Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City The foliage in Manhattan has come along rapidly and is certainly going to allow a lot of May migrant songbirds good cover here (& lesser views for observers). It wasn't all that long ago that trees would still be mostly bare on the first day of May: leaf-buds &/or small young leaves but not the late-spring look, so early...
Some new arrivals came along on clear skies, especially during the week. An early Baltimore Oriole (male) was apparently not the only one seen in the region. Modest indication of ongoing movement have been reports and sightings of fly-overs of loons: all that were identified to species were called as Common Loon. Monday, 12 April - Baltimore Oriole (1, north end) and various other migrants such as Blue-headed Vireo & expected warblers including Louisiana Waterthrush. Tuesday, 13 April - Chimney Swifts (only modest numbers, but more than just one) & some further influx in still relatively modest numbers, of such species as Winter Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Chipping & Field Sparrows... Wednesday, 14 April - It seemed not especially active in areas of the park yet there were still indications of onward migratory movement, such as Green Heron... perhaps already in place. Thursday, 15 April - A Worm-eating Warbler (seen singing) in the area west of the Blockhouse was a bit of an early surprise! This area had what seemed to be the busiest feeding flock of migrants, most obvious among them the 50+ Hermit Thrush all around, & the multiple Pine, dozens of Palm, & Myrtle Warblers in the trees, along with scattered Ruby-crowned Kinglets & a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the area. I had started in the Ramble & vicinity & worked up to the north end, so had some sense of which areas seemed busiest thru the morning. An Eastern Kingbird near the Meer was the 2nd I'd heard of but first I'd seen & is still on the early side. Friday, 16 April - Interesting weather scenario... but it didn't seem to give too much in the songbird migration this day. A nice flock continued in the same part of the north woods, with no worm-eating warbler noted. An Indigo Bunting reported in the Ramble was a hopeful sign: neotropical movements may pick up, at least once the weather allows more into the northeast. Saturday, 17 April - With increasing NW wind, it was a day to be alert for potential raptor migration in the city - "ideal" big days in spring can sometimes be on strong northwesterlies in this area and it was so on this day. The real numbers would be reflected from a dedicated hawk-watch - I only did about 3 hours in total... with an additional bit of more casual observing from 2 locations. Where casually watching (one eye on sky) was Riverside Park, which in mid- afternoon featured a fly-by Bald Eagle going north along the Hudson river & a very nice assortment of usual songbird migrants in the oaks - from about 102 St. on up - including very good numbers of Palm Warbler. The modestly more-dedicated watching was Central Park in a favored spot that gets at least a fair view, looking northerly, with Broad-winged Hawk the raptor of the day: more than 80, a very good number for just a few hours, in spring, in this location. Also seen were 4 Ospreys. Also uncommonly seen from Central Park, a Greater Yellowlegs was on the move, low enough that it may have stopped in somewhere, but I watched it move north & out of the park. Its calls helped confirm a Greater, not Lesser. For passerines, I saw much the same as the previous days, and that included a good number of Myrtle & Palm Warblers. It seems a lot of observers noticed Double-crested Cormorant migration, indeed they were moving over Manhattan about all day in numbers well into the hundreds, all generally northbound. On the C.P. reservoir it's not a bad time to start checking the swallows. Among the Tree, Barn, & especially N. Rough-winged may be found a few Bank Swallows, and perhaps other spp. Broad-winged Hawks have made strong showings at some watch sites in the state; [more are sure to come] NY numbers always highest in spring along Lake Ontario shores and vicinity... No new reports from me thru first of May. Hope to read of many observations then, for all that's yet to be seen 'on the move'. 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 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
