Hardly a rarity at this time of year, Great Egrets are already showing in a few parts (in various counties) of NY state, and some more may be anticipated in the rest of this month. While on the other hand, Tufted Duck is less-regular in NY state than once had been, and so the ongoing drake at Lake Champlain in Essex County, NY is of note - seen again to (at least) March 15th.
- - - - New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island and the surrounding waters, and skies above Monday, March 14th through Thursday, March 17th: The Western Tanager at Carl Schurz Park continued through 3/17, as did the other of same species on the west side, in the Clinton / Hell’s Kitchen area, also seen on 3/17 - this latter at Clinton community garden, albeit just-briefly (!), seen twice, but neither time for more than 2 seconds - through the garden's fence, & in the rear (southwest) portion, which is a bit distant from the sidewalk, or front gate. That garden is open only to keyholders, and the tanager that sometimes appears there has been by-far the more tricky to see, even with the Carl Schurz Park bird capable of being a no-show for hours & hours, on some days. I’m just presuming for the most part that that (west side) ‘Clinton' W. Tan. is often in areas where it would very tough, or even impossible to view from street and sidewalks - which has been suggested by other sightings of all of its known stay in that area. The Carl Schurz Park W. Tan. can also be frustrating for some seekers, and I can only suggest that mornings are likely the better times to look, although I don’t see that it has any set-schedule of easy-watching appearances, either. (I again photo’d. at least the C. Schultz Park bird on Thursday, whereas my camera-skill and quickness was lacking for the west-side (Clinton/W. 48th) bird on the day, and that’s more-often been so in that location. I also tallied 14 species of birds for the Clinton garden, a lot at this time of year, that’s of course including the W. Tanager! (No other spp. of great note, except to the ultra-local ‘patch' listings.) Monday, 3/14 featured a bit of vulture and eagle movement over N.Y. County, with the eagles all being of one species, Bald Eagle in varying age-plumages. The vultures consisting of two species and with Black Vulture (clearly not the actually-rare sighting it once was, in the previous ‘millennium’, that’s back in the 1990’s)… up to 4 of that species noted over Manhattan (and over Central Park) by several or more observers, with Turkey Vultures also seen from a number of vantage points in the county on the day. The Eastern Meadowlarks that came through unfortunately seem not to have lingered at all in N.Y. County, but were seen moving across the n. end of Central Park in the very early morning. On Tues., 3/15, a Horned Grebe was seen off the West Village (lower-mid/Manhattan) below 14th St., from near the Hudson River greenway-trail sector. There were more -although still not anywhere near peak no’s. of the spring yet to come- of E. Phoebes in multiple locations by this day. At least the 2nd arriving Osprey (for the county) of the year was seen over Governors Island, and continuing on, at least passing in-view of lower Manhattan. Wed., 3/16 brought more than a small (morning) passage, but relatively light influx of birds, and this included some more [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warblers, still presumably those which wintered in the overall region, although with climate changing, who knows… There were also a number of Pine Warblers, a couple of those in locations not seen in previously (this year) but also a couple where they had (more or less) been recently, and this included bright singing males of the latter. More Tree Swallows arrived, having set up in parts of Governors Island, but also seen as fly-bys on Manhattan and Randall’s Islands this week. (There are other swallow spp. that have turned up to the north of N.Y. City, too.) A fair no. of additional typical early (start of spring) migrants were detected on passage, & some with light increases in the county. Ongoing at Sherman Creek, just north of Swindler Cove Park in n. Manhattan on the Harlem River, a pair of N. Pintails. Thursday, 3/17 with another weather & wind shift, brought fog & a bit of a (relative) chill on a breeze from the northeast. The Orange-crowned Warbler showed on Randall’s Island at the Little Hell Gate salt-marsh, just a short way west of the area it favored for almost all of the winter, in a freshwater-wetland setting (separated by some parking & road paved areas) - this certainly the same individual, as that species would not have moved-in as a migrant this early and the proximity (to where one wintered) is just too obvious. When seen, the Orange-crowned was actively foraging in the n.-e. quadrant of the saltmarsh area which is where the most varied vegetation lies; it was lost to view fairly quickly and not seen again with some moments of additional watching. (A bit later, the freshwater wetlands area seemed to be somewhat quiet.) American Woodcock were again seen in multiple locations in N.Y. County, and some were also accompanied (on this day only!) by little leprechauns near the shamrocks (yes, it was a traditional St. Patrick’s Day in the city and there were bagpipes and drums and all of these things seen and heard from the big parade in the usual route here.) It could be added that on Randall’s Island, a solo Osprey was hanging around, & calling, from the n.-e. sector, whether it will persist there will take some others or some days watch to learn (and it was not a 1st-of-the-season there). Many other birds of course also are and have been about and some on the move; a further detailing perhaps by this weekend. ... At least 3 species of butterfly have been found in the county by the time of this report-period: Cabbage White, Eastern Comma, & (seen by more observers in more locations) Mourning Cloak - all had been seen even before the very mild and sunny Wed./16th, but that day certainly allowed for more sightings of at least the last species - and of some other adult active insects. We now have more than 1 species of Magnolia tree in near-blossom (or will be in the next few days), in Central Park and other locations in the county. My own first-of-these was the (white-blossomed) Magnolia stellata that stands near Central Park West and just n. of West 88th St., off to the west of the park’s Drive. Others, & the pink-blossomed hybrids of 'Magnolia x Soulangeana’ - of the “saucer” types - which are the more widely-planted overall, are also coming in to bud and bloom, as well. We also have Forsythia now budding and blooming in some locations, and many other blooms and buds ‘popping' as each mild or sunny day shows up and the equinox is so near. good and ethically-minded birding, 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/ --
