But The Kirtland’s Warbler found by Ramsay Koury (of Pennsylvania) on Monday (10/4) at Swann Park in *Baltimore, Maryland* and subsequently seen Tues.-Wed. 10/5 & 10/6 (by many, many birders!) gave quite a stir to the region’s watchers. It’s a first state-record for MD, and a great find, even when that species could possibly be an increasingly-possible ‘vagrant’ in the n. mid-Atlantic, and far less so to the northeast, and really a standard, but *ultra-low-density* migrant thru the southeast U.S. (to the Bahamas, where they winter) with a somewhat ‘narrow’ migration-corridor under normal conditions… (a Kirtland’s & then B’more bluecrab, crabcakes, Cheezy-Mike’s and then some. Sorry, old-timer B'more-boy here, and southern-Smoky-mountain-born too.) And, since I am on the 'southern-express' there, it’s somewhat notable for Georgia (the U.S. state!) to have had both an adult-plumaged Fork-tailed Flyctacher and a (lingering) Heerman’s Gull on the day, 10/5 and, both sightings in same county, too. (I believe that Fork-tailed Fly. was a 1st-state-record for GA, as well.) And getting bayou-deep in the U.S. South, a first-state-record for Louisiana (at Peveto) of a Golden-crowned Warbler was, even if not a shock (known from s. TX & breeding in n. Mexico), a great discovery on 10/2. . . In NY state, not all that far north of N.Y. City, a gorgeous adult-male Golden-winged Warbler was seen & photo’d. in Westchester Co. (and just north of Croton-on-Hudson) on Oct. 1st, a ‘late' date (especially in that plumage) for the species in this area & presumably a rather late for all of NY state. (Just *possibly* another “throwback” of that latest major storm system churning over the mid-/-north Atlantic recently &/or with other recent powerful weather-makers off the eastern shores of the U.S. & vicinity. (That latest one, Hurricane “Sam” had reached top wind-speeds of 155mph, giving at least briefly a ‘category-5’ status in the rating system for hurricanes. It did lose some steam since its peak-energy. In the overall 2021 hurricane-storm season, we are going to be seeing the letter “Z”, possibly well before November in the naming of those storms working up to tropical-storm force, thus named by the N.O.A.A.- Nat’l. Hurricane Ctr. - Incidentally, sea-swells from “Sam” were still predicted to affect areas from at least the Greater Antilles -larger islands of the Caribbean- to southern Newfoundland, to the dates of this bird report. And then “Sam” is perhaps to pass Iceland, as an ‘extra-tropical’ storm - still with some energy. “Sam” was seen as one of the *longest-lasting* high-strength major hurricanes, ever - with fortunately, little effect on mainland-based, or even most island-based communities, as it spun-itself along, at sea.) …. N.Y. County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Island[s] Tues.-Wed., Oct. 5 & 6 - There were plenty of birds found Wednesday all around the county, but first, Tuesday-news: It seems a lot of Manhattan-birders were at the W.T.C. memorial area (in lower Manhattan) on Tuesday in particular for the lingering adult-male-plumaged Mourning Warbler, yet again giving great looks to the scores of birders who came there through that day, with some other nice migrants also being seen. Other migrant species were also seen in that area and its surroundings. A visit to Randall’s Island later in the gray-day on Tues. 10/5 managed to net looks at both a Saltmarsh Sparrow and a few Nelson’s Sparrow (latter presumed continuing but perhaps with fresh arrivals too), opposite ballfield #42’s backstop, in the north-side saltmarsh grasses. Also present there were Swamp Sparrows and a few other regular species, including many Savannah Sparrows, more (perhaps) than even just-previously, & not far-west were a good many Palm Warblers, also scattered about all of Randall’s. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron also was still present at Little Hell Gate marsh, on their roost. Other than several Killdeer, I missed seeing any (other) shorebirds, and a scan of gulls & geese did not reveal anything new or of special note. A surprisingly-still-rich (with diversity) stop was made v. late to the compost area of Central Park’s n. end (thanks in part to inspiration from Debbie Becker’s recent site-specific report, to this list), and there I found a very good assortment of sparrows plus Junco, with Lincoln’s, several Savannah, 1st-fall White-crowned, and other usual species all in rather good looks in the late-day light. Equally impressive were warblers, for variety of lingering spp. and a goodly number also males, such as of B.-t. Green, B.