N.Y. County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s and Governors Island[s] and the skies and waters adjacent Sunday, 19th September -
A young Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that was seen by many eventually was first seen at Central Park on Saturday 9/18 near the island in The Lake, only later on moving a bit east. There were a very impressive number of Great Blue Herons seen on Sunday, some of them on the move along the Hudson river & elsewhere. The quartet (if not more) of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, as well as at least 2 Green Herons, persisted on Randall’s Island, seen & photo’d. there by multiple observers Sunday. Marsh Wren was one of the more-popular sightings in Central Park for Sunday, 9/19 (some later-watchers saw two individuals at the Loch in Central Park, on Sunday); there were at least 24 species of migrant American warblers (but as usual, zero of any European “Wood Warblers”) in Manhattan - and all of those species were found within Central Park to Sunday, with some also seen in many, many other locations around the county. Hooded Warblers were found in several areas of the county, that included lower & upper Manhattan as well as some for Central Park, a near “flight” of the species to go along with the good numbers of many more-numerous warbler species on the day, some in their first really impressive numbers (Palm, & Yellow-rumped [Myrtle], in particular). Several observers reported what may have been first-fall Connecticut Warblers in several locations, but those reports remained as ‘possible’ by the careful-cautious reporters. There were vastly more warblers and perhaps more migrants overall in the northern half of Central Park in the morning, as compared with Ramble, etc. - and/but, also many arrivals for Sunday all through the county from Inwood at the north tip of Manhattan, east to Randall’s Island, and south to lower Manhattan and on Governors Island. Getting a bit late for the area were a couple of Canada Warblers, and Blue-winged also is far less common by now. The morning-flight was pretty impressive in parts of N.Y. County, while in other counties within N.Y. City and elsewhere in the nearby region, there were at-least-equally good flights and diversity of migrants observed by many many hundreds out on the fine morning. For warblers, a good many observers thought N. Parula was a major component (of the a.m. flight), although all of that flight and just what was seen depended on location-location-location - if you were at Breezy Point (Queens County, NY) or nearby at first-light on Sunday, you may have enjoyed a Whimbrel spectacle… and so on. I would hazard that overall, the largest numbers of any one species of parulidae were in fact Yellow-rumped Warbler, but - many were fly-throughs in the early flights on Sunday, and so other species of warbler that settled a bit more were ‘seen’ as the most-numerous and according to what flocks one was able to find. It was also a good day Sunday for Magnolia, for Blackpoll (and still Bay-breasted) and for a few additional warbler species in good to very good numbers. It was *perhaps* a good day for Connecticut Warbler, all being proportional and given how many of the latter evade easy detections and confirmations! And while not absolute firsts-of-season, the Savannah Sparrow photographed at Central Park’s mid-west Central Park location (J. Wooten) was among the early-arrivals for that park, also of sparrows & their tribe were some Slate-colored Juncos, and more Lincoln’s Sparrows, as well as a notable fresh arrival of White-throated Sparrow - perhaps the first real influx to the county of the latter species, which was also noted in other parks & on Governors Island. Olive-sided Flyctacher was seen at the n. end of Central Park. An Olive-sided Flycatcher was reported near the reservoir in Central Park on Sunday, where at least 7 N. Shovelers continued. Both Cuckoo species were seen, including both species being seen in the Central Park Ramble on Sunday. A few Veery were still being seen (some documented) along with Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush (few), and the still more-common Swainson’s Thrush. Philadelphia Vireos were found in a few locations, where carefully picked out from among the much more numerous Red-eyed, and Warvling Vireos; also being seen with a slight increase this weekend were Blue-headed Vireos, & some Yellow-throated Vireos had at least longered or a few new ones come in on passage. Arrivals on Sunday included (small numbers of) Golden-crowned Kinglets, seen by at least several observers in several of the larger Manhattan parks, including Inwood Hill & Central Park[s]. Also seen where none had been in many, many months were a few likely just-arrived Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, same parks. The early movement of Yellow-shafted Flickers, even if in modest no’s. were an indicator for a more-general good arrival of migrants. While not the very first, many more observers caught up with their personal 1st-of-season Brown Creepers, as well as some other first-seen for the fall birds by some seekers out & about, on a great-weather Sunday. Moving in some numbers (for the county & for Manhattan) on Sunday were Broad-winged Hawk, with several dozen seen in a total of birds on the move seen from a variety of locations, esp. in morning hours; also moving were Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Sharp-shinned Hawks, & American Kestrels, and at least some Turkey Vultures. In addition some Cooper’s Hawks were seen, althopugh unclear if newly-arrived or if these were among the prior birds present. At Central Park, there was a Solitary Sandpiper and also a few Spotted Sandpipers moved thru at the reservoir early on. Just as for Saturday, Sunday featured numbers of hummingbirds (all ID’d and-or presumed Ruby-throated!!) around with both in-flight southbound hummers and a good many stopping off at flowers in multiple parks & some greenspaces. Multiple Common Nighthawks were watched by a number of observers on Sunday, with up to 8 seen at Central Park alone, and from a few different areas as well. Small numbers of blackbird species, these including Common Grackles, B.-h. Cowbirds, and some Red-winged Blackbirds, were on the move through the weekend, esp. so on Sunday & as seen from various locations. Chimney Swifts have also continued, although numbers overall look to have dropped off - as is expected by now. And, as most who have any interest know, the Broad-winged Hawk flight is at peak just about now, with some locations in the broader region getting into quadruple-digits days as of this past weekend, and significant numbers being seen in much of the northeast and on to more-southerly locations. That movement is expected to continue for at least some days ahead. There are many many other species which could be mentioned; I’ll conclude this bird-sighting report noting that American Pipits were on the move over the weekend, & at some N.Y. City locations were documented on-the-ground. Also, as an added note - the NYC legal code, under NYC Dept. of Parks has the section I-05, Articles d-2 and d-3, wherein: it is a misdemeanor crime to play any amplified sounds via external-amplifying devices, without an *express written permit authorizing such use* for particular dates-locations-events, in many parts of NYC public parks, and this of course includes such parks as Central Park, Inwood Hill Park and others in the city’s vast park’s system. Those curious about this may see: https://www.nycgovparks.org/rules/section-1-05 <https://www.nycgovparks.org/rules/section-1-05> ... Although I’ll stand by a statement that the best single location *in N.Y. County* for butterfly-diversity, especially in late summer to early fall is Governors Island, there have been some excellent sightings from Manhattan parks as well, including unsurprisingly Central Park, with its many keen insect-seekers; this has included at least 6 species of Skippers, some a bit uncommon for that park, although all species seen occasionally or fairly regularly-annually. Also worth checking are the many flowered-gardens of the greenways and other greenspaces of the county, and that should include (for insects) on Randall’s Island. 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/ --
