All eBird users **In The World** ought to take a look and many ought to take 2nd, and 3rd looks at this NEWLY-updated info, from the eBird team (many will already have done just that): https://ebird.org/news/important-changes-to-exotic-species-in-ebird (this news affects many lists made daily by millions of eBird users and for many others such as researchers, etc., here in North America AND in all of the world, wherever eBird . org is utilized.)
- - - - New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island First up, a modest correction on some site coordinates; I had (more than once, in recent reports) noted for the Inwood Hill Park ‘north side” &/or lagoons area, as adjacent to West 215th St. - this is a bit off, as the actual cross-street - [and I do know this!] is W. 218th - my only source of confusion, still not excusing the error, is that the closest subway-stop of the #1 Broadway-line local subway to this area is the stop for West 215th St.(and which latter stop is not quite right-on Broadway, either….), anyhow, the W. 218th Street hill west of Broadway that runs past a part of the Baker Field annex of Columbia University etc. goes right to the entry of Muscota Marsh (platform & walkways) and thence in to the n.e. edge of Inwood Hill Park, with multiple paths of access to view the mudflats / lagoon etc. on & adjacent Spuyten Duyvil ‘creek’ - the hookup-waterway of the upper 'Harlem River’ (an estuary, as is the local and also-tidal 'East River’) and the Hudson River which adjoins the west edges of Inwood (and which can be viewed from and within the Dyckman Fields sector of Inwood Hill Park, accessed both by Dyckman Street’s western terminus as well as from within Inwood Hill via foot-bridge over the Amtrak-freight rail corridor tracks. N.Y. City is a water-surrounded city… (only Bronx County in NYC is directly a part of the mainland of N. America; all of the other 4 counties of N.Y. City are by-definition, islands or part of a (Long) island. We NYC-dwellers live by the Atlantic, and the Hudson River, the “kills” which -with Raritan Bay- stand Richmond Co., NY away from parts of New Jersey, and/or the Bronx River, and by multiple bays, ‘harbors', creeks, estuaries, and a lot of other waters!) —— An excellent find for N.Y. County almost any time in the year (despite their being regular in places not far away at some parts of each year), a Forster’s Tern was found & photo’d. (M. Waldron, also acknowledging tern expert Joseph DiCostanzo with ID help) at the Dyckman pier in mid-morning, on Monday 8/8, at the western terminus of Dyckman St. in n. Manhattan on the Hudson River; also noted there at the same shorter ‘watch’ were 45 Ring-billed Gulls as well as a few Herring & Great Black-backed Gulls. The Forster’s Tern was present at that location into the early evening on Mon., with further observers then. The ‘default’ tern species in general (at least of this Sterna-genus size / type) in the county continues to be Common Tern, for which the most reliable site to find many at a time is on Governors Island, at the abandoned-piers where they nest and roost, as well as the adajacent N.Y. Harbor waters. Any other tern species is rather uncommon-to-rare, by documented records (or very-rare, in cases of storm-pushed highly pelagic or more-southerly terns), in N.Y. County. Smallish blackbird-cowbird flights continued to Mon. (8/8) morning, those being Red-winged Blackbirds and, esp. Brown-headed Cowbirds on their way s.-s.-w. away from Manhattan; also again were a smatter of E. Kingbirds and at least 2 hummingbirs. While also the hummers on the move may be seen as ‘default’ Ruby-throated, it is a good idea to keep sharp eyes out for any other species, as many western-breeding species of hummingbirds (such as Rufous & others) are moving, and have been for a while now. There’ve been some additional migrators of recent days, in generally modest to low no’s., Indigo Bunting being amonst those species. Lesser Yellowlegs made an appearance on Sunday at the Sherman Creek flats (M. Waldron /photo’d, other also obs. later, & 2 of that shorebird sp. noted later still on same day), which is immediately north of Swindler Cove Park and that’s near the eastern end of Dyckman St. along the Harlem River - Please be EXCEEDINGLY careful in all movements in traffic in this area, whether in a vehicle, or on-foot; a high-risk area for both pedestrians & in some instances for vehicles. (this is however also a general rule for almost any place in N.Y. City.) A Solitary Sandpiper at Central Park’s “Pond” (southeast part of that park) was one of rather few just-lately, while Spotted Sandpipers continued / passed thru in a number of sites, and both Least & Semipalmated Sandipers also turned up in the county, with Killdeer ongoing in a few of their usual-regular haunts. Common Ravens have been at least occasionally noted in the couny in recent days and weeks, in particular from n. Manhattan but also in other areas. A Wood Duck has been regular in Central Park. Sunday 8/7 saw relatively-fewer observers braving the city’s heat of the day, but there were various sightings anyhow; once again there’ve been some rather early-side finds of a few migrant species for the county, including another Veery (which had been noted from over a week prior as well), & Rose-breasted Grosbeak (ditto), as well as new sightings of exceedingly-‘early’ Hermit Thrush (and be aware too of the multiple if modest no’s. of locally-fledged Wood Thrushes and their parents in the county), and in warblers, at least one Tennnessee Warbler (also previously seen, and not all that early by now) as well as those noted from Sat. 8/6. Some shorebirds may have moved on, but again there also may have been fewer observers overall. Belted Kingfishers are again in a few locations, and a few flycatcher species may have had tiny upticks, but most (and the most expected as earlier-migrators), including some in diurnal movments, have been E. Kingbirds. An E. Phoebe or three have been seen, perhaps still representing local-breeders. Two Black Vultures were noted at Inwood Hill Park, a site where they can be more-often seen than at many other watch-points of the county. On Saturday, 8/6, a not-unexpected surge of overnight migration (from Sat. eve. thru Sun. morn’) included a bit of flight in early-hours, which among other species included plenty [more] of Yellow Warblers headed south and at least a few of some other warbler spp., particularly Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart, and a smattering of others as well. For species such as Ovenbird there may have been a bit of migratory movement of the latter, while some are also all-summer non-breeders that stayed in the county; the Common Yellowthroats in scattered sites may all pertain to birds which had attempted to nest locally. The larger component among songbirds was however in Icteridae, esp., Brown-headed Cowbirds, as well as some Red-winged Blackbirds, and also hirundines, with Purple Martin standing out in terms of a (small) movement of that species, along with (greater no’s. of) Barn Swallows, and a few other swallow spp. for good measure on the move, including a few N. Rough-wingeds. At Randall’s Island, the 'mid-summering' Common Loon was continuing, and also ongoing were a few of the Cliff Swallows, which had nested there this year; also ongoing was at least one Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, along with a fair no. of other of the summer-regulars and at least a smatter of migrant species too, including at least a few shorebirds. - - - - Nice finds for insect-observers included a bit of a ‘hatch’ of Hackberry Emperor butterflies, which while semi-regular in a few locations of the county, are not commonly seen or reported; these latest were at Central Park’s n. end (& there are hackberry -Celtis- trees there, and elsewhere in the county that support the caterpillars and eggs of this & a couple of other possible butterfly species as breeding, not just as ‘migrant-types’). Many other butterflies and all kinds of other insects have been noted thru the heat-waves as well. Thanks to many observers out and about all around including on the ‘other’ islands of the county (Governors, and Randall’s) in addition to Manhattan, and some who’ve ventured across N.Y. Harbor on various ferry rides, for sightings. good birding to all, Tom Fiore, N.Y. City - and points-north. -- 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/ --
