N.Y. County, including Manhattan & Randall’s Island - Sunday, Feb. 28th:
The adult (winter) Black-headed Gull was again seen back at Randall’s Island, presumably same individual that had first appeared there earlier in the winter, & then more recently at Central Park’s reservoir in Manhattan. This reappearance corresponded with a surge of Ring-billed Gulls, although the latter also have been appearing in good no’s. at a number of points in the past week or more (including at the C.P. reservoir). Seen all-too-briefly in the early a.m. (by at least 2 obs.) the Black-headed Gull was definitively seen later, on the n.-e. ballfields but also seen flying off by around 4 p.m.; still tough to know if this bird’s been at all regular in the county, or not (& presuming the same individual, which is not a certainty). Thanks to R. Zucker for the persistence! (An even more intriguing gull sighting & report from a few days previous at Riverside Park South’s pier at W. 70th St. had been a recurring ‘dark’ white-winged gull, possibly of the Thayer’s form of Iceland Gull, which as most readers will know was once considered a separate species - this is rare in the local area; this latter gull was seen on a couple of occasions at the pier (on the Hudson River at W. 70th) in Manhattan, but seems not to have been lingering there, on days it was seen. A good many gulls also can be viewed, distantly, using the opposite shore of the river in that vicinity, i.e. on the New Jersey side (mainly viewable with a scope in terms of attempting ID’s while standing at the pier, which juts far into the river). Gulls were continuing to mass at Central Park’s reservoir on some recent days, and/but at varying times of day, as is typical there. Both of the female Western Tanagers were present on Sunday, 2/28 in their respective Manhattan locations - the Carl Schurz Park tanager coming to a suet-log (that is often under siege by local gray squirrels), that feeder set-up just inside the park from East End Ave., & south of E. 86th St. (closer to E. 85th), best viewed from inside the park near the northwest entry gate to the adjacent 'Catbird playground’; the tanager appeared there Sun. at 8:35 & again at 9:05 a.m. (photo’d), while at Chelsea’s W. 22nd-23rd St. locations just e. of Tenth Ave., the other W. Tanager was tougher to come by (as seems to have been for many weeks now), & was seen mostly moving in taller trees & over the roofs of several buildings, not settling in-view for the mid-day hour, although seen well for short periods. This latter bird might have some inaccessible (to the public) spots that it favors, in courtyard areas or on vegetated rooftops, close by. There do not seem to be any feeders out for it or other birds, at least anywhere that’s viewable nearby. (also, note that the ‘upper-east’ tanager has also shown in other nearby parts of same park, & occasionally along East End Ave. nearest E. 86th in either direction, so the feeder array is not the only site, however my own experience had been that that’s where i’ve seen it most regularly, esp. lately.) Before visiting Randall’s Island in early morn' as had several others, I checked thru the 430+ Canada Geese feeding & bathing on the thawing Sheep Meadow in Central Park in the first hour of day-break; Canada Geese have been moving about locally, and likely also moving on, with the chance of a rarer goose appearing anywhere. No luck on that in Central (or just shortly later at Randall’s Island, with fewer geese overall seen there than in all parts of Central Park, but that could change in a hurry…) As noted below, a Horned Grebe was seen off Randall’s Island on 2/28. Some other birds of note were a lingering Lincoln’s Sparrow in Central Park’s n. end, Rusty Blackbird still in the Central Park Ramble (a wintering individual); some Killdeer; American Woodcock in multiple locations; ongoing Common Raven sightings (& heard), & more. Some of the other species also being seen in N.Y. County thru Sunday, 2/28 included - [Atlantic] Brant (many, in select locations) Wood Duck (on the move, with up to 5 off Randall’s Island, and multiples in & adjacent to Manhattan, as well as a few flyovers) Gadwall (good numbers in some locations; again present in Central Park) American Wigeon (on the move early Sun., with a few flyovers past Randall’s Island, Bronx-bound - or beyond) American Black Duck (increased a bit) Mallard Northern Shoveler (many seen in flight on Sunday, also present in