Manhattan (plus Randall’s Island), N.Y. County (in N.Y. City) - Monday, Feb. 14th:
First-up for Valentines Day birding it was time to give a little love to the 2 Western Tanagers of Manhattan, first the ‘easier’ of them to spot (usually), which was relatively straightfoward at Carl Schurz Park before 7 a.m., with an appearance at the feeders s. of E. 85th St. in that park. Then down to W. 48th and a look around for the other, often more-elusive W. Tanager of that area, near & along Tenth Ave. & just to the east of it. After 2 hours of looking, an appearance - a quick look at a building-ledge up W. 48th, east of Tenth and not far from the Clinton Community garden, but a little to the east, and then I moved on to Central Park, with winds picking up. It was fairly quiet out on the Central Park reservoir, and a couple of passes, some hours apart, did not make much difference in terms of (low) gull numbers. At one point in the afternoon, a modest no. of gulls came in from the east and circled around a bit, then the majority continued on, seeming to drift westward. None seen in that group looked to be other than Ring-billed, Herring, or (a very few of) Great Black-backed. Yet again, a Bald Eagle or 2 made themselves known to those aware and watching from Central Park. A drake Ring-necked Duck was in amongst many, many Canada Geese on the Lake, at Central Park just as it had been the day before. Multiple Wood Ducks continued in various locations in that park. At least one American Woodcock also was seen again, in a rather brushy area not that close to heavily-used paths. At Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan, an Iceland Gull was seen, and a Snow Goose also continued there as did 2 of the latter out on Randall’s Island. Many other birds were also found in & around N.Y. County, although it’s likely somewhat fewer observers were out on a chilled Monday, while loads of sun did add to another of the ever-lengthening days as we inch towards spring, and the equinox. Real 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/ --
