Manhattan (& N.Y. County), N.Y. City - Reported (thru eBird, in the main as well as from other sources) N. Saw-whet Owls - already known have been a dozen or so on Manhattan island this autumn, of which a number were injured, taken in to rehab. & hopefully are & will be faring well. The owls appearing all around the region, in some cases in already-high numbers, are all under a varying degree of stress, if found in an urban park, or even more so if seen in a very-urban setting (i.e. not in a park); these nocturnal species need rest, during daylight, in order to be able to feed normally, in order to try and survive in a setting for which they may find a lot of obstacles, some of them very literal. The many ‘northern’ species we are seeing in downstate NY & all around the region are here due to one thing above all else: the need to find food. They may have come far, or not that far, but the finches, owls, & some other species being seen in unusual numbers &/or locations lately share something in common - they’re under more stress for being in these areas where they are not typically seen. Some of these birds might seem almost ‘tame’ as they may not yet be accustomed to humans & their ways, but esp. for owls, they require rest during the day & that does apply even to such species as Snowy, Short-eared & other owl spp. which can be partially-active in daylight hours. If an owl is on a roost & is awake in the daytime, it’s possible that obsevers are keeping it awake, in some situations. This can be especially so of owls that many people may be aware of and are going to observe. All creatures need proper rest, and owls need a lot of that rest in the daytime.
Recently, Red-shouldered Hawks have been found around Manhattan, some in the multiple in a single park, &, in flight including some nicely photographed. That species has also been seen in numbers on some days recently from regional hawk-watch sites, still moving through, which is not esp. unusual for that particular species; it’s also appeared to be increasing a bit in abundance overall as a local breeder & passage migrant in the s.-e. NY region & in adjacent states, over the past decade or more, perhaps also adapting somewhat to denser urban & suburban areas, for wintering birds, at least, as had so obviously happened with many Red-tailed Hawks in the region, many of the latter now permanent residents & breeders in urban environs. - - - Sat., Nov. 24 - Not too often seen here (N.Y. County) especially in a flock of double-digit proportion, Snow Bunting is likely an annual migrant passing thru portions of this county, & may be a scarce winter visitor on a couple of the outlying islands of the county; one such is Randall’s Island, and at least some of the birders who traveled there got to see as many as 27 (from one obs.; another reported seeing an estimated 20) Snow Buntings around the northeast field / shoreline area, which is adjacent to the westernmost portions of L.I. Sound, at the point where it starts to mingle with the East River estuary. At least portions of the roving flock were photo’d. Quite unexpected for location, 3 Savannah Sparrows were seen (& photo’d) at City Hall Park in lower Manhattan, and also rather unexpected in most years there was an American Tree Sparrow (also photo’d), these reported by J. Platt. As many as 14 Wood Ducks were present in Central Park, the majority of these at the Lake, but also present on at least 3 additional park waterbodies, these all intermittently seen over recent weeks. In general, the waterfowl of Central have remained fairly constant, with just slight upticks in numbers of N. Shovelers & Ruddy Duck in recent weeks. Gull numbers always fluctuate at the C.P. reservoir, and have on some days reached as high as 300 gulls, usually only seen part of any day, as they come & go there. There have not been any other than the 3 regular winter gulls of the park, thus far this late autumn - Ring-billed, Herring, & Great Black-backed, but it could be productive to keep watch in the coming weeks. - - - Sun., Nov. 25 - Eastern Bluebirds were passing in modest number, & some of them were seen both in the southern half of Central Park, as well as at the north end of Central - by multiple observers; there were likely at least 8 bluebirds in all, with some moving on quite early & most (or all) not seen in same locations late in the day. An American Woodcock was reported from near the Loch in Central Park. At least one Great Blue Heron has been in Central, with sightings at various water-bodies but it’s been seen in flight moving within the park as well as seen feeding or resting. At Inwood Hill Park, a first-fall White-crowned Sparrow was photographed; it’s possible some more of this species may be lingering in N.Y. County, although it usually becomes scarce or nonexistent there by real (calendar) winter, with sparse records from after any New Year’s. An Eastern Red Bat was photographed at Central Park by The Pond - but what