As this wild-windy weather (with snow having fallen, and then perhaps melted off, in regions not all that far north of N.Y. City, esp. in the higher elevations) we are apparently going to transition to a much more ‘zonal’ flow of air & this weather, more ‘Pacific” influenced (rather than directly Canadian or arctic), could have some potential effects on birds of certain kinds increasing, which we already have the antipation for, knowing what western-breeding species have been showing up nearby & even in N.Y. City (Queens Co., NYC ‘western’ flycatcher, an example) - and it also being November now - among the many and various possibilities, there are at least *several species* of western-breeding hummingbirds in, or that have shown in, states adjacent to NY in addition to any that have been found in N.Y. state in recent days & weeks; some of these have been banded by licensed banders &/or high-res. video made, with ID’s positively-established, while some may be in the Selasphorus-genus, but not (yet) ID’d to species level. And then there are the Cave Swallows turning up in the region (& just lately in NYS also) - this being the most-likely month that that species seems to show in the coastal parts of the area, at least (& can be elsewhere, also!) - any type of bird that has not generally been seen much in the last week, or month, ought to be given as close a look as is possible (with photos, audio, video all the better if possible): any swift, any hummingbird, *any sort* of cuckoo (ahem), really any bird at all that seems the slightest bit off, for late fall. Flycatchers are just the start of it, perhaps, but those as well might be of a multitude of possibilities at this time of year. To perhaps-further field-effort, the milder weather ahead could assist some in simply being out & about & checking any ‘patch’ or particular areas one likes, with a bit more comfort as one does. And please share what you may find to this list, even if also with other forums, thanks!
Also, not just the ‘western’ but, for example, a CANADA (formerly, “Gray”) JAY was seen & well-photographed (&, in eBird) at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, late Sunday, 11/1 - that’s in the central Berkshire Mts. area - where that species of Jay does not breed - it’s a very good way south of any known breeding area. If interested, see: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75712936 And then on Tues., 11/3 also in Massachusetts, but a different site & (a very keen and astute) observer, a BOREAL Chickadee, that in Frankin Co., Mass. - again, far south of where Boreal Chickadee have any breeding area - to be clearer, no Canada Jays at all & no Boreal Chickadees at all breed (now or in the historical records) in Massachusetts. These are species that somewhat rarely can ‘irrupt’ southwards, perhaps very minimally more than is understood, while longer & mid-distance movement away from breeding-resident areas may be quite well-spaced in historical phenology. And, well, a lot farther afield from NYS, but interestingly, a YELLOW-EYED JUNCO was photographed on 11/2, in Scott County, Kansas (a 1st state record) - that’s a fair jump-up to the n.-e. from w.Texas where a few of that species can & have strayed in, including this fall of many odd ‘vagrancies’, irruptions, incursions, storm-birds, & etc. - here’s one of the Kansas junco images in the Macaulay archive: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/276880961 … More broadly, there is a LOT going on with irruptions / vagrancy / migration-movements, & so forth this autumn! . . . . New York County, including Manhattan & Randall’s Island (which is open to all, all-year-round), all in N.Y. City - Highlights include - GOLDEN EAGLE on Tues, Nov. 3rd (which was so nice it was seen more than twice); a female (or possible young male) BLUE Grosbeak was again seen & photographed at Randall’s Island, by several observers on Sunday, Nov. 1st, and a Common Merganser (female) was found & photographed (C. Quinn) there (uncommon in N.Y. County), on Mon., 11/2. .. Sunday, NYC Marathon Day, Nov. 1st - Rain arrived a little earlier than most had expected, and winds were southeasterly to southerly, with temp’s having ust slightly moderated from the lows near the freezing-mark just 1 day prior. There was some morning-flight, even as conditions were not quite ideal for that. About 1,200+ passerine birds passed along the Hudson river side of Manhattan in the morning; many of these groups were composed of American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, & Common Grackle, but there were also some Cedar Waxwing flocks and certainly also some finches, with at least Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, and American Goldfinch each represented. There may well have been many many more of some of the preceding, in the morning flight over / thru all of the county. With the icterids were at least several (& posibbly more than only a few) Rusty Blackbird, and some Brown-headed Cowbirds. Additionally in early movement were many Slate-colored Juncos, sparrows which included many Chipping Sparrows, & some kinglet spp. - both noted on the move & later, in the woods & so forth. Black-capped Chickadees outnumbered Tufted Titmouse, at least modestly, in early movement. (It may be noted - again, as I had suggested some weeks ago, there are some ‘hints’ of movements by Boreal Chickadees in areas north of here, and any days with notable movement of parids, & of course of chickadees in particular, it could be worth trying to keep close watch on the look, & certainly any unexpected sounds, from passing chickadees. It’s also very possible the Boreal parid will simply stay to the north of the NYC area, but it’s worth having that ‘on the radar’ - while rare here, Boreal has occurred