In a prior (*recent*) post here, I noted that 8 species of gulls had been found on Randall’s Island (N.Y. City) with the Short-billed Gull having been the standout in that cast of gullage. However, this feat (of at least 8 gulls in one place and on one day in New York County) was also achieved quite early this same year, with the **February** [02/02/‘2022] occurrence of a Slaty-backed Gull - and 7 more gull spp.- in Central Park’s reservoir on *that date*, which drew birders from multiple states and from around NY state to see (in particular) the Slaty-backed (which many did get to see and photograph). Thanks to M.B. Kooper and then others, for the recent-current reminder (to me) of that incredible NY County (& city) birding-day!
There was no further report of any Short-billed Gull (“Mew”-type gull or, as once called in the aggregate, “Common Gull”) from N.Y. County, since the one day of Dec. 23rd sighting at Randall’s Island, a rough-weather day especially once the alerts got more birders out and running. There have been good aggregations of gulls, especially Ring-billed Gulls (or many of that size and general impression, size/shape, etc.) with other usual gulls also present, those being [American] Herring and some Great Black-backed Gulls. at the Central Park reservoir; where gulls come and go at all times of the day; there have been up to 500+, even nearly 1,000 gulls there in this week at times (not at ALL times, the gulls may mostly depart late in day or not be numerous at certain times, esp. at first-light; this varies and always has at that location). In any case, the proximity to the Randall’s Island site of the (recent) Short-billed Gull & overall gull-madness (well more than 1,000 gulls at peak, of up to 8 species, but mainly Ring-billed by all gathered to observe on the day of the rarest) - that site is just some minutes flight for a gull from the reservoir of Central Park. - - - and - N.B., likely viewed by many (esp. by many who could not possibly reach Randall’s Island, or even N.Y. City on the 1 day of the Short-billed Gull’s occurence-observations) are photos of that gull taken by Tim Healy, and a few in particular that feature the upraised wings of the bird: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/515948991 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/515948991> which of course helped to further clinch the fine positive ID made by the original finder-reporter there (Andrew Farnsworth) on the day. Excellent work by all who braved the increasingly-rough weather to go for that rarity, and - it just may be ongoing, somewhere in the city (or nearby region), for the gull-watchers [a.k.a larophiles] amongst us. - - - New York County [in N.Y. City] - including Manhattan island (by far the largest island in the county), Randall’s Island, and Governors Island Recent days to Friday, 12/30 (next-to-last day of 2023) - In Manhattan, at Central Park’s reservoir, an Iceland Gull was nicely-photographed again at the north pumping-station building area, on the northern edge of same reservoir in Central Park on Tues., 12/27 and now for Friday, 12/30, where it has also been observed swimming & loafing on the water - at noon and a bit later, over 1,000 gulls (mainly Ring-billed Gulls) were scattered all across the reservoir of that park, and many were also flying ‘hither and yon”. It is entirely-*possible* that this individual Iceland gull has been showing there (in Central Park) each day recently, perhaps not at all hours of each day. The Horned Grebe and American Wigeon each of which had first turned up by at least Monday, Dec. 26th (in late-day sightings) were present for many many observers on Tues. 12/27, & a Horned Grebe was continuing at the reservoir thru Friday, 12/30 (this grebe sp. is not as “rare" as some may have thought but is not an annual sighting in Central Park, and some of that grebe species that have shown in the past have done so there just-so-briefly, unlike this latest. A Bonaparte’s Gull was closely-photographed in Central Park’s reservoir on Mon., 12/26 (the species has occurred there before but is certainly unexpected there), with no later [known] reports (of that latter small gull species) for the county, however this autumn and now-winter have been excellent for sightings of this species, particularly for the flocks found on the Hudson River off Manhattan on some days. Anyhow, this would be a minimum of 5, and likely more gull species at the Central Park reservoir thus far in just the past week… More scrutiny there is somewhat warranted. (See first-top paragraph above, re: 2/2/’22 for emphasis on that point…) A single bright drake Redhead **had** [see below] come in to the Pool, near W. 100th-103rd Streets off Central Park West, for Friday, 12/30 with many observers, photos etc. - this is a species that *was once* regular! = *annual* in Central Park, but those birders with any less than 3 or more full decades of birding 'under their binocular-straps' in Central Park would not necessarily know that. The Redheads of those days, esp. pre-1990, were in company with a vast number of Canvasbacks, Scaup - and even the occasional Tufted Duck, typically in the Central Park reservoir in winter season, with Scaups above all in their glorious multitudes. A Ring-necked Duck has stayed on the reservoir for some days, into at least 12/30. At least one drake Wood Duck has lingered on and on at Central Park (where the species is not at all unusual in any months of the year); some recent days there may have been sightings of 2 or 3 Wood Ducks in that park as a whole. ** And so, that drake Redhead had *MOVED over to* the Central Park reservoir, as of mid-afternoon - and as seen by many again, yours-truly included, on Friday; it will be interesting to see if it lingers there for a nice added New Year’s Day (or beyond) showing. For N.Y. County a very nice shorebird (even if rather regular & not at all rare in surrounding counties with shorelines on ocean or bay-facing fronts), a Ruddy Turnstone, has again been spotted from Randall’s Island to Friday, 12/30. At least 2 Common Goldeneyes were found off Randall’s Island again, with scanning to the northeast waters - these lovely-duckies may not be in the waters politically part of N.Y. County, however they are being seen - when reported from here, by birders standing on ground within the county (as all of Randall’s itself is). This seems to be the one semi-regular site of the county from which to find this species, although it might also show at times almost anywhere on the Hudson River, and perhaps at times around some of N.Y. Harbor, and also around the East River area; the species also