New York County, including Manhattan, Randall’s, & Governors Islands, plus all the skies & waters above & within the county (all in N.Y. City) Saturday, Halloween and full-moon -&- Blue-Moon-day-&-night, Oct. 31st:
Highlights included - BLUE GROSBEAK (at Randall’s Island - photos by J. Keane, see below also), EVENING Grosbeaks (in the multiple & in multiple locations); and, ongoing Purple Finches and Pine Siskins in this irruptive-year bonanza; at least 14 spp. of waterfowl with at least one-dozen of those seen in or from Central Park alone; Common Loons (fly-over, waters surrounding Manhattan / N.Y. County, also including the lingering individual still in high plumage at Central Park’s reservoir as seen by many dozens of observers and photographed); Red-throated Loon (in N.Y. County waters. as is normal for the winter-season, varying in no’s. here each year); Yellow-crowned Night-Herons (ongoing at Randall’s Island); American Woodcock; Laughing Gull (not that unusual for November, but getting somewhat more scant for sightings & for numbers); Blue-headed Vireo (modestly-late here); Common Raven; Blue-headed Vireo; Marsh Wrens (multiple locations); lingering or somewhat ‘late' American Warblers (up to 14 species reported on the day, with at least 1-dozen of those found in Central Park, thanks to many, many active observers, some were photographed; none are particularly ‘rare' yet for the date, & none are even slightly unprecedented for the dates - esp. in this fall of many late-lingering neotropical-wintering birds around all of the wider region); and - plenty more, in terms of late-lingerers, and/or species not that common, just -or particulary- for N.Y. County. Thanks to the many, many observers who found, and reported sightings; spread throughout the county, & on at least 3 of the islands of the county on the day! Moderately-annotated list of some of the many species seen on Oct. 31st (only!) in N.Y. County: Canada Goose (common) [Atlantic] Brant (numerous) Wood Duck (Central Park) Gadwall (multiple) American Wigeon (Central Park reservoir, where uncommon) American Black Duck Mallard (common) Northern Shoveler (numerous in Central Park) Ring-necked Duck (E. River n. of 96th St.) Lesser Scaup (Central Park reservoir, where uncommon) Bufflehead (multiple, on waters of N.Y. County, also some in Central Park) Hooded Merganser (Central Park) Red-breasted Merganser (E. River - & thru winter, possible on other waters of N.Y. County) Ruddy Duck (several locations, not only in Central Park) Red-throated Loon Common Loon (including one in high plumage on the Central Park reservoir with many, many observers & photos) Pied-billed Grebe (Central Park reservoir, lingering) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (lingering on Randall’s Island, still the best location in the county for this species at any time) Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Killdeer American Woodcock Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon [owls, in various locations] Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Eastern Phoebe (still in the multiple but not that many) Blue-headed Vireo (slightly ‘late’) Blue Jay Common Raven (several locations including calling fly-bys) American Crow Black-capped Chickadee (near-common, to near-abundant in some locations) Tufted Titmouse (near-common) Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren House Wren (somewhat ‘late') Winter Wren (numerous) Marsh Wren (multiple, including in Central Park with many observers & photos; also on Randall’s Island, & elsewhere) Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird (multiple locations, including at least several in Central Park again w/many observers, photographed) Swainson's Thrush (late) Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush (rather late, 1 location) American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling House Sparrow Cedar Waxwing Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow (multiple areas, including at least several in Central Park, multiple observers, some also photographed) Savannah Sparrow [Red] Fox Sparrow (increased) Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (still in the multiple, but far fewer now) Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow (still in the multiple; a very good season for this species in the area) Slate-colored Junco Northern Cardinal Blue Grosbeak (1, female or young male, Randall’s Island, photographed [J. Keane]; this is also in the eBird archives now) Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird (multiple, including at least several in Central Park - with multiple observers) Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (several; this species is fairly regular, although uncommon-to-rare after now, even into the winter in the county) - Northern Parula (still in the multiple, although not many) Yellow Warbler (several, at least of one well-photographed and seen by many in Central Park) Magnolia Warbler (one sighting, getting late; this species has been recorded a number of times in the county into December incl. in Central Park in that month) Cape May Warbler (several, including still in Central Park - check those sapsucker drill-well areas!) Black-throated Blue Warbler (still multiple, but not many) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (multiple) Black-throated Green Warbler (at least 2, two locations) Pine Warbler (multiple, but not that many noted) Palm Warbler (multiple) Blackpoll Warbler (at least 1 sighting; not that unusual but running ‘late') Black-and-white Warbler (at least several) American Redstart (one report, Central Park; this species has been recorded in N.Y. City to at least late December) Ovenbird (multiple) Common Yellowthroat (multiple) [N.B. - the following warbler spp. also reported in the county within the past week, & some or all potentially still present as late-lingers, or in the case of one, Or.-crowned still considered reasonably possible, not atypical, for November as well - Northern Waterthrush, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler - all seen in recent days in N.Y. County) - Purple Finch (many as fly-bys & also in the multiple on-location[s]) House Finch Pine Siskin (many, including multiple flocks of varying sizes, ongoing ‘irruption') American Goldfinch (many) Evening Grosbeak (multiple calling fly-throughs, plus some seen perhaps-briefly sitting, including at least several seen in Central Park, & more seen elsewhere) Some butterflies were noted even on a chilly - but sunny - day in the county, including Red Admiral which have been on the move as migrants this latter part of autumn; also seen were an impressive suite of other insects again given the rather cold weather on the day. Far more adult insects are also still -potentially- possible into November in the county. - - - - - "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” - Teddy Roosevelt (26th president of the U.S.A.) "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass (1818-1895; U.S. statesman, orator, writer) Good birding to all - and thanks to the many who also keep the birds’ best interests at heart when out in the field - and limit any possible disturbances to the birds’ requirements for food, shelter, & safety, including for the many migrants a safe passage on their often long journeys. 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/ --