in N.Y. City, and not only in 'ancient-history’.) Vesper Sparrows were again found, lingering in Central Park (& I’d neglected to highlight that species from Oct. 31st, which has made a rather good showing this fall in the county) with at least 2 individuals again present separately there. Other sparrows included also-lingering Lincoln’s, White-crowned, & a number of [Red] Fox Sparrow as well as ongoing expected species, with at least a few E. Towhees also lingering. A Marsh Wren was seen again at Inwood Hill Park, as were many other migrants & resident spp. at that location. A slightly ‘late' House Wren was seen in Central Park. At least 2 vireo spp., were found on Sunday 11/1, in several locations - Blue-headed Vireo the slightly-more ‘expected’ as a straggler, but also Red-eyed Vireo (which can be occasional in the month of Nov., but is mostly-departed for points far-south by this month… The one vireo species which unequivocally has fully-wintered in N.Y. City is White-eyed, and of course the latter also breed in small no’s. as well, so in a limited sense it is the only ‘year-rounder’ - but any vireo in winter here is still exceedingly scarce at best.) — Monday, Nov. 2nd - Clearing started to occur on Sunday night, a west wind developing & strengthening out of the n.-w., with some gusts in the 30-40+ m.p.h. range. Sun reappeared after having been missing on Nov. 1st, and the temperature not really any milder, including also the effect of such strong WNW winds. There was a great deal of active diurnal migration, some of which went on for essentially the entire day, and with a bit of a ‘bang’ as the day started. So many birds were on the move (some of them stopping or sitting, many not doing so, and of course also many in full-on flight with the strong wind threatening to ‘push’ them out towards sea on trajectories they would be needing to adjust!) that a list is below for just the many day-time movers & ‘streaks across the skies’: Snow Goose, Canada Goose, [Atlantic] Brant, American Black Duck, Greater Scaup / Scaup sp., Bufflehead, Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, [a single Broad-winged Hawk was reported in flight, by an experienced observer, at Inwood Hill Park], Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, Common Raven, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco, Sparrow-species, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler, Palm Warbler, Warbler-species, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Rusty Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blackbird-species, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin (huge diurnal movement), American Goldfinch, Evening Grosbeak (at least a few on the move through / past Manhattan - this species is irrupting as it has not for some 20 years, & ought to be watched for almost anywhere, in particular with strong flight-days. With some luck, this & possibly some other irruptive species, in addition to the many Pine Siskins, will start to appear even more, and some just may linger in the county.) A nice addition to the Monday sightings for Riverside Park (south sector, below 96th St.) were 2 Rusty Blackbirds (A. Drogin) along with more-regularly-seen spp. Some American Warblers continuing or re-appearing in the period of this report, in N.Y. County, despite much exodus already of various neotropical-wintering species, have included at least the following: Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler (‘late’), Magnolia Warbler (a bit ‘late’), Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler (‘late’), American Redstart (‘late’), Ovenbird, and Common Yellowthroat. -- Tuesday, Nov. 3rd (Election Day) - Very strong winds continued, with a shift occuring overnight on Mon. 11/2 from the west/s-w., then veering again back from the northwest as Tues. continued, and with temp’s. again just in the 40’s, touching the 50’s later, but with wind maintaining a chillier feel, even in plenty of sunshine early & later in the day; a wind-shift also prompted many clouds. At least one young Golden Eagle came along the Hudson river, for a nice easy ride, on the shifting winds, and delighted a number of very-sidely separated parties of observers, with one party also managing some nice photos as the large bird (one of at least 15 eagles on the day, others being so far as known & identified, all Bald Eagle); while the ‘rarer’ eagle species is not quite as ‘rare’ as some think for N.Y. County, nor for N.Y. City, it is most-often the active, & prepared observer who gets lucky, & luck is also an element in seeing a Golden over N.Y. City -or N.Y County- air-space. We are in the thick of the ‘Golden’ migration-period and for the past several days, many many dozens of that species of eagle have passed hawk-watch sites to the west, & to some extent also to to the north & northeast as well. (And some of the rest of the day’s N.Y. County diurnal flight is roughly-listed below.) Eastern Bluebirds were noted again, with multiple observers of at least two in Central Park. A Marsh Wren was photographed at The Pond in Central Park (C. Weiner); House Wren was seen at Riverside Park-South, and another at the ‘compost area’ in Central Park, where a Vesper Sparrow was still lingering as well. At the Central Park reservoir, a few Ring-necked Ducks were among the more-usual & regular species of waterfowl, while a Common Loon also continued there. Multiple loons (of 2 species) have been moving through in recent days, as fly-overs past the county, & of course all around the region. Some of the still-lingering or very late-moving warblers in the county included at least: Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler (at least several), American Redstart, Ovenbird, and Common Yellowthroat. There continue to