occured in Central Park over the many years, just rather-rarely there. Also showing from / near Randall’s Island have been more-or-less [recently-]ongoing Mute Swans in varying number, with up to 6 seen at one point on 12/30; not that much of a highlight in terms of that species ability to create problems if they’re increasing or breeding anywhere in this continent, but they’ve been mostly-minimal in numbers in N.Y. County. A Glaucous Gull was seen and photographed by multiple observers at Randall’s Island on 12/27. There was another recent of the 'fly-by-only' type sighting of a Black-headed Gull from Randall’s Island - and this again could suggest that that species is continuing somewhere in the area, but could well be (mostly) roosting, and feeding, in other areas, including in other adjacent counties - including amongst other possible counties, in parts of Bronx or Queens Counties, the two NYC counties which are immediately adjacent to Randall’s Island which is itself fully within New York County (with much larger Manhattan island off to the west of Randall's, a very short distance away.) A Lesser Black-backed Gull was also seen at Randall’s Island on 12/27. Randall’s island is connected via a bridge to both The Bronx and Queens (counties) of N.Y. City, as well as to Manhattan by same bridge, plus a separate much-smaller foot-bridge. (Governors Island is accessed only by small (fast) ferries, there is no bridge to that island in the upper N.Y. harbor off Brooklyn’s waterfront and yet a part of N.Y. County, as it’s also very near lower Manhattan island.) A Greater Scaup was seen from Governors Island as of Mon., 12/26 and this species (& its cousins) might be watched for in the N.Y. Harbor area, as well as the chance of other 'bay and sea' duckage. Here is a link to photo of that single scaup: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/516847591 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/516847591> There have been some other waterfowl in that area (N.Y. Harbor including county waters) but not all that much (in this county’s waters) of very great note, even with the recent obvious influx and further passage-movements of water-fowl and other waterbirds. Red-breasted Mergansers have been a bit more regular in the area in just the past week or so, after a few here earlier in the season. (At Central Park, which is so heavily-birded most days no matter the month of the year, there have been estimates of such duck numbers as 400+ N. Shovelers, and 500+ Ruddy Ducks, in that park alone (from 12/29). More waterfowl could still show, but with the current warmth, any such predictions are “off the table” for now. A Lincoln’s Sparrow has stayed on at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, thru at least Tues., 12/27 - a superb photo of the sparrow from that day is here: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/517538211 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/517538211> There *may* well be other uncommon-lingering sparrows there, besides the usual and annual numbers of White-throated Sparrows as well as (usually) a Song Sparrow or several. Several American Woodcocks have been seen in the past few days (from after Christmas day, 12/25) and at least 2 of these have been at Bryant Park, as well as in several other larger, vastly more-wooded & appropriate-habitat parks for that species. A Palm Warbler showed on Randall’s Island, 12/28 and was re-found by 12/30. Other warblers still hanging in at Randall’s Island have included Pine, Nashville, and [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped, plus at least several Orange-crowned, for a minumum of five warbler species just on that one island in the county. There are also *some* Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroat that survived the short deep-freeze and storm system (with windy-rain, here), but many of those species also seem not to be in sites where they had been. There could be some other species of warbler that continued on in particular locations. Some of the warblers of the prior week into the C.B.C. period and day, were not reported again, the one species seen in multiple locations since then being Orange-crowned, however other warbler spp. just may be lingering, and even others could be around, if in locations where feeding was still possible to the degree needed to survive recent colder overnights and days. (some insect life was visible even on almost all of the coldest days in this county, but possibly in very-minimal quantity for the life-support of many birds that require a lot of non-plant protein and/or fat on a regular basis.) As of Friday, the high temperatures being easily 20+ degrees (F.) above-average highs, there are a lot of available insects active for birds to find, and many birds have been finding them in the county on the next-to-last day of the year. (at least 62 F. was achieved officially in Manhattan, & elsewhere in N.Y. City for the afternoon of 12/30/’22, quite a change from less than one week ago all-around!!_ Multiple Great Horned, Barred, and ‘some other’ owls have been turning up in higher numbers lately and this has included on ALL 3 of the islands in New York County as well as flying thru some areas. This does seem to be in connection with the deep-freeze of recent days (now concluded) and which brought lots of waterfowl and other bird movement through the region and indeed across much of the northern 3/4 or more of the North American continent - and beyond. Some of the recent owls in N.Y. County have occurred in all parts of Manhattan including what would seem rather-unlikely locations - as well as the more-likely and the relatively few which are so-thoroughly ’tracked’, and near-constantly under photo-video observation or attempts at same. (Far more owls have been occurring than the public reports are indicating.) And, yes there is a well-known non-native rat infestation in N.Y. City and certainly not excepting most areas within Manhattan and some other parts of N.Y. County, acknowledged by ‘hizzoner' the Mayor of the City. Diurnal raptors also have been feasting on these surpluses of rodents for decades, such as Red-tailed Hawks which have so greatly-increased in the city. Many other species have still been found in the days since the C.B.C. (day and week-of) this month, and while some species may have moved on, others have been showing up. Thanks to the many keen observers out and about in all weathers, including the balmy 12/30 afternoon-weather for the county, and for so many excellent reports of sightings by quietly-watching folks. Good birding, 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/ --
