - Manhattan, N.Y. City Perhaps the least-expected sight, and one that needs to be checked-on with the rehabber folks at Wild Bird Fund, was the Horned Grebe on the Central Park reservoir, present all day there, & certainly feeding. Not each spring that one finds that species in Central Park at the same time as late warblers such as Mourning & Tennessee & Blackpoll are moving.
A female-looking Blue-winged Teal was continuing (for a 2nd day, at least) as first noted by Nate O’Reilly, at the Sherman Creek area just north of the eastern terminus of Dyckman Street - and as uncommon as that is for Manhattan, in June or in most any month in NY County, a quintet of Black Skimmers seen headed north, a short time ago, from near the Hudson at about West 161 St., and from the river green-way (path) that is directly adjacent to the river, was pretty unexpected as well for that far up from the river’s mouth / NY harbor, even with the unusual occurence of the latter species a good way up-river at Croton, some 25++ miles north of Manhattan. In other action in Central, there were some migrants still about, including a singing male Mourning Warbler at the n.w. edge of Summit Rock (this is near where one was seen over a week ago, but is almost certainly not the same individual), and Tennessee Warblers in at least 2 locations, one near Bow Bridge (male, singing) at about 6 a.m., & another (silent, prob. a female) in the Loch, much later on. At least 2 cuckoos, one clearly a Black-billed, the other likely to have been, were in, respectively, the n.e. part of the Ramble & later, at the Loch. Some Empidonax flycatchers were still about, with at least Acadian, & Yellow-bellied again present in Central Park. There also have been some migrants in Riverside Park. Some notes on other species later, or next day, as this day is still young. - - - - "Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?” - Rachel Carson (1907-1964; marine biologist, conservationist, author whose books include ‘Silent Spring’. Sir David Attenborough has remarked that that book may have had an effect on science second only to Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”.) 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/ --