Extralimital update: how’s your Steller’s? The Steller’s Sea-Eagle (rarest wild-&-free bird ongoing in all N. America, I'd venture) was seen again and photo-documented in County Cumberland, in *Nova Scotia, Canada* on Tues., 4/12/’22. The report is up in eBird, and here’s the link to that - https://ebird.org/checklist/S106901018 <https://ebird.org/checklist/S106901018> (with multiple “oh, yes” images).
- - - - - New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island and the skies above & adjacent near-waters Tuesday, April 12th: Although attracting less 'big-celebrity-bird attention' (all things relative) than in earlier days of its’ sightings, the Yellow-throated Warbler (on Day Twelve of an appearance!) in Central Park’s Ramble area on Tuesday was certainly still able to rouse & rile up some of its’ (quiet) observers again. Also, nice to see that some others of this species are making appearances in the region! This also should be obvious - no use of playback or such means of ‘attraction’ (which can also be of repulsion as some birds find) should EVER be done in the areas of species which *could* be breeding / attempting to. This also should not be done to birds that are just working so much in simply moving through migration-hotspots and all other localities. Migrant birds and many resident birds have more-than-too-many stressors, as it is. Thank you for being courteous - and for keeping the birds’ best interests at all times. The warblers that came in included at least a few Black-and-white Warblers, as well as many more Palm Warblers, and others seen around the county included (at least) - Louisiana Waterthrush, Pine (many), Myrtle/Yellow-rumped (not all that many), and the not much-reported (yet) Blue-winged Warbler (in the Ramble area again, in Central Park) which last is still a bit early. At least 7 warblers, and all - on Tuesday - for one park (although other locations around the county have had from 3 to 5 warbler species at times). A single Yellow-throated Vireo sighted at Pier 49 & vicinity (south of W. 12th Street) on Manhattan’s Hudson river waterfront (parks area) on Tuesday is still early-enough one had to wonder, was this the same bird first noted at Washington Square, not so very far away, on April 8th. Perhaps or not, and in any event this is still quite the early-date for this vireo species in NY state (&, in N.Y. City, or in the entire region). For Blue-headed Vireo - some first-of-spring arrivals of this species came through in various locations in the county on Tuesday, 4/12. A nice arrival day overall, for what seemed a batch of mainly fairly-expected early-mid spring migrants - and some in pretty good numbers spread up & down the length of Manhattan, but with (so it seemed) a particular fall-out of sorts in the lower-half of Manhattan island - some small greenspaces & parks receiving more in variety &/or quantity, some rather less. Yellow-shafted Flicker, Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, both of our Kinglet species, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Slate-colored Junco, Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow (yes, more of those, too!), Palm Warbler, and American Goldfinch (and some others) were among a bunch of species that up-ticked well (reinvigorated numbers for all of them) on the arrival flight of Monday-night into Tuesday. Some [Red] Fox Sparrows were at least lingering; these may or may-not be around a lot longer within the county. Some additional species that were moving (& may have stopped in at some locations) included: Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Turkey Vulture (on the move only), Osprey, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk (1, only?), Laughing Gull (some gulls moving well up at least the Hudson past Manhattan), Ring-billed Gull, Belted Kingfisher, E. Phoebe, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, N. Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird (yes, with females in addition to some young-males now), Rusty Blackbird (a few small groups in flight), Brown-headed Cowbird, and some others also on the move… Some of the movement and ‘bits' of fall-out were seen from all around the county, with in some locations, more concentration of certain species, and in some, not-so-much in fresh migrant sightings. A 'hodge-podge' & this perhaps partly-related to the hit-and-miss rains that affected the whole area, both overnight and -a little- into the morning hours. Of lingering waterfowl, we still have some good no’s. of [Atlantic] Brant, and at the Central Park reservoir, a few Hooded Mergansers were ongoing as well as a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers; more generally, some N. Shovelers, Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, and at least a couple of Wood Ducks still lingering. There also are ongoing American Coots at Central Park. - - - The county (and city) are really coming into full early-spring bloom with many ornamental trees, shrubs and other plants flowering or about-to. Also some native plants are showing more color, and a variety of trees are also showing leaf-buds and some have tiny leaves (while a good many are still quite bare for now). The milder days, and strong sun (when it’s out) have added to all of that, and with good rains also have given a boost to insect and other arthropod emergences, so much of which provides food for very-hungry migrants and other birds at this season onwards. Good -and ethical- birding to all, with thanks to the many hundreds out and observing again for the day. 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/ --
