New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Island[s] -
Saturday, Sept. 25th - “oh, the sapsuckers you’ll see” (from lesser-known Dr. Suess)… There have been plenty of great birds around the county in recent days, despite a slight slowing later last week in some of the active-migration. Some birds were lingering on, in particular, the Dickcissel, and at least one Blue Grosbak, each seen (& photographed) again at Fort Jay area on Governors Island - which has also been enjoying a good overall diversity of migrants & lingering species in addition to those 2 rarer ones. At least 1 Lesser Yellowlegs was continuing to show at the ‘maintenance area puddle-pond’ there to Sat. 9/25, & that island was site of just one of at least several recent Monk Parakeet sightings, as well as having a nice selection of migrant warblers and many other birds. A rather late Veery was photographed on that island as well on 9/25 - as well as slightly late-ish Bobolink there, with up to 7 (B. Cacace) of the latter seen Saturday; a good area to check there being around Fort Jay, although also possible elsewhere there on Gov. Island at times. Also seen on Thursday, 9/23 (as was the above-noted one), a Monk Parakeet was found in the vicinity of DeWitt Clinton Park and then also Riverside Park South, in the West 50’s part of Manhattan; the species ought to be listened-for wherever one is at least around Manhattan; the most-recent report appears to be (again, with other reports from there in the past few months) from Central Park’s north end on 9/25. We also have had multiple sightings at the northern end of Manhattan in recent weeks and months. A most-impressive 6 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, along with somewhat more Black-crowned Night-Herons, were found at Randall’s Island on Saturday 9/25; that location seems to be the hot-spot for the latter species in recent years; that is where at least one of that latter species has overwintered, as well, which is still quite unusual in NYS. Snowy Egret was seen at least to 9/23 on Randall’s Island; that species not usually as late to linger in the county as are Great Egret, but neither are now-regular as they are thru the summer months. Philadelphia Vireos have continued to be found by careful observers, some photographed as well, to 9/25; several have been in Central Park, but there were sightings elsewhere as well. Blue-headed Vireos have incresaed just a bit as of Saturday. A most-recent Yellow-throated Vireo sighting came from The Battery in lower Manhattan on 9/25 (C. Williams). Some Gray-cheeked (&/or Gray-cheeked type!) Thrushes have been noted in the past week or so, with slightly more from Saturday, 9/25. Swainson’s and at least a few Hermit as well as Wood Thrush[es] also have been seen. A White-crowned Sparrow was among at least a few of that species to have just-arrived in the county, and concurrent with arrivals of the species in the region, all just slightly-early. Other sparrows are trickling in but this continues to be a good time to be on the watch for all rarer or less-common sparrow species, some of which have been showing around the wider region. A minimum of 22 Warbler species were still to be seen in the county as of Saturday, 9/25, and all of those species also were seen in Central Park that day, by many observers altogether. A lot of warbler diversity and many other migrants continue to be found in some smaller parks and greenspaces of lower Manhattan, as well as on the two outlying islands (Randall’s and Goverors) of the county. Saturday 9/25 experienced possibly the highest number of Blackpoll Warbler this season in N.Y. County, & there also were still some Bay-breasted Warblers about. A majority of the most-recent sightings of Cuckoos (to Sat., 9/25, including in Central Park in multiple areas) are now of Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which is somewhat the expected pattern of occurence for our two migrant species. We continue to have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds both lingering around flowered areas, and on passage, although numbers of the species have dropped off a bit lately. Keep an eye out for any hummingbird that does not quite “fit” as a Ruby-throated, as western or even-rarer ‘vagrant’ species are increasingly possible as October and later months loom closer. There were still Scarlet Tanagers, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and a variety of other neo-tropical wintering migrant species around N.Y. County to Sat., 9/25. At the same time, we are finding at least modest / small numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches, & a slight up-tick of Golden-crowned Kinglet, to go along with more-regular Ruby-crowned Kinglets, in recent days including at multiple locations (for all of these species) in the county on Sat., 9/25. Much more could be noted; perhaps in a future report. Thanks to the many observers out & about in so many locations! 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/ --
