Monday, 12 December, 2011 While a Swainson's Thrush is quite remarkable for this area, region, or indeed virtually any part of the United States in the middle of December, it is unheard of for a "golden-crowned warbler" to appear at all in this region - that species is an extremely "rare" bird in the United States, with records that just edge north of the Mexico-U.S. borders. If that species were actually anywhere this far north of southern Texas, tens of thousands of birders would drive hundreds and hundreds of miles to see it - in this part of the continent. (It is a lot easier to see in many places south of the United States, where it can be common in proper habitat.)
PS - I do not believe Meredith or anyone is trying to pull an early "april fool's" gag here, although the original message (as below, below Hugh's response) does NOT give any actual location other than "mid-town" & of course, the implication that these birds are in New York state, as that's the "list" we are writing on and about. This is a small request to include at least some indication, preferably a complete one, as to actual location[s] of bird sightings... "we" know where a lot of these places are, but the thousands who look at NYSBirds from time to time &/or in planning birding time when visiting from out-of-state & out-of-country do not necessarily know or realize where JBWR, JBWE, etc. etc. are: even some locals don't always have these acronyms and abbreviations memorized. The only catharus-type thrush that is at all "expected" at this season, through the winter season and until April, in this region, is Hermit Thrush, although again there are much more rare very late and winter records for Wood, Swainson's, and other thrushes of the genus Catharus in NY and other northern areas of the continent - BUT only hermit Thrush is regularly found, (and is), in varied locations in the northern half of N. America in winter, albeit scattered "thinly" and widely - and the other thrushes are rare even in the southern U.S., by this late in the year - most of the others (besides Hermit Thrush) have gone far south of the U.S. and will remain there into spring, when the huge migrations of all northbound migrants start up again. Is it possible that a Golden-crowned Kinglet, a far-likelier species in NY state in winter than a species of sub-tropical / tropical wood- warbler that is unknown from the northeast U.S. is, was the actual (smaller) bird seen...? Any warbler found in New York City at this season is of potential interest and even a Yellow-rumped Warbler would be uncommon in Manhattan at this time of year, while a few other species could and have been around recently, and the records from Manhattan CBC's could reach to a dozen or more warbler species, these are all pretty much species that have some "history" of lingering, or turning up, in the early winter - December, in particular - season hereabouts. A very good reference book for all the warbler species that can normally be expected in Canada or the United Stares, north of Mexico, is the one in the "Peterson" Field Guides series of books, titled "Warblers" and written by Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett - that book contains extensive references for all the species, including, not least - phenologies, or "when can this species be seen , where" as well as many records of various species' late, early, and completely "out-of-season" dates - with fine notes and further references, rather than mere suggestions for the timing & expectation of dates. (PS, I have no stake of any kind in that book, publisher, etc. - but I do believe it's worth a close read by anyone with interest in the wood- warblers of this hemisphere, especially of the North American portion of it, north of Mexico.) December can be an interesting time of year. Tom Fiore, Manhatan __________________ Begin forwarded message: From: Hugh McGuinness <[email protected]> Date: December 12, 2011 1:54:38 PM EST To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Swainson's thrush & Winter Kingbird Reports Reply-To: Hugh McGuinness <[email protected]> Hello NY Birders, Leslie's e-mail gives me a good opportunity to let everyone know that I am once again writing the winter season Kingbird report for Region 10. The winter season extends from Dec 1 through Feb 28. While I monitor all the major NYC area list serves for reports, I really appreciate anyone who summarizes their bird finds or provides commentary about significant bird events at the end of the season. My goal in writing the Seasonal Summary is to document the rarities and the population trends in birds in Region 10, which covers Long Island and New York City. Leslie's report is also significant because it is an example of a species that a regional compiler just cannot accept without strong supporting evidence, in this case preferably a photograph. So I welcome supporting evidence for rare species, especially photographs, and I hope someone might return to the area with a camera to document this potentially very exciting record. For those who do not know about The Kingbird, check out http://www.nybirds.org/ . Sincerely, Hugh McGuinness The Ross School 18 Goodfriend Drive East Hampton, NY 11937 _________________ On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Meredith, Leslie <[email protected] > wrote: 50th st betw 6th and 7th aves, nearer 6th ave, in planters on south side, across from Indian food truck, definitely a swainson’s thrush and I think a golden-crowned warbler. Left them some daal. - -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
