Manhattan / New York County, N.Y. City 2/17: A couple of nice finds on Monday / Presidents’ Day 2/17 included a duo of Canvasbacks, photo’d. in the morning at the Hudson River piers area near but mainly north of “Clinton Cove Park” up to near 57th St. & north, & last noticed to the north. Another few places to keep an eye for that species along the Hudson river off Manhattan are further piers up to the north, & all the way n. of W. 125 St., as well as other sites both n. & s. of there. The 2 Canvasback when first seen were also near an American Coot, an uncommon but semi-regular species along the Hudson river off parts of Manhattan.
Vesper Sparrow, a species not normally expected as a wintering bird for N.Y. County until this winter, was seen & photo’d. yet again Monday on Randall’s Island, off east of Manhattan in the East River estuary area; the sparrow again at the NE edge of Randall’s. A (rare for Manhattan) Boat-tailed Grackle was again found & photographed, near the tennis courts, mid-Central Park (just north of the reservoir) with many Common Grackles, with which it typically has been associating in a lengthy stay. That flock can be mobile, occ. seen in other areas of the same park, & irregularly including the Boat-tailed in or near its midst - & which 1 bird may take a bit of patience to find. If in the vicinity of the tennis courts, it’s a very short walk onward to the w. side of N. Meadow ballfields near W. 97th St., where a Red-headed Woodpecker is continuing its’ months-long winter stay (& is getting colorful in the uppermost breast-chin part of its ‘hood’) It’s also worth a note that, again a number of Red-winged Blackbirds were seen in various locations, a small sign of inching towards a new season. And, though these next both represent overwintering birds of their species, a very small no. of both Ruby-crowned & Golden-crowned Kinglets have been seen in N.Y. County, including in Central Park in recent days. Same of Chipping Sparrows, which again represent still overwintered birds & not new arrivals. Indicative of some sort of ‘movement', at least, a Black Vulture, far more regular in recent times than even 5 or ten years ago in NYC, was seen & photo’d. moving across Central Park Monday, now an increasingly-possible species to watch for generally in any part of northeast N. America. Amer. Woodcock were sought in various locations, but seem not to have been found in or around Manhattan on Monday; this species has begun to show on breeding terrirories in many parts of the wider region, & including some within N.Y. City. -- A non-avian-but-winged creature, a Red Bat, was noted again in the afternoon’s milder sun (to around 50F.) in Central Park’s n. end; this bat species is known in the region as an occasional winter-waker-upper, and had been seen previously on milder days here this (& other) seasons when just mild enough; sometimes found in flight, and also often just ‘hanging around’, ‘battily'. Thanks to keen observers of some of these & other birds & nature of N.Y. City, & 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/ --