be some of these, & other warbler species, lingering quite late all around the area (city and beyond). Following are just some of the birds (with just some numbers applied) moving during the day on Tuesday, 11/3: Canada Goose [Atlantic] Brant American Black Duck Greater Scaup / Scaup sp. (as well as Aythya-genus spp., and also simply ‘duck’-sp. at the limits of scope-vision) Bufflehead Common Merganser (4) Red-breasted Merganser (1) Red-throated Loon (few) Common Loon (relatively few) Double-crested Cormorant Black Vulture (7, with a high of 3 seen at once) Turkey Vulture (141, in a total of 9 hours count, from 2 locations in northern Manhattan) Osprey (one, a bit ‘late’) Bald Eagle (minimum of 15, with some coming through seemingly somewhat ‘paired’, many singly, & in many age-related plumages) Northern Harrier (4, all of which somewhat early for my sky-watch, which did not go to dusk-hour) Sharp-shinned Hawk (8, which may be low - there were some likely accipiters at the limits of vision) Cooper's Hawk (32, which may be low - comment as for preceding species) Red-shouldered Hawk (17, perhaps a bit low, again with some buteo species at the far limits of scope looks) [a single Broad-winged Hawk was reported in flight, by an experienced observer, at Inwood Hill Park] Red-tailed Hawk (28, but likely some also missed - at times, as always in parts of this city, tough to distinguish migrators from ‘locals’) Killdeer (group of 4 zoomed over, early, headed SW) Ring-billed Gull (many on the move, but not in any really unusual no’s.) [American] Herring Gull (moving about, but not necessarily as migrators) American Kestrel (at least 5 which crossed all the way to New Jersey over the Hudson River - likely migrants) Merlin (4) Peregrine Falcon (multiple sighings - tough to call any definitive migrants though, the PG’s like the river a lot…) Belted Kingfisher (2, perhaps going somewhere beyond the county, seen moving SSW) Red-bellied Woodpecker (several, one or two of which appeared to be trying to make it somewhere else… &/but also, see: Peregrine) Yellow-shafted Flicker (few noted) Eastern Phoebe (5, at least 3 of which in flight, not high) Blue Jay (very modest no’s.) Common Raven (16 on the day, with up to five seen at one time, mostly trending southerly, but also a couple just fooling-around as they do) American Crow (57, in groups of up to 22, and all appearing to want to move on) Horned Lark (4 calling fly-bys, just low enough to see a bit of plumage, early) Black-capped Chickadee (65+, in various funny movements) Tufted Titmouse (100++++ - tough to get a very exact count) Red-breasted Nuthatch (at least several detected & to species) White-breasted Nuthatch (1, but possibly more as at least nuthatch-species were up quite high) Golden-crowned Kinglet (several that appeared to be moving along, and those few seen later, not as active migrators) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1, but perhaps just a bit of local movement; a few others much later fully-engaged in feeding) American Robin (885+ - this likely a HUGE UNDER-count, as so many birds were also at extreme altitude & distance) European Starling (some of these also on the move, as they do) American Pipit (11, a good count, & some quite low as if were or were thinking of landing; but no attempts to find out) Cedar Waxwing (450+, & easily far more as birds that were very high &/or at extreme distance appeared to be these) Chipping Sparrow (100’s in flight, some of the flocks containing these became mere specks of dust in the clouds later) White-throated Sparrow (modest number, including enough on the deck in the area to be unsure of all that moved on) Slate-colored Junco (many 100’s in flight, with some flocks still occasionally detectable later on) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (very modest no’s., including as seen later) Palm Warbler (a few, and those poss. mostly just moving a ‘bit' in the area) Red-winged Blackbird (700+++, plus many eventually too high or far to be positively ID’d. and thus ‘icterid’ sp., later) Eastern Meadowlark (1, a surprise & poss. having come off the deck somewhere nearby; not at all 'out-of-date', of course) Rusty Blackbird (several early, with Red-winged Blackbird flock) Common Grackle (2,500+++++ - the real numnbers even possibly into 5-figures; many were flying in the expected SW direction, but also many crossing above, higher, more west, more south, etc. and not all that many stopping in my views - these no’s. are not in the least surprising nor unusual for the date) Brown-headed Cowbird (small no’s. that were seen well enough; there were some poss. almost-pure flocks, but too high to be sure of ID, other than shorter-tailed dark icterids) Baltimore Oriole (one, but that one was almost certainly just a lingering bird at Fort Tryon Park, seen later in the day near the Heather Garden area) Purple Finch (225++, likely more, & moving through much of the day) House Finch (some perhaps only locals, seen low & early on) Pine Siskin (2,280+++++++ - a very strong flight, and - I believe - somewhat noted elsewhere in the county, city, and region on the day. And a likely undercount - also many birds so high or distant as to barely register as this or the following related species. This is a very-nearly unprecedented irruption-year for this species in particular!) American Goldfinch (860++, but easily may have been many more; refer to noted just above.) and - ‘small passerine species’ - 1,500++++ - which again, is an under-count, for the nine hours of sky-watching. -------- Thanks to the many observers who found & reported a lot of the birds, and for all who observe ethically with regard to the best interests of the birds. Good post-blue-moon 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/ --
