A rather remarkable and notable arrival, in central NY state was a -photographed- CLIFF Swallow, passing Braddock Bay’s watch-site (Braddock Bay hawk-watch in Monroe County, NY) on *March 2nd* - a vastly-earlier date than is expected for that species, and (probably) earlier to the eastern United States than most if not all others on record for at least this year - and for many other years - (???), excepting those perhaps in Texas. This species would be far more ‘expected’ in about 5 to 6 weeks -or more!- from now, in most parts of our northeast region.
- - - For New York County (which includes Manhattan, Randall’s Island, Governors Island, and some other areas esp. waters in and around the county) in N.Y. City, a number of species have been showing over the first days of March, including - Black-headed Gull (non-breeding; in the aftermath of the rain-here storm, this long-staying-in-area individual came ‘back’ to Randall’s Island to sit-a-bit for slightly more observers (a few of whom were also seeking the chance of much-rarer-in-eastern-N. America gull species, with no luck on those on these recent days), Iceland Gull (also showing on Randall’s Island, poss. same individual that was a rare and not-much-watched visitor on Central Park’s reservoir as well), some ongoing Killdeer (which had shown even in January, as well, and have been in the high-single-no’s. for some weeks in a few places; also singles and twos in various places including northern Manhattan, & in Central Park lately), as well as American Woodcocks, which arrived in modest no’s. to multiple locations and some of which have shown in ‘usual sites’ where some birders seek & find, while also showing for fewer in the less-birded areas of the county; these have been on both Randall’s and Governors Island[s] in recent days also. The over-wintered (known to have survived) warblers of the county have included Ovenbird and (multiple locations for) Orange-crowned Warblers, with possible-maxima (locally) of the latter scattered on Randall’s Island - and one there being [re-]found a lot lately, as are some others less-regularly. Also showing in a few sites have been Myrtle/Yellow-rumped Warblers, which may have wintered in the county, and also might well have wandered-in from some quite-nearby areas where they typically can, and do winter in modest to very low numbers. There have been some sightings of a few less-common or scarce (as wintering birds) sparrow species, including at least two White-crowned Sparrows which wintered, one now in nice bright plumage at Randall’s Island (multi-obs. and photos) and the other (in first-year plumage) long-lingering at Central Park (with a full rundown of recent sightings for that park also shown below); there are also a very few reports of Lincoln’s Sparrow and American Tree Sparrow, the latter an often-scarce species for N.Y. County, albeit to be sought in a few sites & esp., many winters, at the outlying islands; in early winter season, there had been a number of well-documented Lincoln’s Sparrows in the county, and it is possible a few had made it thru all of the winter, but not often detected. There have been some (typical) movements of some waterfowl species and the early-moving vulture and diurnal raptor species. As is usual, far more species were seen for the county-entire than from any one site, such as (for example) seen solely in Central Park. (At least a few sightings from Governors Island were under-permit to access some locations.) A tail-wagging Eastern Phoebe was at Governors Island (SW-sector there) on Sat. (March 4th) very much in line with others arriving to parts of the city and 'south-of’ by a bit. … Some of the birds seen in Central Park, in Manhattan, over the past several days, thru Sat., March 4th - Canada Goose Wood Duck (multiple; some often nicely-“hidden" in a few edges and patches of shore, in multiple areas) Northern Shoveler Gadwall Mallard American Black Duck (v. scant) Mallard x American Black Duck (hybrid) Green-winged Teal (one) Redhead (ongoing drake that has been almost-only at The Pool in the park’s n.-w. sector) Ring-necked Duck (two, stop-ins but not seeming to linger) Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck - (N.B. - a lot of the duckage had lately shrunk in the numbers seen from earlier in winter) Rock Dove Mourning Dove American Coot Killdeer (scant) American Woodcock (multiple: in Central Park, a lot get inadvertently flushed & 'fly around') Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Iceland Gull [kumleini form, seen on some days, only as a visitant on the Reservoir) Great Black-backed Gull Common Loon (just briefly) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Black Vulture (few, scarce over Central, as compared esp. w/ northern Manhattan sites) Turkey Vulture (multiples) Sharp-shinned Hawk (still scarce relative to no’s. that will show up in coming springtime) Cooper's Hawk (some were very much around all thru the winter) Bald Eagle (multiple sightings - of varying plumages on fly-overs) Red-shouldered Hawk (scant but migrants of this species are moving well in recent days) Red-tailed Hawk Great Horned Owl (and 2 more native/wild owl species, along with that long-ongoing escaped-owl from the zoo, that’s roamed much of Central Park for many weeks by now, after the act of criminal-vandalizing in the zoo, which first allowed its’ escape.) Belted Kingfisher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (in rather low no’s.) Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker (several in recent weeks) Yellow-shafted Flicker (scant) American Kestrel (v. regularly) Peregrine Falcon (daily sightings from Central Park) Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow (not common for Central Park, relative to locations such as The Battery of lower Manhattan and Governors Island, etc.) Common Raven (scant lately in the park) Black-capped Chickadee (multiple but not that many in the one park; more-common in other sites away from Central Park recently) Tufted Titmouse (ultra-common still in the park that offers many hand-outs) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (few) Golden-crowned Kinglet (few) Red-breasted Nuthatch (few) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (not many) Winter Wren (scant, but a few overwintered in Central Park) Carolina Wren European Starling Gray Catbird (scarce in Central Park this winter) Brown Thrasher (‘regulars’ wintered thru, again) Northern Mockingbird American Robin (modest increases in recent days, with 300+ after March 1st in all of Central Park) Eastern Bluebird (one sighting) Hermit Thrush (few which had overwintered) House Sparrow House Finch Purple Finch (very sparse, and very infrequent lately) American Goldfinch [Red] Fox Sparrow (up to a dozen+ for all of the park) Slate-colored Junco (slight upticks in some locations) White-crowned Sparrow (one first-year individual which has overwintered and remains 'north of' Sheep Meadow, multi-observers and many photos; this bird wanders in a fairly-wide ‘circuit’.) White-throated Sparrow (hundreds for the park overall, all of which seen now were local/city-wintering) Song Sparrow (exceedingly-modest increases) Swamp Sparrow (few) Eastern Towhee (several overwintered in Central Park) Red-winged Blackbird (increases, esp. for fly-thru but also slight uptick in some lingerers in some areas) Brown-headed Cowbird Rusty Blackbird (scant) Common Grackle (increased and some fair-sized fly-thru flocks) Pine Warbler (at least one continued to Sat. March 4th, & might still be in the park; ‘last' seen in Pinetum) Northern Cardinal [and likely a few additional species…] -- Already in bloom in some areas within Central Park have been Cornus mas (sometimes called “cornelian cherry, but it is a species of dogwood with very small yellow blossoms), and a bit of Forsythia, as well as a few of the earliest-blooming cherry trees (varieties that are earlier than the famed double-flowered types that originated from Japan and will be admired as true spring comes along), as well as small numbers of some of the hardier bulbs and a few others daring to put blossoms out in recent days or weeks. Some of the brightest bloom on certain trees and shrubs was from about 75th Street ‘latitude’ in that park to the southern end. Many trees and shrubs also were showing small leaves, and many willow trees have been increasingly greening-up, even prior to some recent city-snowfall days. Some adult-stage insect activity has been seen, although not a lot quite yet. Thanks to the many observers quietly and carefully noting a lot of the above birds and more, and for observers all around the county, and beyond. Good March 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/ --
