The at-least FIVE Sabine’s Gulls reported from the Liverpool marina area in Onondaga County, NY on Wed., Sept. 15th (with multiple observers there, incl., D. Weber) were quite note-worthy! It appears that so far, no (new) reports have come from Yates County, NY for the long-staying Swallow-tailed Kite there, since Sept. 14th, when that bird was still being seen. And, while well understood by a number of this list’s readers, that Say’s Phoebe nicely documented on Saturday, 9/11 was an apparent 'one-day wonder' there, on Long Island’s Suffolk County, NY; happily at least seen by some of those who went out to see it that day, after the early-morning discovery of the rare vagrant from the west.
…... New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Island[s] - Highlights are many, but include sightings of Least Bittern (from more than one location), American Bittern, Virginia Rail (see notes below, non-‘chasable’ for the interested), Ring-necked Duck, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Broad-winged Hawk (incl. a few perched in the county), 7 shorebird species - continued, multiples of both Cuckoo species, multiple Red-headed Woodpeckers, Olive-sided Flycatchers, all six northeastern-breeding vireos on migration, increase of Red-breasted Nuthatch (& see notes below), (1st reports for season of) Gray-cheeked Thrush, Clay-colored Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Chat, Blue Grosbeak, and at least 28 warbler species which included not fewer than SIX individual Connecticut Warblers, the most-recently photographed from Central Park on 9/16, and lastly the Dickcissel which was photographed at Governors Island on 9/11. (As an added note, there are Eastern Whip-poor-wills on the move now as expected and the species has been found in the local area, including in N.Y. City in recent days.). Over 150 species obviously with many migrants, were well-reported for the past week in N.Y. County. some sightings since Saturday 9/11, and including / thru Thursday, 9/16: Canada Goose Wood Duck (continued at least in Central Park) Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler (continued, Central Park) Green-winged Teal (several sightings, incl. from Central Park to 9/16) Ring-necked Duck (Central Park, 9/15) Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Least Bittern (confirmed as well from the “Tribute in Light” team on 9/11-12, at lower Manhattan - none of the Manhattan individual[s] were reported again later in the week) American Bittern (‘multiple’ sightings, including from the “Tribute in Light” team on 9/11-12, at lower Manhattan; prob. more than 1 individual over the report-period) Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret (very scarce now; yet some photographed this week) Green Heron (scarce by now) Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (several continued at Randall’s Island to 9/16) Osprey (many sightings, multiple locations, mostly flyovers) Bald Eagle (multiple sightings and locations and observers) Northern Harrier (one seen again at Governors Island, 9/14, perhaps a continuing individual there?) Sharp-shinned Hawk (few reports) Cooper's Hawk Broad-winged Hawk (several sightings perched, which is not that common for Manhattan, most recent to 9/16) Red-tailed Hawk Virginia Rail (at least one report, from the “Tribute in Light” team, which include some of NYC’s expert birders) Black Vulture (few in this report’s period, all were apparently from n. Manhattan as is somewhat ‘typical' there) Turkey Vulture (multiple, but not that many) Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs (was still on Governors Island into the report-period) Lesser Yellowlegs (was still on Governors Island into the report-period) Solitary Sandpiper (several into the report-period) Spotted Sandpiper (multiple) Semipalmated Sandpiper (still in the multiple, but fewer) Least Sandpiper (fewer, by this report’s period) Laughing Gull (small numbers in various locations, a few reports of more than 6 at once) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Common Tern (getting late for the county, to Sept. 12, N.Y. Harbor) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Monk Parakeet (at least one, n. Manhattan) American Kestrel Merlin (migrants) Peregrine Falcon Black-billed Cuckoo (multiple sightings in various locations) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (almost-numerous in some locations, esp. 9/12 to 9/15) E. Screech—Owl (resident on Manhattan) Common Nighthawk (multiple locations, observers, and numbers to double-digits on some nights; observed in lower Manhattan, as well as more ‘usual’, more-northerly sites) Chimney Swift (still many passing, but perhaps fewer than previous week) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (comments as for above species) Belted Kingfisher (semi-regular on Randall’s Island, with many sightings elsewhere) Red-headed Woodpecker (several locations for at least several individuals; the most recently-seen have been first-fall plumaged, with no red ‘hood’ yet) Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker (few reports) Yellow-shafted Flicker (increased through this report’s period) Olive-sided Flycatcher (several sightings w/ photos &/or notes included) Eastern Wood-Pewee (many, some seen in very small green-spaces) Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (multiple, some w/ pjotos &/or notes included) Empidonax [genus] Flycatcher (multiple, and likely involving multiple species, perhaps all other [4] of the eastern-breeding migrants) Eastern Phoebe (modest no’s. showing) Great Crested Flycatcher (almost-scarce now, and this is that ‘transitional’ time where any Myiarchus-genus flycatcher seen in the region should be closely appraised) Eastern Kingbird (getting fewer to very few by 9/16) White-eyed Vireo (several, one or two well-seen by multiple observers) Blue-headed Vireo (several, and still on the early side for the county) Yellow-throated Vireo (few) Warbling Vireo Philadelphia Vireo (modest numbers, which are a good showing of this species for the county) Red-eyed Vireo (high numbers in particular to 9/12; still many arouund to 9/16) Blue Jay (some increases and a bit of migratory movement) Common Raven (multiple sightings, from a wide variety of locations) American Crow Fish Crow (not as many being reported