A juvenile-plumaged White Ibis was again seen, by multiple observers, at the same site on Staten Island [Richmond County], N.Y. City as had been for some days, and for Monday, 8/15 it was at times seen next to a Little Blue Heron while both were feeding there. The Staten Island site (with the single White Ibis) also had a Cattle Egret as well, at least on Sat., 8/13, as reported from eBird, in a late-day sighting.
For the area on Long Island, NY’s (in Suffolk County) Stony Brook area with White Ibis being seen, the area had had at least 4 individual juveniles of that species reported as early as the evening of Sat. 8/13, by confirmed eBird report, and further sightings of White Ibis from that area of Suffolk County also on Sunday, 8/14. [White Ibis were noted in at least 2 counties in eastern Massachusetts on Monday, by various observers, and in southern Maine, one location again had well over a dozen White Ibis as noted by many-dozens of observers in that state, at the one site where a flock is lingering.] An ongoing Great White Heron (by some taxonomies, a 'separate form' of Great Blue Heron, which is -either way- very rare in the northeast) was again at Piermont, in Rockland County NY at least early in the day on Monday, 8/15, from one of the dedicated local-area birders. And the long-lingering Anhinga was still reported also in Rockland County, NY, but a bit west of Piermont, over by Lake Tappan, seen from Convent Rd. again, at least to Sunday a.m., 8/14. - - - - New York County (in N.Y. City) including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island Sunday & Monday, August 14th & 15th - The flow of migration slowed, as far as stop-ins and drop-ins, but was still very evident thru this report’s period. Yet more Chimney Swifts have been pushing through the entire region and N.Y. County has been no exception. In the warbler-diversity show, it was still fairly good to Sunday, with what appeared to be some drop-off by Monday, yet a lot of ongoing movement in both some departures as well as some further arrival, and that of course also applicable to other migrants, generally of expected groups and particular species. A female-plumaged Blue-winged Teal continued in Central Park, at “the Pool” at least to Sunday, 8/14. Fair no’s. of Least and Spotted Sandpipers were on the move thru the county on Sunday, although some Spotteds had been hanging-in at some particular locations. Some assorted sightings of Sunday &/or Monday included Merlin, multiples of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Marsh Wren, many-multiples of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (including in active early-day flights), Swainson’s Thrush, multiples of Baltimore Oriole (with some on morning s.-bound flights), and other icteridae, mainly Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds; and also at least a few Indigo Buntings. More flycatchers were on the move, although perhaps with very slightly-less diversity than Friday & Sat. had featured. The most numerous migrant of these (as is expected by now) were E. Kingbirds, again even as a small number are still tending to young ones in some locations. Empoidonax-genus flycatchers also were increased a bit, and at this point any of the 5 typical migrant species around here may be on the move; some are best just left to a genus or perhaps as the species-pair known as “traill’s” (Alder of Willow), particularly when not studied &/or photo’d very closely or clearly heard. A few E. Wood-Pewees and Great Crested Flycatchers have again shown where they had not been nesting. At least scant numbers of White-throated Sparrows, weeks earlier than typical start of their arrival through this county, were moving - and this was noted, if in modest no’s. only, from a broader area in the region; some of these seen in the lasty few days being in places where they had not been found otherwise since May of this year. At the same time, in Manhattan (NYC) there are still numbers of that sparrow which summered-thru and are not even attempting breeding; there have also been a few reports for other sparrow species which would be earlier than expected in mid-August as ‘returnees’, or migrants headed south. This clearly also fits with at least some more-general push of migrants out of the north and which were seen in the N.Y. City area (including some in N.Y. County) and also some species seen far-beyond, in other parts of NY state & for some, far more than 1,000 miles west, at similar latitudes as freshly-arrived migrants - an example, and just one, is Cape May Warbler, which while not record-early, is a boreal-forest breeder which typically is seen peaking a good while later, into the southbound-season each year. Of all the warblers into Sunday & Monday, there were still at least 20 species for all of the county; about half or slightly more being at all numerous. Peaceful birding to all, Tom Fiore [N.Y. City] -- 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/ --
