New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 15th thru 17th -
The male Prothonotary Warbler is continuing for Easter Sunday, 4/17, at Central Park’s “Loch” (a.k.a. “the Ravine) as it did for much of Saturday. This bird’s been singing fairly often as it forages. (If it should wander again, likely areas to check would be “the Pool” or perhaps “the Meer”, all in the park’s n. end. Some of the other migrants are again in that park, and likely a variety of species in many other parts of the county as well; a future report may detail some others. . . . The find of a Least Bittern was, as-always, a good one, also in a location where at least somewhat logical for the county - on Randall’s Island, in the Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh, first noted by Sam Garrett and then re-found by a few more keen birders late in the day on Sat., 4/16, with a tip-of-hat to M.B. Kooper. (this sighting, following the multiple-days stay of one of this species at Prospect Park in Kings County (Brooklyn), NY which had apparently moved on just recently.) The Randall’s Island bird was a good ’team’ effort, in multiple ways, with successes for (I think) all who tried for it later on Sat. - here is a super photo by J. Suzuki of that bird, now in the Macaulay Library archive: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/436418211 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/436418211> (and notes, which add thanks to others). All observations from Randall’s on Sat. appear to be from after 2 pm to about 6:20 pm, and the little reed-climber may have been out-of-view for parts, or even much of that time. Congratulations to all the observers for a good effort, and of course to the finder (as well as multiple re-finders). NO playback or other use of sound-making devices with birds that, potentially, are in breeding-habitats - thank you for being responsible. One of a number of species first confirmed as a spring-1st arrival for the county was Wood Thrush, on Friday, 4/15 in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. (This species had been reported even in winter, but the report from then was not fully-confirmed; also a few reports a bit earlier this month, again not fully-confirmed - there’ve been at least a few others of this species seen, & some w/ photos added, in reports from the region including elsewhere in NYC.) Other new arrivals to the county, but in low or possible single no’s. have included Baltimore Oriole and Indigo Bunting, with some other species (of passerines) also having been noted in some reports. a The past week has also been highlighted in part by the appearances of up to 17 species of American Warblers, including: Prothonotary Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, both Louisiana & Northern Waterthrushes, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the earlier Yellow-throated Warbler (not seen since 4/12, however) as well as at least 3 overwintered/lingering Orange-crowned Warblers. At least one-dozen of the above warbler spp. were seen on Saturday, 4/16, & all of the above were found in Central Park, as well as (some) in other locations around the county. While up to a half-dozen of these species can be seen as ‘early’ arrivals, none are unprecedently early for the area or the county, and many if not all have been recorded recently in a number of other nearby counties, in more than 1 state (N.J., in addition to NYS). Common Yellowthroat also was noted but of uncertain status in the county, as of Sun. (a few have been found in the region just recently). Uncommon for the county, a Monk Parakeet was recorded as a fly-over at the n. end of Central Park on Friday 4/15; this species is breeding in a number of areas of N.Y. City and parts of the tri-state region as well. Some of the known area-colonies are not too far from parts of N.Y. County. Going back to just April 14, a Vesper Sparrow was confirmed for Central Park, via one report. A Wild Turkey turned out to be at least 2 individuals, in the shade of Inwood Hill Park’s large wooded expanses, seen at least to 4/15. (The species is not always easy to spot there.) Some additional updates for later, good - and ethical - 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/ --
