Although conditions this weekend - Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday! - don’t look so ‘ripe’ for a repeat, it was on May 13th of 2022 that a quite-impressive **inland** influx of Arctic Terns came along, also even appearing off of Manhattan, where exceedingly-rare.
On May 10th (this year) one flock of 18 Arctic Terns were one of many good sightings from a NEFSC/NARW [N. Atlantic Right Whale] research ship cruising the Atlantic, far off Suffolk County (Long Island’s) landmass. Some of the Black-legged Kittiwakes moving up *inland* through the region (such as the multiples seen recently in Connecticut, far-north of Long Island Sound) included a few sightings from Putnam County, NY - Hudson River, and including photographed individuals Thursday, May 11th. Migration looks to have been from very good to excellent in places in NY state from as far north as Rouse’s Point (Clinton County, NY) to the Niagara frontier, across 'the Lakes', and on into all of southern (tier) and on into Suffolk County (Long Island), NY with migrants including songbirds dropping in for some locations, in particular some areas of western Suffolk County where counts of 17+ warblers were made for May 11th. Nearly 250 species of birds were reported in NY state on May 11th (yesterday) - and that number on the day could still grow. - - Manhattan (in New York County, N.Y. City) thru May 11th: A further impressive migration occurred Thursday night into Friday all around the region, and likely N.Y. County is benefitting from a lot of fresh arrival - and some strong departure as well, as the urge to “move north” (or more-so, to reach breeding areas) by so many migrants is ongoing. A possible (and apparent in eBird archives) first for Carl Schurz Park (one of many many smaller Manhattan parks that can be excellent at times in migration-peaks and at other times as well) with a Mourning Warbler found there on Thursday, 5/11 by guide and walk-leader G. Willow. Small numbers of additional Mournings have pushed thru, and still more are certainly anticipated this month. Also a nice sighting for Carl Schurz, albeit as a flyover moving up the East River was a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, a species that is uncommon-at-best in the broad sense in New York County. At least one *report* of Bicknell’s Thrush surfaced from Central Park, Thursday (5/11), and we await any documentation that could support the sighting. Gray-cheeked ‘types’ and actual Gray-cheeked Thrushes have been seen for some days (including earlier-than-usual occurrences) with some of the latter singing, and photos &/or videos of some of those as well, including multiple locations in N.Y. County / Manhattan, and also including (many reports) from Central Park. Common Nighthawks made their ways (in numbers) north for Thursday eve., to Friday very-early morn’, with some also lingering in N.Y. County. Quite a number of small parks and green-spaces of Manhattan achieved new sightings (some with possible ‘firsts’) of migrants, thanks to many dedicated observers, some covering favored ‘local-local’ patches, some getting to new-other sites for part of such a good day locally for birding. Many hundreds of birders were out at all hours on Thursday in New York County, and clearly, all over the state... Good birding to all, 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/ --