-t. Blue, Yellow (nope, still not that unusual in early Oct., even if far less-regular than in late July into early Sept.), Prairie, & some of the more-regular later-season spp., with of course plenty of female &/or 1st-fall of some species. There also was at least 1 Indigo Bunting lingering there. (I spent up to 100 minutes just basically standing in one spot at the compost, watching quietly; was surprised in a way that the only raptor noted in that area, at that hour, was a single Red-tailed Hawk which made 1 pass, not really as if hunting.) Wed., 10/6 - While some migrants that may have been lingering moved on (as for this last week as well), more are still around or passing thru, and very good diversity still being found in many areas. There was a fresh (arrival & passage) flight of American Pipits & a minimum of 15 were counted at Randall’s Island, poss. at least several in flight (two, and maybe a few more) over the n. end of Central Park at first-light, although not found landed there; a species to be sought on Governors Island as well, with habitat that’s surely appropriate there, too. The high no’s. of Savannah Sparrows (incidentally also increased in select parts of Central Park, too) were again noted on Randall’s Island, with E. Meadowlark yet another not-surprising-now species of note for that island, and again a fairly good selection of migrant warblers, esp. of 3 species at this date - Palm, Myrtle-Yellow-rumped, and Common Yellowtroat, in perhaps about that order of abundance (& mirrored elsewhere in numbers, where habitat allows for all 3 species); and, Yellow Warbler also is among species continuing out on Randall’s Island as well as other N.Y. County locations. (By Wed. at least, these birds had multiple observers once again, with not as many congregant-obs. at the W.T.C. memorial area of Manhattan on Wednesday.) The Saltmarsh Sparrow & Nelson’s Sparrows (latter in particular) each were continuing to be seen at Randall’s Island near “backstop” of Field #42, in the saltmarsh grasses. Patience is likely to be needed there as with any & all more-skulking species, but such species will opo out for better views, & photos, from time to time. Other sparrow species are also in same area and elsewhere so all should be closely-scrutinized when possible. Some other sightings of note for Randall’s were a goodly no. of Laughing Gulls (& again of course worth some scrutiny now & all through the coming months for possibilities of other lardids), and a couple of Common Ravens (no longer unusual in the area, but nice to see on a regular / frequent basis wherever they show up), as well as Snowy Egret, lingering Green Heron, and N. Harrier (the latter prob. a migrator, although would be great to find that species lingering in any part of N.Y. County where slivers of appropriate habitat exist for that sadly-declined-overall raptor species), plus various other migrants & visitants, from Randall’s. Some more great birds for Central Park, in the north end and more specifically, again around the compost area, and adjacent nursery area - a female Dickcissel was found and photographed (L. LaBella) and later, a female Blue Grosbeak (J. Wooten), with many other birds also seen there, such as Northern Waterthrush and many other species. The southern half of Manhattan continues to show off with a lot of variety in migrants, and somewhat the same for Governors Island, albeit hampered a bit for those watchers who can’t access that site until first public ferries starting at 10 a.m., yet plenty of birds do linger there. Although seen flying on the New Jersey (wsetern) side of the Hudson River, by an observer in Manhattan, 2 Caspian Terns are of interest (& are not all that weird for an occurence at this date, nor along that river-course.) That species may have been expanding its range (for summer) a bit in the region (northeastern N. American region, in this context), & there are certainly many well-documented incidents for the species in the N.Y. City area all this summer-fall season, with others being found regionally even still. 2 Veery were noted from Central Park, and of course this again is much later than the typical date for that species; the species has now been seen by any number of observers, including some with vast experience, and so it will be interesting to look at how late any of these might yet be detected, and also, as to looking for larger patterns, whether that species of thrush is being found widely at later-than-expected dates all around the region (or even, in any parts of the U.S. this late in any numbers). We’re still in the area of 22+ American Warbler species present on N.Y. County lands for Wednesday, 10/6, a rather impressive variety for the date, & ongoing illustration of just how much of neotropical-wintering migrants (and many other migrants) have still been pushing through, &/or (some) lingering on, to this first week of October. Some no’s. of Chimney Swifts (a near-totally-obligate-neotropical-wintering species) have continued to be noted, at some locations, although certainly diminished now from September-sighting no’s. Yellow-billed Cuckoo was still being found, as were an assortment of other still-on-the-move species for the date, such as E. Wood-Pewee, & multiple other mainly-neotropical-winterers. While at the same time, the migrants and arrivals which may winter within the U.S. states have been on the increase. good birding to all- and thanks to the many observers & reporters of lots of great sightings in all of N.Y. county, and beyond. Tom Fiore manhattan
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