Since there's been a lot of swallow & bird-behavior discussion here, including a few book rec's, I thought I'd add that there are a number of books specifically about swallows - three I've read are: "White Feathers - the Nesting Lives of Tree Swallows" by Bernd Heinrich (recent), and "The Swallow, A Biography" by British author Stephen Moss (and in the U.K., “ 'the' swallow" means 'Barn Swallow’; also a recent book), and "A Single Swallow" by Horatio Clare (which is a decade older, and is a freewheeling account of an attempt to follow the Barn Swallow migration from Southern Africa up to the British Isles and specifically to Wales by the author; a bit more than just birds are covered). French-readers might find "Les Hirondelles" by Georges Olioso (in the French language, also recent) of interest, also follows the migrations of (and threats to) the swallows that occur in France; I've not read the latter - the preceding three titles are all elegantly-written in my opinion... I've no stake in any of these books.
... New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall's & Governors Island[s] Wed., June 9th & Thursday, June 10th - with some observation to Friday, June 11th - The (at least) eleven warbler species lingering into this first third of the month of June are slightly unusual, although no species now are being found in any v. large numbers. Only 2 or perhaps 3 species are potential nesters in the county, so all the rest are late, and some of these could potentially spend all summer here, being non-breeding individuals, which does happen fairly regularly here (in small numbers), the more so with just a ‘handful' of warbler species. At least a few other migrant species have also had one or a few representatives lingering or straggling quite late here, all this spring & also just might stay on thru the summer. Of those, possibly the most regular to do so are White-throated Sparrows, which are being seen in mostly less-than-double-digit no’s. in city parks & greenspaces, to the dates of this report. A number of the species listed below are either nesting or potential nesters in the county, with locations not noted. However, by the 2nd day of this report’s period, a number of various species of migrants *appeared to have* moved on. Many, although not all, of the warblers seen were on Wed., June 9th, & not re-found on the following days (including Friday, 6/11), and it also seemed that some other late or lingering migrants may have at last moved on… but we will see what the remainder of this month shows. Lingering on as expected are Yellow Warblers and some Common Yellowthroats, as well as American Redstart, plus a couple of (less-expected) others. Canada Goose Wood Duck (ongoing, Central Park) Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret (mainly seen as fly-overs, all summer at some locations) Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (also seen at Governors Island recently, as well as Randall’s Island) Turkey Vulture (few, fly-bys) Osprey (few, flybys) Bald Eagle (fly-by sightings) Red-tailed Hawk Wild Turkey (1 continues at Inwood Hill) Killdeer (areas where regular into summer) Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull (very scarce now) [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Common Tern (mainly as seen on Governors Island, & over waters in N.Y. Harbor or lower river areas) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Monk Parakeet (a report of five fly-overs from Central Park, Wed., 6/9. This species is breeding in some other counties of N.Y. City) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (still passing through, Thursday, 6/10) Chimney Swift Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee (ongoing in several parks, including in Central Park) Acadian Flycatcher (to at least 6/10) Empidonax [genus] Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Swainson's Thrush (few, late now) Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling House Sparrow Cedar Waxwing Scarlet Tanager (late now for here) Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (very late, to at least 6/9) Swamp Sparrow (also late) White-throated Sparrow (multiple) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Northern Parula (singing male, ongoing at Central Park to 6/9) Yellow Warbler (multiple) Magnolia Warbler (late; to 6/9) Black-throated Green Warbler (late, female at Central Park to 6/9) Blackpoll Warbler (diminishing) Black-and-white Warbler (small no’s. thru 6/10) American Redstart (multiple) Ovenbird (several at Central Park, & also elsewhere) Mourning Warbler (6/10 and not unprecedentedly late here & esp. not in this spring) Common Yellowthroat (small no’s. continuing) Canada Warbler (a bit late, still at Central Park) - Bobolink (1 female was continuing (very late) at Governors Island, likely a straggler) Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch good birding to all, 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/ --
