N.Y. County (in N.Y. City), mostly-Manhattan (this report) - Wednesday, 2/16:
Both Western Tanagers continued thru Wed. in the same areas they have been found, Carl Schurz Park on Manhattan’s far east side, and the other in the Clinton / Hell’s Kitchen area of W. 48th St. (and sometimes ti W. 47th St.) on the east side of Tenth Ave. or a bit farther east in (esp.) 48th St., both in street trees & the Clinton Community Garden, where seen later in the day on Wed., 2/16. The latter is a keyholder-only garden but can be viewed at any hours thru the fence, from the sidewalk. Please continue to be courteous to all others, in both neighborhoods. Putting in a total of 4 & a half hours in the reservoir-watch in Cenral Park, encouraged by the increase of gull activity for Wednesday, I did not see any candidates (to my eyes) for slaty-backed, nor also for any small red-billed gull. At least 1 Iceland Gull and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull came to visit Central Park’s reservoir on Wed. in mid-day hours, but neither seemed to stay long. There was a fair amount of coming & going by small no’s. of gulls much of the mid-day. By 2:45 pm or so, something startled more than half of the 850++ roosting gulls (on the water, as not all that much solid ice had formed again lately) and I watched the flocks of 400-500+ of those gulls move off, circling first a bit north, but then (most) going east and also southeast in so far as still visible. Even then, there were a few hundred lingering gulls, and all that stayed looked to be the usual-three, of (mostly) Ring-billed, [American] Herring, & Great Black-backed in lesser no’s. than the two smaller species. And just generally, some Bald Eagle sightings were coming from a few areas around the county, esp. (& as is typical) from n. Manhattan and along the Hudson river, but it was not clear that an eagle was overflying Central Park to scare up gulls, when so many of those flushed. The ‘usual’ raptors of late were in the area (Red-tailed Hawks, and Cooper’s Hawk) but were not noticed flying out or even close to reservoir-birds, for mid-day. Peregrines also were as usual, in typical positions again. More generally also, at least some Turkey Vulture movement was seen for the day. At least 4 Wood Ducks continue at Central Park, with representative individuals on 4 seperate water-bodies there on Wed.; a hen Green-winged Teal persists on the Pool (along with one of the 4 Woodies, for Wed.) & there are still some Ruddy Ducks around, as well as N. Shovelers and modest no’s. of Hooded Mergansers and Buffleheads. Briefly a great many of the Canada Geese at Central were on the Great Lawn, while some were also re-gathering in numbers on the reservoir later on just as the gulls there were dwindling. Of warblers that were around since late fall and early winter (some continuing well into December & early January) it appears that a few species (at least) probably made it thru to this point of the winter season, surviving a lot of frigid days and nights and a couple of real snows: 2 Pine Warblers found (and one observed by more birders just lately) were also being seen by a very few in mid-winter, one of those from Central Park; the several other warbler spp. which have continued on include at least several Ovenbirds, one seen most regularly in a greenspace on E. 20th St., with others also in mid- & lower Manhattan, as well as at least two Common Yellowthroats in mid-Manhattan; a number of [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warblers also have been ongoing, the highest no’s. lingering in shrubs at the s. end of Governors Island, with some others also in a few locations in n. Manhattan, and at Randall’s Island. There may well be a few other warblers also still hanging in, among the *possibilities* being Orange-crowned which has wintered successfully in the county before. American Robins continue to be found in fairly good no’s. esp. in the northern parts of Manhattan, and smaller no’s. of Cedar Waxwings also have been continuing to be found in multiple locations. Some Red-winged Blackbird & Common Grackles continue, and might be expected to increase a bit more. Chipping Sparrows & Field Sparrow continue on at Central Park’s n. end, and both spp. have been reported elsewhere; there also have been a scant no. of Swamp, and American Tree Sparrows, while [Red] Fox Sparrows are slighly greater in number and being found more widely; the "usual-2” of winter sparrows in the county are still Song and (esp.) White-throated Sparrow, with numbers of Slate-colored Juncos also around. Raven sightings again from multiple locations (including from Central Park), and some in ‘pairs’. Various other birds to be noted another time. 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/ --
