Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Saturday, 29 October, 2016 - The day seemed to feature somewhat of a recap of birds seen the day before - with the Empidonax [genus] flycatcher referenced by Ms. Allen & birding group, 2 days in a row in same area, is of interest & nice to see a public solicitation for comment on a tough genus to grapple with at this season; if any video that finds naturaI calls -or any unsolicited vocalizing- from that bird is, or will be made available, it might add much to getting at a possible species-identification.
In that same general area of the park, a Yellow-breasted Chat continues, with the last sighting I know of on this Saturday from Alan Drogin, in mid-lare afternoon, the Chat a bit to the west of the Great Lawn area, & has been found (on multiple days, it turns out) around the area called Sparrow Rocks, and just to the north, south, & west - this area being across the park's West Drive, to the east, from Summit Rock. The Chat seems quite shy, and is far from a guaranteed sighting, even with a good deal of patience, some luck is also involved in a good sighting. Chats have occasionally wintered-over, so this bears watching, however it is very early yet to bet on that occurring for this bird. The same may be said of many of the passerines now or of late being seen in the park. Besides the Chat, (at least) an additional 11 species of Warblers were found in Central Park (some of these observed by others, or additionally-observed by others) including a Northern Waterthrush, today photographed at The Pond, in an area where seen Friday, as described in the remarks for that day (10/28) - my photos of this bird are not high-quality, but serve to eliminate the other waterthrush species & confirm a Northern; an Orange-crowned again in the same area (as found on Friday, & again, eluding photo-attempts, with the Hallett Sanctuary also being closed to visits this weekend, & this bird moving deeper into that area from western edges; a Black- throated Green - with special thanks to Joanne Wassmer, who I ran into by chance at The Pond, as she was on her way to work at the Museum of Modern Art, & mentioned the latter species having been in the Ramble at a specific location at about 2 pm on Friday, & as that hour was approaching this Saturday, I went in search & immediately found a first-fall female of the species - now that's pinpoint bird-finding directions! I photographed the B-t Green and gave some other birders directions to it shortly afterwards; other warblers on Saturday included a Black-and-white at the Point (& seen at least by a few others in that location), Palm (multiples, but not many), Common Yellowthroat (several, with at least several observers in a few locations), Pine (ditto), Blackpoll (also again at the Pond area, & photo'd definitively on Friday there by me), Black-throated Blue (multiples, but not many - and seen by a few observers I spoke with), Northern Parula (in several disparate locations, & by multiple observers), Myrtle (not really many, scattered around the park) - there we have it: one dozen warbler species in total (& there easily may have been a few additional species about - indeed I heard of someone seeing an Ovenbird, fully-expected in Manhattan as a later- season lingerer (and rare winterer) and only lacked details of a location, other than the southern half of the park; it was 2nd-hand to my ears). Rusty Blackbirds are turning up, with 2 seen in the Ramble (photos by several observers, including myself) and had been seen there in the last few days, by others - as well as 1 or 2 in the north end, this day. (Good numbers of this species were found in the Bronx today, at the NY Botanical Garden, with many observers who joined Debbie Becker on one of her regular walks there, and this has been a rather good site in that borough, sometimes not too shy there, even though that is the natural habit of the species). Sparrows are still moving, of course, and the nearly-last bird I found on the day (after 5 pm) in the north woods was a 'Red' Fox Sparrow, in amongst a flock of White-throateds and in an area where Fox can be numerous among the other species as autumn continues, as seen in many years of observations - close checking of the many, many White- throated Sparrow flocks in the park, one of the commonest over- wintering passerines, can sometimes turn up other wintering species of interest. Of other sparrows, in addition to these & Lincoln's (a few), were: Chipping, Field, Savannah, Song, Swamp, & White-crowned Sparrow [s], all seen by multiple observers, & Field in particular noted in more locations (in low density, though) than is typical for Central Park. Eastern Towhee are in a variety of areas and it's interesting that some seem set up in locations they've utilized before as wintering areas within the park, even if relatively few actually overwinter. The one flycatcher all can agree on with ID now, Eastern Phoebe, are still around in modest numbers, and a few have been in the same spots for many days now but numbers are far less than a week or more ago. Six woodpecker species were found today, the toughest not being the Red-headed (1 seen & heard