Wednesday, 16 September, 2009 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
Even with a late start there was a good deal of evidence of migration
in the park, scattered in multiple areas and perhaps more than the
"usual" in the southern third of the park, which i also visited later
in the day. The north end featured a decent selection of species
with seemingly few areas of concentrations. The Ramble areas did have
some concentrations - by Ramble area I mean such park locations as
Summit Rock, Strawberry Fields, the "sparrow ridge" that's across the
road from Tanner's Spring, the east side spots including near the
Conservatory Water & Cedar Hill, & various other park places... a
walk from north to south & back again was reasonably productive and
there were even a few fly-over raptors in the high winds out of the
east/northeast.
Perhaps the least-regularly seen species was a single American Pipit,
calling as it bounded across the lawn just north of Sheep Meadow,
perhaps a regular migrant in Manhattan but not too often noted in
recent years.
Other migrants obviously included warblers (24 species counted with
perhaps more found by others) & many other typical mid-September
species. A flight of swallows was seemingly almost all Tree Swallow,
continuing through the afternoon hours. The swifts are still going
thru but in lesser numbers than the last few days & weeks it
seems.... all presumed Chimney Swifts. It was an odd day, with not
quite the feel of a big migration, but the species diversity suggests
that it was, and there were some more-common species in fair numbers.
Bobolinks were observed moving out at multiple coastal locations in
New England & south: many, in some places.
A Northern Wheatear continued at DeKorte Park in northern New Jersey
thru the afternoon, with multiple observers there. More than 600
birders from many eastern states were reported to have viewed a N.
Wheatear in Ohio through Tuesday. Another good Broad-winged Hawk
flight took place at many locations in our area, particularly a bit
inland, and it still seems likely that many more of them have yet to
move through the northeast.
From an hour past sunrise, to 4 p.m. with some breaks.
Central Park:
Double-crested Cormorant (multiple fly-overs in flocks)
Common Loon (fly-over)
Pied-billed Grebe (reservoir)
Great Egret (fly-by, at Meer)
Green Heron (1)
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture (several)
Canada Goose
Wood Duck (Pond & Lake)
Gadwall (8)
Mallard
Northern Shoveler (a few)
Osprey (4 fly-overs)
Northern Harrier (1)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (6+)
Cooper's Hawk (1)
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin (low fly-by)
Peregrine Falcon
Solitary Sandpiper (total of 4, reservoir)
Spotted Sandpiper (at least 2, reservoir)
Laughing Gull (4, reservoir, p.m.)
Ring-billed Gull (mainly on reservoir)
Herring Gull (mainly on reservoir)
Great Black-backed Gull (mainly on reservoir)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (1, Ramble, afternoon)
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (several)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker (female, north woods)
Northern [Yellow-shafted] Flicker (multiple)
Eastern Wood-Pewee (multiple)
Empidonax [genus] Flycatcher (multiple)
Eastern Phoebe (1)
Great Crested Flycatcher (2)
Eastern Kingbird (1, getting just a bit late)
Blue-headed Vireo (several)
Yellow-throated Vireo (1, Ramble)
Warbling Vireo (several)
Philadelphia Vireo (one well seen, Loch)
Red-eyed Vireo (many)
Blue Jay (multiple including a few fly-bys)
American Crow
Tree Swallow (hundreds, in p.m.)
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch (2)
White-breasted Nuthatch (20+)
Carolina Wren (several locations)
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (2)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Veery (multiple)
Swainson's Thrush (many)
Wood Thrush (several)
American Robin
Gray Catbird (many)
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit (1, as noted above)
Cedar Waxwing (multiple)
Blue-winged Warbler (1)
Tennessee Warbler (4)
Nashville Warbler (2)
Northern Parula (15+)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (5+)
Magnolia Warbler (10+)
Cape May Warbler (3, including adult male, tree n.e. of Sheep Meadow)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (multiple)
Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (more than a few, but not hordes - yet)
Black-throated Green Warbler (12+)
Blackburnian Warbler (1 female, 1st-fall)
Pine Warbler (The Pinetum, appropriately enough in a pine)
Prairie Warbler (2)
Palm Warbler (6+)
Bay-breasted Warbler (2)
Blackpoll Warbler (7 or 8)
Black-and-white Warbler (8+)
American Redstart (25+)
Ovenbird (20+, esp. in n. woods & Ramble woods)
Northern Waterthrush (several)
Common Yellowthroat (many)
Wilson's Warbler (several)
Canada Warbler (several)
Scarlet Tanager (multiple)
Chipping Sparrow (a few)
Savannah Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow (Wildflower Meadow)
White-throated Sparrow (5+)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (good numbers)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole (several)
House Finch
American Goldfinch (few)
House Sparrow
Good birding,
Tom Fiore,
Manhattan
_________
--
NYSbirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES
Archives:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
