Wednesday, 4 September, 2013
Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
There was a report (written that way simply as I didn't observe
personally) of Vesper Sparrow at the meadow on the upper south slope
of the Great Hill, apparently found by Martin Carney, & also seen by
others, including Tom Perlman. (Other sparrow species that were seen
in Central today included Chipping (few), Field, White-throated (few),
Swamp, and of course Song as usual.)
Many birds were moving in the first 2 hours of daylight & there seemed
to be a bit of a "reverse flight" phenomenon, wherein, within Central
Park, if not more widespread, there are birds coming back a bit to the
north after dawn's light, and moving a while until presumably finding
a flock &/or simply some feeding area to settle down in after a
night's migration... it was a very clear morning & wind was fresh out
of the W/NW so conditions were somewhat favorable to onward movement,
at least locally in Manhattan. I made little attempt at watching up
for diurnal raptors; some likely also were moving.
In general, a fairly good arrival of fresh migrants, even if it felt
that about 90% of those that flew over the night preceding kept right
on going. There were some first-of-fall sightings, and numbers of a
few migrant species picked up a little but numbers were hardly
remarkable for any migrant. The best numbers actually have been for
Common Nighthawks, which over the previous week had totaled at least
88 in migration over "central" Manhattan, not just from Central Park
but a couple of locations, including along the Hudson river at 125 St.
and also from near Mt. Morris Park in Harlem, just south of 125
Street. The best numbers came on Tues. night, as witnessed by several
observers at the latter location, & at least 35 nighthawks were
counted then; other nights in the past 7 days featured as few as 3 or
as many as 12. The season for them is probably waning again, but at
least some could still be moving into (rarely) early Oct. (& any
nighthawk seen that late or later in the year should definitely be
photographed if possible, even if just with a cell-phone camera, as
the chances increase for a vagrant, rather than a Common still moving
so late.) In flycatchers, a modest showing with some of those species
(besides mentioned kingbirds, below) of species known to breed in NYC,
as well as at least one that absolutely does not, Yellow-bellied
Flycatcher, plus other assorted Empidonax-genus members, less-readily
identified to species in fall.
Other birds of note for Wed. (today) include: Greater Yellowlegs
(calling) seen going over at ~ 9 a.m. from near the north meadow;
Laughing Gull (reservoir, later in day - not especially late but
uncommon in fall); Yellow-billed Cuckoo (at least one on the Great
Hill, early a.m.); Eastern Kingbird ("group" of five, all within 2
minutes, flying south at ~ 7:30 a.m.); Philadelphia Vireo (1 seen well
at the wildflower meadow/Loch, in mid-morning) and dozens & dozens of
Warbling Vireos, as well as Red-eyed Vireos, some of each of those
common migrants also singing a bit; Blue-headed Vireo (my own 1st of
the fall); Black-capped Chickadee (3, maybe local breeders but just as
likely now migrants); Marsh Wren (Lake shore near the Ladies
Pavilion / W. 77 St. area late in day); Veery (a modest movement);
Wood Thrush (few); & the following (at least 24 species of)
Warblers:
Northern Parula (several)
Blue-winged (several)
Tennessee (n. end & the Ramble)
Nashville (several)
Yellow (multiple)
Chestnut-sided (multiple)
Magnolia (several)
Cape May (north end woods)
Black-throated Blue (several)
Black-throated Green
Blackburnian (several)
Pine (Summit Rock, in p.m.)
Prairie (several)
Bay-breasted (n. end)
Blackpoll (several)
Black-and-white (multiple)
American Redstart (many)
Ovenbird (several)
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning (Loch, & w. side/Ramble)
Common Yellowthroat (multiple)
Hooded (female type)
Wilson's (several)
Canada (several)
A few of these were to me, the firsts of fall in NYC, but some had
been seen recently by others and:
there may have been a few other warbler species today; I did not hear
of any Palm, Yellow-rumped, or other possible species, nor any reports
of relative rarities such as "Connecticut", & etc. but I didn't see
or speak with all that many of presumably a good number of birders out
& about in Central thru the day; Scarlet Tanager (fair numbers); Rose-
breasted Grosbeak (modest numbers); Indigo Bunting (1, possibly of a
'locally-produced' NYC pair); Bobolink (small flock flying off from a
tiny patch of weeds along the 97 Street transverse, late morning);
Baltimore Oriole (modest number of migrants), & some additional
species, plus usual residents. Among the latter, a good number of
Carolina Wrens have been in evidence around the island of Manhattan
over the last 4+ months, presumably having had a decent breeding
season, although I've also wondered about the odd movements this
species undertakes; in any event there have been Carolina Wrens in a
variety of odd spots around street, rather than park-rich,
neighborhoods, along with good numbers in & close to places with lots
of park area.
There was a finch-like song (not call; a full song) emanating from
trees around the so-called "sparrow rocks" area that is a bit
southwest of the Pinetum, which to my ear was quite like a blue
grosbeak song, but without seeing the songster, I am unsure what was
singing, & although I saw no one nearby with any obvious electronic
device in hand playing that song, this is an increasingly possible
scenario when an uncommon or rare "bird" is being heard but not at all
seen in a place such as Central Park (or anywhere else in the world,
more & more)... and I have encountered non-birders also playing, for
example, the typical calls of red-tailed hawk, on a device, or cell-
phone, in the most recent encounter with such, to (it seemed) scare
off a few squirrels, or maybe simply to test the hearing abilities of
a passing birder...
seems no one may have definitively seen a Connecticut Warbler again
once other birders converged at the Great Hill on Tuesday to seek it,
nor was the also-typically-skulking Y.-b. Chat again found in the same
area, to my knowledge. These and other Tuesday migrants may well have
moved on with the fresh influx the next night.
Good birding,
Tom Fiore,
Manhattan
--
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/
--
