Having not seen this mentioned so far to this list-server - a WESTERN Kingbird was found (A.V. Ciancimino) on TUES., Oct. 19th, moving 'west' past Staten Island's (Richmond County, NY - which is also within N.Y. City) Mount Loretto Unique area - on that island’s (county’s) southern shore region; it might still be lingering somewhere in that area, or of course also may have moved much farther along; there seem to have been no further sightings? There also was no new or further report on a White IBIS seen Monday, Oct. 18th in Orange County, NY - might that still be anywhere in the area, or in some part of NY state? Photos were obtained of the latter, some now archived in the Macaulay Library: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/380798351 And also seen by multiple observers (and photo’d.) was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Dunkirk airport in Chautauqua County, NY on Wednesday, 10/20.
. . . . New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Isalnd[s] - The single Forster’s Tern seen on Randall’s Island in the morning of Monday, Oct. 18th also has some photo-confirmation, via the 3 observers’ eBird reports. The same trio of birders (Fitzsimmons, Harrison, & Roosenberg) also found Yellow-billed Cuckoo, one E. Meadowlark (those also photo’d.), as well as reporting a modestly-late Tennessee Warbler amongst other passerine migrants there, and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were still lingering. [Somewhat surprisingly, Forster’s Tern has not been at all regularly-documented at least in the more-modern period of birding, in New York County, even while more-regular in surrounding counties at some times of year. That and other smaller species of tern can be (potentially) overlooked, just as can be various gull species, the more so when they occur only relatively briefly.] A very large number of N. Pintails were reported moving south over Manhattan in the mid-day period of Mon., 10/18. . . . On Tues., 10/19 up to seven American Pipits were noted at Randall’s Island, with some others also as fly-overs in a few locations of N.Y. County. Nelson’s Sparrows, Spotted Sandpiper were still at Randall’s Island, as well. At Governors Island, 2 E. Meadowlarks were seen. A Great Egret was seen from the vantage point of the pier area at Riverside Park South near W. 70th St., on the Hudson River, which also gave good counts of Brant ( presumably all of the Atlantic form) moving down the Hudson in morning hours; those also seen by many other obs. from various vantage points, along with some expected raptor and vulture movement. 2 (late) Chimney Swifts were seen, and Baltimore Oriole was found at the Shakespeare Garden (Paul Sweet / A.M.N.H.) in Central Park on Tuesday, 10/19. Orange-crowned Warblers have continued to turn up in a wide variety of locations lately, with more than one in Central Park, and at least one in Riverside Park (north) on Tues., 10/19. Two Magnolia Warblers were seen at Stuyvesant-town (R. Lulov) in lower-east Manhattan on 10/19, and also seen again in a few locations were (few) Black-throated Green Warblers. Nashville Warbler was also seen at Stuyvesant Cove Park. Wood Thrush was yet again found in Central Park, quite possibly a lingering individual there, but freshly arrived (and late) migrators also may yet be passing thru the area. A photo shown to me of a thrush at Central Park’s n. end could possibly have been of a Gray-cheeked type, if so, just a bit late. Hermit Thrush is more & more the ‘default’ (expected) species of ‘brown-backed’ thrush now. Multiple Marsh Wrens were seen in N.Y. County on Tues., 10/19, by various observers in very-separate locations. Several of these sightings also were photo-documented. (There were also still a few - barely - House Wrens lurking & lingering-late, and also some Winter Wrens & Carolina Wrens about - the latter 2 species not at all unusual into winter, in the county). Larger and larger arrivals of various species associated with the season have been showing, esp. obvious by now have been White-throated, & also Song Sparrows along with the other sparrow species still pouring or passing through, and of course many Slate-colored Juncos as well. Blackbird movements also have been showing more vigor, with yet more of that group likely, soon enough. The waterfowl / waterbirds are at least growing in numbers a bit, with more American Coots having arrived, and a small increase of Wood Duck in some locations, as well as ongoing increases of other duckage, & the good-goosage movements observed overhead on the cooler and stronger winds of late. Many observers have been enjoying the good numbers of both species of kinglets, and as is typical in the passage of many Golden-crowned in particular, also being seen in nice numbers have been Brown Creeper. Very modest no’s. of Purple Finch have been noted but still very scant in comparison with large flights of some seasons-past. In keeping with the idea of finch-movements, there are still Red-breasted Nuthtaches on the move, and at times this fall they’ve been fairly numerous; just lately, perhaps less-so on passage. (Some of the latter also of course may be lingering). . . . For Wed., 10/20, a Vesper Sparrow was found & photo’d. (N. Souirgi) at Inwood Hill Park, with additional obs. of the Vesper as well a bit later, on the park’s 'more-northern' soccer field, and other species also seen there included Purple Finch. Some Black Vultures have been seen (there, & elsewhere) over the last week, along with the far-greater numbers of Turkey Vultures on the move now. At Governors Island, more than 60 species of birds were recorded on the day, including an ongoing Budgerigar (an escaped or released domestic pet; these are native in Australia; here in our area they may be found in a few color forms, which also may be a bit variable; escapes are fairly regular and have been for many, many decades in the region & to some extent around the country, with local variation of numbers). More notably at Governors (and many of the spp. found during a bird-walk -for a non-profit org.- led by G. Willow there) were up to eleven American Pipits, as well as 2 ongoing E. Meadowlarks, and a good selection of other migrants &/or visitors & residents, with a late-ish House Wren among the many. Some obs. came later in the day as well, for looks & photos of some of these many species. A N. Harrier was lingering there, one of the few (almost-only) spaces within N.Y. County that shy raptor species might be able to linger for any length of days. Despite the increasingly-autumnal overall sense of the bird diversity locally now, there were still at least 12 species of warblers in the county, including now long-lingering N. Waterthrush at Central Park (at least several obs. again), late-ish Magnolia Warbler again lingering at Stuyvesant Cove Park (Manhattan on the East River), and the others including N. Parula (several), Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, and Pine Warbler[s], plus Ovenbird (these last 6 spp. also in the multiple, but not very many), and far-greater numbers (as expected still) of Palm (of 2 forms), Myrtle/Yellow-rumped Warbler[s], and Common Yellowthroat, with a chance that at least a few more spp. may have been lingering or passing through late, as well. Rusty Blackbirds were again noted, some of them from Central Park and in a few other locations; that species will sometimes overwinter, or through part-of-winter in Manhattan. A now quite-late Great Crested Flycatcher was reported from Central Park; further sightings of any Myiarchus flycatcher (the genus that includes Great Crested, & others that have occurred more-rarely in the region) ought to if possible be photographed or video-recorded. A report was also made of an egret, listed as a “snowy”, which is very possible for the region at this date, yet the description included the notes “yellow feet *and* legs”, and, given the recent-current occurences of Cattle Egrets in the region, perhaps “egret species” is more appropriate to that sighting - which was of a fly-over, possibly at some distance. . . . Among later-season butterflies still around, there were sightings including very-late Zabulon Skipper, as well as fairly-late Gray Hairstreak, and a modest number of other species around Manhattan (& some of them likely on both of the larger outlying islands of the county, as well) to Wed., 10/20, those of course still including Monarchs, with the rather good flights that species has shown all this fall season in the area. 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/ --