as in prior weeks) Tree Swallow (uncommonly reported; many flyovers are high-flying) Barn Swallow (still passing in numbers, somewhat less-reported this period) [Cliff Swallow, photographed on 9/11 was not reported on later days] Black-capped Chickadee (multiple but not many; a scant amount of poss. movement) Tufted Titmouse (modest no’s. continue) Red-breasted Nuthatch (sadly, one was found deceased on West 48th St., Manhattan, documented by L.T.; and also multiple -but not that many- in multiple locations) White-breasted Nuthatch (scant amount of poss. movement, by this species which is also a breeder & resident of the county) Brown Creeper (first of season, and photographed by several observers) Carolina Wren House Wren (continuing) Winter Wren (first of season, and photographed by some of many observers) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (much more numerous by 9/16, although still not yet common as a migrant here) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (good no’s. to the start of this report’s period, then somewhat diminished) Veery (still a few as of 9/16, but also far fewer than previous week) Gray-cheeked Thrush (first of season as to reports, with several sightings including good notes) [Bicknell's Thrush - a possibility in fall in the county, but ID could be problematic at this season) Swainson's Thrush (many - still around) Hermit Thrush (small numbers came quite early; a few more appeared by 9/16) Wood Thrush (still some around) American Robin Gray Catbird (modest increases, for a species that is not rare as a summer / nesting species in the county) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (increased sightings, some are still those which had nesting-attempts in the county) European Starling Cedar Waxwing Scarlet Tanager (still in the multiple; this is the only tanager species here for which any publicly-available documentation was so far presented for this report-period) Yellow-breasted Chat (two, but possibly more, in the report’s period - the sightings include one seen from the “Tribute in Light” team on 9/11-12, in lower Manhattan) Eastern Towhee (few, poss. some of few lingering from the summer) Clay-colored Sparrow (the apparently one-day-only sighting, well documented from Central Park’s north end) Chipping Sparrow (still rather scarce) Clay-colored Sparrow (the one-day wonder of Central Park was not documented again for subsequent days there) Field Sparrow (more have appeared, but overall still rather few) Savannah Sparrow (still being found on Randall’s Island, which are a bit early, esp. for multiple arrivals) Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (small but slightly-increased numbers) Swamp Sparrow (still few) White-throated Sparrow (most if not all of the sightings for this report’s period still appear to be of birds that summered in the county, which is not at all unusual in small no’s.) Slate-colored Junco (rather early few arrivals) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak (multiple, but now not as numerous) Blue Grosbeak (the first-fall plumaged individual found on Governor’s Island appears to be the only report from this county, this report-period) Indigo Bunting (modest numbers continued to pass) Bobolink (small numbers, particularly seen by those visiting Governors Island with some also elsewhere which include fly-bys, usually in the early morning) Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (as is expected, this appears to be the only oriole species reported for this report-period in the county) Purple Finch (very few, some were photographed) House Finch American Goldfinch - The list of warbler sightings includes 28 species seen plus one hybrid-type, for the report-period - Connecticut Warbler (a minimum of 6 sightings from 6 locations this report-period, three of which in different locations in Central Park; an excellent -and documented- number for the county in less than one week of Sept. - at least one, or poss. two were in non-public-access locations seen by observers with the required access-permission; also seen by the “Tribute in Light” team in lower Manhattan for 9/11-12) Blue-winged Warbler (still in the multiple into this report’s period, but not very many) Brewster’s-type [hybrid] Warbler (at least one, recenmtly documented, poss. more than one individual over thde report’s period - this hybrid-type is not as ‘rare’ a sighting as once was) Tennessee Warbler (continued in the multiple to this report’s period) Nashville Warbler Northern Parula (a very strong migration push of this species in this period) Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler (still in numbers into this report’s period) Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (small no’s. some of which were photographed) Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler (still in the multiple, although not very many by this report) Pine Warbler Prairie Warbler Palm Warbler (increased a bit, some individuals were the ‘western’ form which is not esp. unusual in the region in fall-season migration) Bay-breasted Warbler (good no’s. continued to this report’s period) Blackpoll Warbler (fairly good no’s. being found lately) Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart (still in moderately good no’s. with a strong push again of this species over this past week) Worm-eating Warbler (moderately late for the county) Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Mourning Warbler (at least two were documented, among those reported in this period from the county) Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler (few by this period) Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler (still in the multiple, although fewer now) - [Dickcissel was documented on Governors Island on 9/11/]. — There were likely some other N.Y. County species as well, not making it into the above-listed! Quite a week in mid-September for this county-in-a-city. Many insect sightings, and unfortunately those do include many sightings of the invasive pest species Spotted Lanternfly (which is not in the fly family, it’s related to plant hoppers). There were also a very fine migration of Monarch butterflues continuing- which is being seen widely all around the eastern parts of the continent this month. 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/ --
