Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City There are some non-breeding birds in Central Park recently that are not too commonly encountered there this far into the breeding season. On June 17, a male Northern Parula was found singing in the park's north end. Just a few days ago, a Blackpoll Warbler was heard also in the north end, and a male indigo Bunting was present at the wildflower meadow. These 3 observations all come via Rebekah Creshkoff, a 365- day birder who frequents the n. end of the park. On Saturday, June 26, I was in the north end, and sometime a bit later in the morn, Jack Meyer & Paula Schutte made a visit there. We independently saw a Blackpoll Warbler, which had been singing, and early on I also observed an Indigo Bunting - non-adult male, & a few other birds that are usually scarce in Central Park at the beginning of summer. Speaking of Indigo Buntings, a male has remained in the north part of Riverside Park thru June & a White-throated Sparrow, not a likely breeder anywhere in NYC, is being seen & heard in the same vicinity as well. There are often a few non-breeding summering White-throated Sparrows in this city's parks. There are Indigo Buntings breeding in the city; the greatest number are, to my knowledge, in the Bronx. Most recently a single male Blackpoll Warbler has continued at the park's north end & sings occasionally. Assuming one bird, it has wandered but has appeared at the Loch among other areas, as was seen this last day of June... - - - Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens Co., NYC
A visit to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens (mostly - a small portion of the western edges are on the Brooklyn side of the county/ boroough boundaries) on Monday June 28 - and on the rising near-high tide - was about as minimally productive of shorebirds as could be, yet ran about as expected for the date. 3 Lesser Yellowlegs were present at the West Pond's south edge, also having been sighted there on Sunday, & otherwise Monday provided just the locally-breeding American Oystercatchers, Willets (eastern), and Killdeer (actually in an outlying area, not at the refuge proper). At the J. Bay Refuge, all of the expected herons, 2 egret species and Glossy Ibis were present, and many of the Refuge's other breeding species were also seen &/or heard, including Willow Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher (not common but presumably breeding - present each summer for some years now), White-eyed, Warbling, & Red-eyed Vireos (the latter sp. not common there), Marsh, Carolina, & House Wrens (the Marsh in the "usual" locations, 'north' marshes), Brown Thrashers, Gray Catbirds, N. Mockingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, the usual 3 Warbler species - Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, & American Redstart (the latter not common but seems regular each June-July at the refuge), E. Towhees, &, among many other additional species, Boat-tailed Grackles, a few of the males still offering a bit of modest display & songs. Water levels on the East Pond were still quite high as of Monday, and likely will remain so for at least another week, even without any big rainfalls. By "quite high", I'd say that even high boots (to the knees) would not guarantee dry feet in some areas I visited, particularly at the north end of the East Pond. Water in a few places was well over the knees... be warned!! There was virtually no edge good for peeps (smaller shorebirds), yet this should gradually improve, as the drain-valve is lifted fully up to allow the water level to lower, which always takes many days - or more, if heavy rains occur. Also seen at the refuge were Black Skimmers, a fair number roosting on the bar off the now-closed "Terrapin trail" (Diamondback Terrapins are now laying eggs on the trails & off) on a rising tide. I missed seeing any Gull-billed Terns (as had been found by others Sunday). NB: More shorebirds might certainly be moving now on cooler NW winds. - - - - Incidentally in another borough, the Bronx - there have been several singing male Scarlet Tanagers in several separate locations thru the month of June. I've seen & heard them multiple times - and on June 25th I got a photo of one of the males. It's not clear that any are mated. This species has been observed a number of times in parks in the Bronx in the past decade or so and might well be nesting or attempting to... or these could be birds that didn't quite get to 'prime' nesting areas... Other birds - which are nesting - in the Bronx include, among others: Wood Duck, Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Pewees, Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, and Eastern Kingbird among the flycatchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (rare), Veery (scarce) and Wood Thrush (fairly common), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (not uncommon in some wooded areas), Warbling, Red-eyed (each common) & Yellow-throated (scarce) Vireos, at least 3 wood-warbler species: American Redstart (uncommon), Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Buntings (not uncommon), Orchard & Baltimore Orioles, & etc. 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/ --