is of additional interest for birders is that one photo was labeled & presented as evidence of a “Chimney Swift” in a bird report. There have been a number of observations (& some other photos) of E. Red Bat, in the region with the somewhat mild weather, and on sunny days or parts of days lately. There had also been a number of recent reports of quite-late Chimney Swifts, with observations into mid-Nov. and even a bit later by some keen & experienced observers, but it seems, almost none quite this late as for 11/25. (That bat species has been known to overwinter & has appearead in winter at times, in the N.Y. City area.) And see the below addendum for Monday, 11/26... - - - Mon., Nov. 26 - At Central Park, a late-ish (& quite drab, probably a first-fall female) Pine Warbler was on the eastern edge of the Great Hill; in some years, the species has lingered into winter in various NYC parks, but for whatever reasons seems very rarely to do so in Manhattan; also very rarely, the species has turned up at & around the feeders in Centrak Park. Near this were a substantial flock of Slate-colored Juncos, all in a tight flock consisting of over 80 birds, & with a few White-throated & 1 [Red] Fox Sparrow in the area. Over all of the park, the numbers of Tufted Titmice continue to impress (some observers reporting even more than 100, park-wide on some recent days; I estimated only slightly fewer in half a day’s walk thru much of the park on Monday), while somewhat less-noted also in numbers now, Black-capped Chickadee have been a lot less numerous in comparison to titmice, but may now be seen in the several dozens, if one wanders all of the park; they’ve also been appearing in many other parks & some of the county’s other greenspaces, mostly in modest numbers. And while Red-breasted Nuthatches have been around for nearly a half-year now (as their irruption thru all of N. America brought them into areas where they’d been seen only intermittently before this summer & fall), the ongoing, more-recent influx & movements of White-breasted Nuthatch has been almost as impressive, at least locally, with well over 2 dozen in Central Park alone, & some sightings from odd “street” locations or elsewhere where not often normally seen. There continue to be some kinglets of both spp. in various places, but that is a more-standard set of birds into late fall & even into early winter in N.Y. County & thus for Manhattan island. The great numbers of Cedar Waxwings seem to have dropped off, as have Åmerican Robins, and also perhaps Hermit Thrush, all in their recent pushes thru the area, but all three spp. are still around in varying numbers, & certainly more (or even, many more) of waxwings & robins will be possible on into winter’s start. On the C.P. reservoir, I found & photo’d. 2 female-plumaged Common Mergansers, this a species that used to be quite uncommon for Central Park, in recent years seeming slightly more regular; the two seen (together) this day were first noticed amongst a large gull flock, & not with other duckage, but as they moved, the mergansers may have been joining in with some of the other ongoing ducks. Again Wood Duck were in Central in double-digits with the flock of ten remaining at The Lake, & one (at least) at the Meer, while 3 joined the (escaped or released) exotic Mandarin Duck at The Pond in the park’s s.e. corner. As afterboon rains began more earnestly, I made a shortened visit to the area along the Hudson river at 125-133rd St. (piers & vicinity) with also a quick look at the waters just north of Riverbank State Park (n. of 145 St.) and saw no unusual waterbirds - this area is sometimes good for Canvasbacks, more so as real & lasting cold arrives in the area. There was yet another report of Chimney Swifts (2) from Manhattan (w. side) by a keen observer, and this is now late enough that if at all possible, any kind of photos should be attempted. While extremely unlikely there is a more-than-zero chance of a Swift seen by this date or a later date in NY being of a species other than Chimney. Swifts in the genus Chaetura (as with Chimney) are not exactly easy to sight-ID-differentiate, but good photos can be useful, the more so for any potential out-of-range (including expected date-range) birds. It was clearly a record-late (and for numbers) season this fall for Chimney Swift in this area; recent reports have dwindled by now to a very few. - - - - “Something we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade.” - Constance Baker Motley (1921 - 2005; American jurist & lawmaker; first woman to be elected Manhattan borough president, first African-American woman to argue a case at the Supreme Court; first African-American woman in the federal judiciary; the writer of the original complaint for the 'Brown v. Board of Ed.' case in the U.S. Supreme Court, and a victor in every case she argued before the highest U.S. court.) good birding, Tom Fiore manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