numbers at Central Park, and seen elsewhere) Northern Pintail (at least one female is continuing at & near Swindler Cove area / Sherman Creek, northeast of the east end of Dyckman St., Manhattan) Ring-necked Duck (fly-bys at Randall’s Island, headed n.e.) Greater Scaup (multiple, esp. at the N.Y. harbor & lower parts of two rivers) Bufflehead Common Goldeneye (still off Randall’s Island, & not in N.Y. County waters) Hooded Merganser (continuing in several locations) Common Merganser (some movement, best numbers being seen moving up the Hudson) Red-breasted Merganser (widespread in the rivers & around the N.Y. harbor) Ruddy Duck (numbers on the East River in some locations, also Central Park’s reservoir) Red-throated Loon (moving in numbers of late, some northbound flights of low double-digits) Common Loon (some movement at least locally, not as frequent yet as the preceding) Pied-billed Grebe (1 at Randall’s Island) Horned Grebe (1 of this species was photo'd off Randall’s Island (J. Gers, & should be watched for generally in the county, as more may move about) Great Cormorant (ongoing in areas where fairly regular) Double-crested Cormorant (flights & increases all around, even some groups of 10+ at times) Great Blue Heron (very slight increase, with at least several more regular now in several parks) Black-crowned Night-Heron (few so far, but perhaps more than the very few that appeared to have wintered or were ‘pushed’ by weather in mid-winter) Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (the lone adult has made it thru 3 winter months at Randall’s Island; it can be well-hidden at times in the marsh vegetation) Turkey Vulture (not seen on Sunday to my knowledge, but f. regular lately over the county) Bald Eagle (ongoing sightings, esp. from northern parts of the county) Cooper's Hawk (worth watching those that might linger on…) Red-shouldered Hawk (not reported in about 1 week but may still be present, & also could be on the move) Red-tailed Hawk (a now *nearly* abundant nesting species) American Coot (lingering esp. at the Central Parl reservoir) Killdeer (small no’s. after a modest passage the past week) American Woodcock (multiple locations, including survivors seen Sun. at Bryant Park, & elsewhere in Manhattan) Ring-billed Gull (into 4-digits at times in some locations, many have been moving about) [American] Herring Gull (fairly common & some moving) Iceland Gull (‘kumliemni’ form photo'd at least to 2/21 in Central Park) Lesser Black-backed Gull (unphotographed adult-winter on Central Park reservoir, 2/26) Great Black-backed Gull (fairly common in some areas, esp. along the Hudson & harbor) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel (plenty of urban pairs) Merlin (in past week) Peregrine Falcon (also no’s. paired-up for urban nesting) (N.Y. county owls) Belted Kingfisher (some wintered) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker (mostly scarce) Yellow-shafted Flicker (small no’s.) Blue Jay (ongoing in good no’s. generally) Common Raven (regularly seen/heard in multiple locations) American Crow (including some larger groups at times) Fish Crow (few) Black-capped Chickadee (widespread) Tufted Titmouse (widespread) Red-breasted Nuthatch (scarce) White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (multiple) Carolina Wren Winter Wren (at least several wintered-thru) Hermit Thrush (multiple - all of which overwintered) American Robin (fairly widespread) Gray Catbird (multiple locations spread across Manhattan) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (in at least several locations: all wintered) European Starling House Sparrow Eastern Towhee (at least several in Manhattan, including ‘odd-plumaged’ *faintly*-spotted male at Bella Abzug Park/Hudson Yards) Slate-colored Junco American Tree Sparrow (ongoing) Chipping Sparrow (at least several overwintered) Field Sparrow (a few) Savannah Sparrow (1 photo’d on Randall’s Island, 2/28; J. Keane) [Red] Fox Sparrow (small to modest no’s.) Song Sparrow (a good many singing lately) Lincoln's Sparrow (one photo’d. & continuing at Central Park) Swamp Sparrow (overwintered individuals) White-throated Sparrow (usual large no’s. that wintered in the county) Northern Cardinal (plenty of singing has begun) Red-winged Blackbird (mainly on passage so far) Rusty Blackbird (1 ongoing at Central Park) Common Grackle House Finch American Goldfinch Good birding to all, 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/ --
