New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island
Wed., Oct. 26th - A Yellow-breasted Chat was seen by many (more) observers in the n.e. section of the Ramble of Central Park, thru the day, occasionally giving fairly good (for a chat!) views. Plenty of other species also seen, of course, in that same park. Migrants were also detected in all parts of Manhattan, from the northern tip by Inwood Hill, to the south tip at The Battery and from the East River to the Hudson, east & west sides of the island and its’ two estuary-rivers. Over on Governors Island, a variety of species included (among many others) Wilson’s Snipe and Vesper Sparrow, as well as Marsh Wren, and some Tree Swallows, which had not been seen passing there on other most-recent days. There were still a fairly good variety of warbler species hanging in, and passing through although as had been in recent days, increasingly the ‘usuals’ are Palm, and more-so, Yellow-rumped (of the expected Myrtle form) Warblers, the latter still in strong numbers. Some Chimney Swifts were still being found, but in much-diminished numbers by comparison to a few surprisingly high counts of just a week or so prior; it will be interesting to see if any of that species are documented from Nov. 1st onward in any areas; if so, documentation via photo or video is a good addition to whatever notes to any late sightings. Reports continued for both Wood Thrush (which was photographed on 10/26 at Central Park) and also Swainson’s Thrushes (a report of 2 at Inwood Hill Park confirmed in eBird for the same day) , while the still-expected species of ‘brown-backed’ thrush for all of the region is Hermit Thrush, of which plenty are around and of which some more will be pushing in and also heading south a bit, to winter, even while some do winter successfully in the northeastern U.S., and very much so in a variety of places in N.Y. City. A (late) Rose-breasted Grosbeak was confirmed in eBird for Tues., Oct. 25th at Central Park; any seen from this point onwards might best be photographed &/or video’d, hopefully in good light to be sure of (that) species. The Blue Grosbeak in Manhattan on 10/20 (only) was later confirmed in eBird. Some of the birds on Randall’s Island have been lingering on at least into Wednesday; that may change in the course of the wind-shift and weather change now at hand. The very long-lingering Spotted Sandpiper was still around on the Bronx Kill, and a late-ish Green Heron also again around, with at least one Great Cormorant also again seen. Nelson’s was among the at least 8 species of sparrows present again. One (among at least a few for the county now) late-lingering American Redstart was among other warblers also still out at Randall’s. At Riverside Park’s West 79th St. ‘boat-basin’ marina on the Hudson, a N. Pintail was reported again; at Central Park, 2 Green-winged Teal were ongoing, and also there have been Ruddy Duck, more N. Shovelers, Gadwalls, & a few Wood Ducks along with the usuals, plus American Coots. The reservoir in Central has had Laughing Gull show at times, although the latter gull species is more regular in numbers lately on or over the outlying isles of the county, and some also at N.Y. Harbor in general, and up the 2 river-estuaries at times, esp. closer to the harbor. Lots of other migrants and visitant birds have also been seen into Wednesday, in N.Y. County. - - A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was nicely photo’d. (L. LaBella) on Sunday, 10/23 at Governors Island, with photos archived here: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/497561391 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/497561391> The species may have been seen more recently in the county, & any such late (or very-late) showings of any cuckoos in the area could be documented, even if by phone, or of course camera. Numbers of Black-capped Chickadee are increased a bit this week, although still in modest numbers in comparison to the hordes of Tufted Titmice which have been invading for weeks into the area. If Chickadee passage increases, it is worth a look and listen for any that might be different. In some years, large autumnal movements of Black-cappeds also bring Boreal Chickadee south out of their natural and usual haunts in boreal forest regions - in years *when that happens*, usually just a very few (detected at all, *AND documented well*) of the Boreal are noted south of their typical range, the latter which is *always rare* south of the Adirondack regions of (for) NY state. good birding, and thanks to the many observers quietly locating a lot of these birds, 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/ --
