New York County (in N.Y. City) including (mostly reporting from) Manhattan Monday, Nov. 8th - A Yellow-breasted Chat was again seen at Pier 32 (likely lingering for weeks already there, and *not* the bird so widely-seen at another -several miles away- Manhattan location, into this month) - this most-recent one west of the Hudson River waterfront and greenway & on the pier’s boardwalk, near Canal (& Laight) Street. E. Bluebirds & E. Meadowlark, as well as Blue-headed Vireo were among sightings from Governors Island. At least several E. Bluebirds were also found in Central Park, where very-possibly lingering as well - and moving about within that park. At Central Park, an informal hawk-watch was conducted by some members of the Linnaean Society of New York and a variety of raptors were seen on migration, including (multiple) Red-shouldered Hawks, a moderately-late (for the location) Osprey, and other species. The lingering ducks in Central Park included the female-plumaged Common Goldeneye at the C.P. reservoir, as well as Green-winged Teal (Meer), Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks, Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, (many) N. Shovelers, Gadwall and the rest of the more-expected spp. for that park, plus Pied-billed Grebe and American Coots. ... Tuesday, Nov. 9th - E. Bluebirds were still continuing, or still passing thru (likely a bit of both) in several county locations, including a modest no. on-going at Central Park - & in various places in that park. At a minimum, over a dozen of these were noted in Manhattan alone, on the day. ... Wed., Nov. 10th - An adult-male American Redstart showed for the day in midtown Manhattan. Pine Warblers were seen (at the Pinetum) in Central Park, along with some E. Bluebirds around that park, yet again. At least one American Pipit was noted from northern Manhattan. [n.b., many Am.Pipits have been lingering on, at among other poss. locations, the large fields of the Parade Grounds in western Bronx County, NYC, which is just a few miles to the north of n. Manhattan.] .. Thursday (Veterans Day), Nov. 11th -
The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which has been in one area of Central Park for over 2 weeks now, was still present thru 11/11. This is not a county late-record (that’s weeks later at least, even for just the same county) but it is certainly a late-lingerer. [n.b., an individual of the species is also lingering in one location at Seneca County, NY to at least the same date; both that & the Manhattan, NYC bird have been photo-documented, repeatedly, and to this latest date.] An Orange-crowned Warbler has lingered on the edges of the Central Park reservoir, this is *likely* same bird that had been there a while, and has been seen in a few spots there - however it also is quite possible several of the species have appeared there, with intermittent observations. This being one of at least 6 species of warbler lingering to 11/11 in the county, with a few additional species also perhaps still lingering. Of the species seen & reported for the day, Pine Warblers continued in a couple of locations, *perhaps easiest* to see in the Central Park Pinetum. Other warblers still in N.Y. County included Palm, Myrtle/Yellow-rumped, Common Yellowthroat, and Ovenbird. Also lingering, still have been a few (or more than a few) E. Bluebirds, with one in particular receiving a lot of extra attention at Central Park; one was still in Riverside Park (south sector) and also one at Saint Nicholas Park (up-slope section) for the day, and it would not be too surprising if a few others had lingered in some areas. Some further arrival of waterfowl, with at least 4 Ring-necked Ducks on the reservoir joining the rest of the (many lingering) species, at Central Park. Additional waterfowl species that are & have been lingering in that park include Green-winged Teal, Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads (a fresh influx for the day), N. Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwall, American Black Duck, and as-usual plenty of Mallards and Canada Geese. With the additions of (non-‘fowl’) Pied-billed Grebe, American Coots (increased to at least 7 in the park), Double-crested Cormorants, and (on occasion, at Central) Great Blue Heron. An even-dozen (at least) of waterfowl for N.Y. County is completed by the [Atlantic] Brant in various locations. Common Ravens have been ongoing, seen from varied locations and sometimes also heard ‘cronking’; there also continue to be a variety of raptor sightings, including those noted above for Nov. 8th, and others as well - Cooper’s Hawks have been fairly prominent in a number of locations around the county lately. [Red] Fox Sparrows continue to be found, and have increased just a bit, as expected. There were also still at least a few lingering Lincoln’s Sparrows. Rusty Blackbirds also have been seen, including some on the move in some morning flights. There have been some good flights of blackbirds, esp. ongoing movements of Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbird - as expected in numbers passing through this time of the year, with far smaller no’s.of these icterids lingering in some N.Y. County locations. Many other species of passerine and ‘land-bird’ late migrants, and visitors that could stay the winter, as well as resident or long-term vistant birds are also being found. Flocks of Cedar Waxwings along with great numbers of American Robins have been passing through, and some are lingering. We continue to see mostly-modest no’s. of Purple Finches, as well as Red-breasted Nuthatches, & there are typical-arrivals of American Goldfinch in the county. It is (again) well worth knowing some of the flight-calls and other vocalizations of various “winter” finches (as well as any & all other bird spp.), the more so with for example Evening Grosbeak among the species that are starting to show as far south as Long Island, NY (Suffolk Co.) & also barely a few miles out of N.Y. City (within New Jersey) in recent days; we have already had ’stray’ W.-w. Crossbill show up on Long Island NY this autumn, and these or any of the other more-regular-irregulars among finch species *might* begin to turn up. Just in general, we can anticipate more ‘late'-migration as the next cold-fronts clear the local area, as well as the chance of less-regular, or even rarer species turning up, in this or the next month. .. There have been ongoing sightings of some types of insects with the recent trend of relatively-mild days, including modest numbers of butterflies and a rather-few dragonflies, and multiple ongoing species in many other orders and familiies of insects and invertebrates more generally. Some of the butterflies and a few of dragonflies are still migrant-types, including more than just the well-known Monarch butterfly (Red Admiral, the 2 Lady species of our area, and Mourning Cloak are examples of some of our typical butterflies that also have migratory tendencies). And Common Green Darner is just one of the many dragonflies that exhibit very strong migratory lifestyles in our region. 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/ --