briefly at the SE outer edges of Sheep Meadow, & any others not sought today) but Hairy, until one called loudy from near the unbelievably over-crowded (tourists & more tourists) Bow Bridge (north side) and was then easily seen; a good many Kinglets all around the park again, with Ruby-crowned most numerous of the 2 species, as is typical here; thrushes I was seeing (many) all appearing & sounding like Hermit, as a few observers report a late Swainson's Thrush. Gray Catbirds are not so easy to find now, but are still in double-digits in all of the park; Brown Thrashers, much harder to come by but a few have lingered; & some Purple Finches are continuing to be seen around the park, with a bit of early flight also noticed, even if most obviously of American Robins. Friday, 28 October, 2016 - As a hoped-for decent raptor movement did not seem to get going over the park, I made my way to the south end of the park again, where in particular a variety of warblers were a modest surprise and treat, by the Pond & the edges of Hallett Sanctuary; of these, most notable perhaps an Orange-crowned Warbler, while much less-expected (by date) was a Northern Waterthrush, that at the very SE edges of the Pond, at and near a drain that empties that body of water - very near the SE corner of the park, as well - and other warblers including Blackpoll, Palm, Ovenbird, & Common Yellowthroat (the latter 2 species, at least, lingering for some days there) in addition to multiple kinglets of both species (mostly Ruby-crowned), and Winter Wren, various sparrows of expected species including Swamp, and some B.-c. Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, each of which are moving through. Present at the Pond were also 2 Wood Ducks, American Coot, & at least 3 (exotic) Muscovy type-ducks (those 3 all up on 1 rock), as well as numerous Hermit Thrush throughout the area (as in many parts of the park now). There were far more than 300 Chipping Sparrows present Friday in the park entire, and more than one-third of those counted were at the North Meadow ballfields - specifically, in mid-morning, at the area a bit east of the recreation center, on a slope facing east as well as one the adjacent fields to the east, where there've been a good many birds stopping in by some lingering puddles; the flocks here contained an even greater number of Dark-eyed Junco, with over 150 in this area, spread thru hundreds of square feet, and some of the migrants along & near baseball back-stop fencing as well as the perimeter fencing to the field itself; another very numerous couple of Chipping Sparrow flocks were at the area known by some as "Sparrow Rocks" at about W. 83 St. "latitude" in the park & east of the park's West Drive road, as well as on parts of Sheep Meadow (the birds there often put up into trees when the meadow is opened to the public, but they also come down to forage when not too much disturbed), and with each of these flocks, other migrants mixing in such as Myrtle Warblers & the odd Palm Warbler or other species, and of course various other sparrow species. There are many, many lawn & meadow areas in the expanses of Central Park that many birders, including myself, are NOT regularly & thoroughly checking on days of good migrations, and this is after all the bulk of the park's habitat along with open water surfaces and yet much of that lawn "habitat" is not great for that many of the birds that are migrating thru, since so much is kept cropped and is "turf" grass to begin with; it is the areas where a variety of grasses are- were allowed to remain or were (not many areas overall) planted with wildlife partly in mind, where migrants will gather, & even turf grasses do get some insect life, enough to interest some of these migrants along with what nutritious plant food items they can find in such rather barren "mini" (or maxi, in a groomed park such as Central is) - habitats. - - - - Incidentally, such numbers of Chipping & certain other migrant sparrows and Juncos are not at all unusual, nor an uncommon occurrence at this park, and these numbers are hugely conservative, not representing actual, much higher, numbers of these migrants on days of good movement, around this season. To find such numbers can, at times, however require a good bit of seeking them out -much ground to over- as they can turn up in any & all 'corners' of the park-entire. Another area that can sometimes be good for sparrows & other lawn/ground- feeders are the slopes of Cedar Hill - all of that area, not just the upper ridge by the East Drive, or just the uppermost parts. It becomes better if or when fenced in some seasons. Almost any fenced area might harbor ground-feeding birds in the interior or at its edges, at times. - - - - - - - "Women must enjoy the rights to participate fully in the social and political lives of their countries, if we want freedom and democracy to thrive and endure." - Hillary Rodham CIinton, in remarks to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women delivered publicly, September 5, 1995 - Beijing, China (widely known as the 'Womenʼs Rights Are Human Rights' speech) 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/ --
