Friday, 7 October, & Thursday, 6 October Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
An American Wigeon is not a rare duck in the New York City area, but is near-rare (very uncommon) in Central Park or on Manhattan island, so when David Barrett forwarded to me an ebird report (for 10/6) of such a wigeon - somewhere in Central, specific location not given - on Thursday 10/6, I was up for a check of the park's waterbodies, & so was he - we met at the Meer, which I thought was as good a location as any to find that species, and after some sorting thru the duckage there, I spotted a candidate and we each had views, with photos taken & confirming fully, we now have an addition to ducks being noted in the park this fall season - and we also confirmed beyond doubts that there are 2 Green-winged Teals (I've suspected so for a while and have remarked thus to a number of birders), and could even be 3 individuals present now; the 2 we saw were both on the Meer. There were at least 40 Northern Shovelers as well as many Gadwalls & mallards on the Meer, as have been for some time now. For other species of migrant birds on Thursday, numbers & variety had dropped off a good bit by then, but such species as Cape May Warbler were still present at the Pinetum area & at least 2 other locations, including the north end (Great Hill) and many of the recently-noted migrants were still around, but in much lower numbers. Common Nighthawks have continued to appear overhead at Central this week (just as they have in other parts of the city this week, including over Prospect Park, Brooklyn, as found by various observers there). The American Wigeon is present this Friday, 7 October, at the Meer in Central Park, where there are at least 2 Green-winged Teals continuing as well as the other duckage more common in this park. The wigeon was among other ducks not that far from the Dana Discovery Center building when viewed shortly after sunrise this Friday morn. Thanks to William Johnson for the initial 10/6 find, and to David Barrett for wanting to do a Thursday follow-up. - - - - - - - - - "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Aldo Leopold (1887–1948), U.S. wildlife biologist, conservationist, professor, author, best known for his book "A Sand County Almanac" (1949), which has sold more than two million copies. 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/ --
