The Townsends Solitaire found by Tomas Kay on March 16th, an apparent first-record for Greene County, NY, was found again on Sunday morning, March 17th, with a nice annotated eBird report and photos / audio, from K. Cronin; see his eBird report at the link immediately below - and thanks to T. Kay for the great -!- initial find, also thank-you to A. Burke who first alerted this NYS list to this sighting. It is rather-likely that the Solitaire may stay in the general area so long as food for it is in decent supply, but of course this can be a shy species, tricky to see well at times, even where the species is vastly more regular, out-west. Good luck to any trying for this Catskills solitaire. https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S165152823
- - - - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Sunday, March 17th, 2024 Some of the birds found on the day in -and over- Central Park on St. Patrick's Day 2024 are listed below. ... The -Great- Egret has landed... and has been seen in multiple other sites as well, in N.Y. County NYC. -p.s. - not the firsts of this year, but some of the first which have landed and are hunting in some of the usual egret-haunts for this just-before spring day. Four Warbler species were in Central Park, of which the only in numbers are Pine Warblers, a welcome hint of its-almost-spring on the calendar, and for our local migrations. There are certainly many more of the Pines yet to arrive in coming weeks. Very good numbers of Golden-crowned Kinglets have arrived, with many-dozens easily just for all of Central Park, March 17th. Red-throated Loon - continuing at the reservoir of Central Park. Common Loon - also continuing at the reservoir of Central Park. Yes, there are more than 1. Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret - there were more than one, but there also have been fly-overs. Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal - ongoing at the Pool in the parks northwest quadrant. Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Red-breasted Merganser - two were still present to Sunday, March 17th, at C.P. reservoir. Common Merganser - present in Central Park on the reservoir at-least to Friday, March 15th. Ruddy Duck Osprey Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot American Woodcock - multiples of these have come in at Central Park. They also have come to other parks - not-only in Bryant Park, where at least 1 was still being found as of Sunday. Ring-billed Gull American Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull feral Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher Owl - undisclosed locations, for this park. Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker - multiple, recent arrivals of these. Eastern Phoebe - many-multiple, in many areas and also scattered across all of the county, city, region by now. Blue Jay Northern Raven American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren - in the multiple, as some have recently arrived. This is the species around now; House Wrens are not arrived yet. Carolina Wren also continues and ought-not be confused for a House Wren. Golden-crowned Kinglet - many in this past week, some in modest little flocks in some locations. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - most if not all being found may have over-wintered, at least locally. Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush - still those which overwintered... which are in the multiple - and around this county as well. American Robin Gray Catbird - multiple, but not many, and all in this park and region now were locally overwintered birds. Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher - multiple, but not many, all now being locally-overwintered individuals. European Starling Cedar Waxwing - Orange-crowned Warbler - in addition to the at-least several others in N.Y. County, one at Central Park is a local overwinterer, and possibly had been previously at a nearby park. Myrtle -a.k.a. Yellow-rumped-group- Warbler - overwintered, and a few may have sneaked-in from likely nearby wintering places. Pine Warbler - in the multiple, including multiple singing males in various locations, as well as drab ones, which had overwintered. The brighter new arrivals are just-that, new in the past week. Palm Warbler - early for Central Park, following the few that showed up already in N.Y. City - some or all possibly wintered much closer to here than, for example, some Caribbean location. - Eastern Towhee - some movement in the area, with slightly more locations this past week than thru the winter... although early for any true migratory mass-movements of this species here. And there had been more than just 2 in Central Park all winter long. Chipping Sparrow - recently ongoing, an overwintered bird perhaps. Field Sparrow - a definitive arrival of the past week or so, more than just one or two by now. Red Fox Sparrow - mass arrivals in the past week, with many more than in an average mid-March, a lot of singing as well. Song Sparrow - many more have been arriving, and of course singing as well.Swamp Sparrow - modest number, in scattered locations, some are likely local winterers. White-throated Sparrow - aplenty, as always expected for this park, and for Manhattan as a whole, in the months of October thru April, and with small numbers that even spend summers with no -zero- evidence of any breeding. These are one of, if not the most-common wintering native passerine species of Manhattan, in any given year. Slate-colored -Dark-eyed- Junco - numerous, with some movement in this month evident. Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird - plenty have moved thru this past week plus, and some as usual are lingering, relatively few will nest here. Rusty Blackbird - ongoing, after the arrivals of this past week. Common Grackle - many, with passage but also a good many that, in this and other winters, did spend the winter here. Brown-headed Cowbird Purple Finch - 2 detected at the northwest part of the park. A variable passage migrant, and can be found in multiple areas, not only at feeder-areas! House Finch American Goldfinch --- There have been some of the same butterflies continuing in limited numbers, including Cabbage White, Eastern Comma, and Mourning Cloak butterflies. Many many more insect families have been seen including in the sun of this Sunday, after that stretch of very warm days sped up some of the processes of emergences. And as could be very-expected, turtles, some frogs, a bat or three - all E Red Bat, it seems - and E. Chipmunks and of course, those Coyotes of Central Park -and Manhattan more-generally - I enjoyed a conversation at 6 a.m., with two congenial N.Y.P.D. officers helping to keep watch in Central Park, who have been among those of us seeing wild Coyotes in this park, over the recent years - we watched one, a very-healthy one it was, at the north end of Central while conversing, in part on the subject of wildlife sightings. ... Elsewhere around N.Y. County - NOT a full listing of all species seen just-recently... Three to four Purple Sandpipers were still being seen at the end of Pier 26 along the Hudson River, on lower Manhattans west shore, with multiple observers. A good many more species have also been found very recently around New York County, and some not in Central Park, at least yet or on this day. A small number of those birds are listed here, these include sightings from such locations as Inwood Hill Park and-or northern Manhattan, from N.Y. harbor areas, and in particular, from Randalls Island and Governors Island all in N.Y. County - Greater Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, Great Cormorant, Black Vulture, Ring-necked Duck, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Monk Parakeet, Eastern Bluebird -in northern Manhattan-, White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Ovenbird, and at least several more documented species very-recently. Among those, a Cackling Goose was seen, photographed from a Manhattan apt. building, as it flew past with some Canada Geese, as noted in an eBird report with the photo now in the Macaulay library archive. That individual Cackler was not a lingering bird for the county, however, with apparently the one lucky, and fast-acting photographer! There are a few reports, in eBird, etc., very-recently of -Boat-tailed- Grackle in small numbers, at lower Manhattan, and the species has been on the move in recent days, also the southern-most parts of N.Y. County are where the species, which is still rather-rare in the county, are the sector of this county where that species has been best-documented. In particular, the Battery and nearby on Manhattan, and Governors Island just-south, might be checked - and hopefully, with some documentary photos or video, for the sightings. That species has also occurred elsewhere in N.Y. County, at least rarely, and could potentially show, in-season, at any site within the county. Thanks greatly to the keen, quiet, bright observers, older and younger -many of them women- who have made so many sightings and good reports in recent days, including those who work, and-or volunteer with, our regional and local nonprofit institutions and orgs, all benefiting the environment, and our knowledge of it. Good birding to all, Tom Fiore manhattan -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
