Tues.- Wed.- Thursday, 5th-6th-7th September, 2017 Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
Although weather & winds conspired for less-than-ideal conditions for southbound movement the past 3 nights, there has been some, & ‘bits-&-pieces’ of evidence of the gradual changes as summer eases towards autumn. The next several days may well amplify migration, as north winds usher in cool days & cooler nights. Duckage sightings picked up ever-so-slightly, and some species typical of August movement have wound down. There were still at least 22 Warbler species around to Tuesday, but some of the species may have been just in low single-digit numbers; the exodus of warblers has been rather evident over the 3-day period. Also, after a prior period of days with pretty good no’s. of hummingbirds around, they have been more inclined to be seen zipping south (for those watching from a few lookouts where such can be seen in Central), fewer feeding in all of the patches where they’d been (although hardly all gone!) Similarly more scarce are sightings of Snowy and Great Egret, although for the latter, at least a few were continuing to 9/7 in several locations; as always the Snowy sightings are 95%+ from the north end of the park, & typically just as fly-overs going east & west in summer. In yet another potential sign of a turn of the season, a very few White-throated Sparrows showed in a couple of places by Wed. (and although very, very few may summer in Central, in some years, these ‘new’ birds seemed to have just arrived, by location & to some extent by behavior) in the north woods, as well as one area on the w. side of the park, above W. 81 Street. Tues.-Thurs., 9/5-7: Double-crested Cormorant (small no’s. on the move each day, & typical no’s. at the reservoir for the dates) Great Blue Heron (several sightings, of at least 2 different individuals in the park) Great Egret (smaller no’s. going over the north end; a few still visiting some areas in the park) Snowy Egret (fewer & farther-between sightings, for n. end fly-overs) Black-crowned Night-Heron (only a few noticed) Canada Goose (standard summer no’s.) Wood Duck (at least 2 ongoing drakes) Gadwall (up to 12 on Wed. at Meer & Reservoir) American Black Duck (10+ at Meer, Wed.) Mallard (plenty as usual) Northern Shoveler (minimum of 10 Thursday, w/8 on Reservoir, & 2 on Meer; a no. was also present by Tues.) Osprey (fly-overs Tues. & Wed.) Red-tailed Hawk (local-area usuals) American Kestrel (perhaps a few as migrants, plus local-area residents) Merlin (1 on Tues., fly-over) Peregrine Falcon (probably one of the local-area residents) Spotted Sandpiper (up to 8 on Wed., & still several to Thurs., various locations, esp. around the reservoir dike) Least Sandpiper (2, juvenile plumaged, on Wed. & not lingering at Reservoir s. end more than 5 minutes) Laughing Gull (max. of 9 counted on Wed. & at least 4 present at Reservoir to Thursday, mainly along the dike) Ring-billed Gull (plenty) [American] Herring Gull (numerous) Great Black-backed Gull (good no’s. on the reservoir) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove (many, throughout the park) Common Nighthawk (sightings on Tues. morning & eve. & Wed. a.m., not noted in abbreviated watch on Thurs.) Chimney Swift (max. count 9, Tuesday; still a few to Thurs. a.m.) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (15++ on Tuesday, fewer by Thurs.) Belted Kingfisher (1 male, Wed. at the W. 100th St. Pool & Loch) Red-bellied Woodpecker (regular, residents) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (few, to Tues.) Downy Woodpecker (regular, residents) Hairy Woodpecker (1, n. woods on Wed.) Yellow-shafted Flicker (multiples, & most common on Tuesday) Olive-sided Flycatcher (through Thursday, various locations on different days, at Strawberry Fields n. side: 9/7) Eastern Wood-Pewee (modest no’s. but reduced greatly by Thurs.) Empidonax [genus] Flycatcher (still passing thru, certainly various of the usual batch of species, but which…!?) Eastern Phoebe (a few to Tues. & still a bit early) Great Crested Flycatcher (at least 2 in Ramble to Tues.) Eastern Kingbird (3 Wed. near Turtle Pond, perhaps on the move, none noted by me for Thurs.) Warbling Vireo (far fewer than in prior week, still a few to Thurs.) Red-eyed Vireo (fairly common now, & more will be passing soon) Blue Jay (fairly common) American Crow (a few noted each day) Tree Swallow (modest no’s. mostly as rather high fly-overs; scarce over the water-bodies now) Barn Swallow (very modest no’s. in low double-digits per day seen) Black-capped Chickadee (a few, so far) Tufted Titmouse (very few so far) Red-breasted Nuthatch (1, young bird &/or female, Pinetum East on Tues.) White-breasted Nuthatch (modest no’s.) Brown Creeper (a bit early, N. end Thursday, with a R.-cr. Kinglet at the Great Hill) Carolina Wren (small no’s. & some still vocal at times) House Wren (2, into Tues.) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (several, to Wed. in n. end & Ramble area) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1 Tuesday, Ramble) Veery (small numbers persist, but far fewer than prior week) 'Gray-cheeked-type’ Thrush (at least 1, n. woods, not vocal, not determined to species, thus slight poss. bicknelli) Swainson's Thrush (multiple, but not very many) Wood Thrush (2 into Thurs. & 1 mis-identified by a few newer birders as a “hermit” thrush in the Ramble) American Robin (very common) Gray Catbird (many, but fewer than last weekend) Northern Mockingbird (neither scarce nor common) Brown Thrasher (few) European Starling Cedar Waxwing (very few, but some may still be of nesting family-groups) Blue-winged Warbler (to at least Wed. in Ramble) Tennessee Warbler (few continuing into Thursday) Nashville Warbler (1 to Thursday; not many so far) Northern Parula (few at least to Wed.) Yellow Warbler (to Thursday) Chestnut-sided Warbler (few to at least Wed.) Magnolia Warbler (small no’s., still a few thru Thurs.) Cape May Warbler (daily as single sightings, hardly like the impressive push of last week) Black-throated Blue Warbler (few, each day) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (several at n. end to Thurs., & 1 or 2 ongoiung in Ramble) Black-throated Green Warbler (few so far) Pine Warbler (Pinetum East, Wed.) Bay-breasted Warbler (several thru Thurs.) Blackpoll Warbler (at least a few to Wed. & still fairly low no’s.) Black-and-white Warbler (much reduced no’s. by Thursday) American Redstart (20+, park-wide, by Thurs. - far less than preceding weeks) Ovenbird (6+ on Wed. & still present to Thurs.) Northern Waterthrush (at least 1 continued to Thursday) Mourning Warbler (several to Wed. and at least 2 Thurs.) Common Yellowthroat (fair no’s. to Wed., & then fewer) Hooded Warbler (male to Tuesday, Ramble area, & reported into Wed. in same area) Canada Warbler (a few into Tues. & at least one still present to Thurs.) Scarlet Tanager (few, to Tuesday) Chipping Sparrow (very few, still early for migrants; a few pairs bred successfully this summer) Song Sparrow (small no’s. as all now are likely still resident-breeders) White-throated Sparrow (up to 5, Wed. - in 2 locations) Northern Cardinal (very common resident) Rose-breasted Grosbeak (few, at least to Wed.) Red-winged Blackbird (relatively few) Common Grackle (not many around) Brown-headed Cowbird (some small movements each morning) Baltimore Oriole (very few locals now, those seen in coming weeks are probably all migrants) House Finch (scattered locations) American Goldfinch (relatively few) House Sparrow (super-abundant; very pestiferous) Quiet & peaceful 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/ --
