A male Painted Bunting was again seen by many in Greece, NY (in Monroe County), on Monday, Dec. 13th. (That bird viewed with many thanks to kind homeowners for allowing access!)
……. New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island - and the adjacent waters & sky. Wed., Dec. 8th thru Monday, Dec. 13th - Highlights include: TWO Western Tanagers, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Ruddy Turnstone, Purple Sandpipers, Yellow-breasted Chat (lingering), Grasshopper Sparrow, at least 6 Warbler species including multiple Orange-crowned Warblers as well as recent American Redstart, (and multiple additional warblers as recently as 12/5), also late for the season was an Eastern Phoebe, and many locally-less-common species for N.Y. County, including a long-staying Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and Horned Larks, American Pipits, various other sparrows, and more birds. . . . . . The 2nd (of 2, each *simultaneously observed*) WESTERN Tanager to be discovered (again this year, as happened roughly a year ago) in Manhattan (and seen at same time as was the one noted below) was found on Monday, Dec. 13th at the Clinton Community Garden (which interestingly is in a rather "longitutudinally-aligned” location as relative to the Western Tanager of last winter in the Chelsea neighborhood) of Manhattan - this then of course again a repeat of last winter’s occurrences of *two* of this rare-in-east species in one county (or, borough) of N.Y. City. Clinton Community Garden is not always-open at all times, thus visits within the garden may be limited, yet some views of some birds can be obtained at times from the street. (This location is roughly one mile north and near same avenue, as the W. Tan. that was seen by many a year ago at & near the small Clement Moore park in Chelsea, at W. 22nd St. - Clinton Community Garden is not much larger or about the same size as C.M. Moore park, but is a bit more lush with garden plants.) Please respect local residents and any garden or park users, with the ongoing concerns around Covid-19 and the norms of respectful birding. A Western Tanager was still continuing to visit Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan’s upper east side, esp. coming in to the feeders near East End Ave. & just west of the N.W. entrance gate to the Catbird Playground within the park; occasionally, some patience is required to find this bird. (This bird was photographed again on Dec. 13th.) A Glaucous Gull was initially found and reported (with photos; observed by multiple birders including A. Burke) on Friday, Dec. 10th at Randall’s Island, and was re-found again on Mon., Dec. 13th (J. Suzuki, K. Werner, et al) in same general area there, observed at the Bronx Kill by watching from the N.Y. County side of that narrow body of water. A Lesser Black-backed Gull was found and photographed on Monday, Dec. 13th (T. Olson; A. Evans - photos) at Pier 26 in the Tribeca area of lower Manhattan along the Hudson River waterfront. An Iceland Gull was seen on Friday, Dec. 10th at Randall’s Island, while the Glaucous Gull was being sought and seen there; photos of the former were made (incl. by M.B. Kooper) for confirmation. This was also re-found on Sat., Dec. 11th by more observers. This species - Iceland - is much the "more-regular” of the 2 white-winged species of gulls that do occur in our area, and more-specifically those that have been in N.Y. County. The form is presumed the ‘kumleini’ form, which is much the expected type. (It will be worth checking thru gulls in multiple locations in the county for any possible Icelands, as this species might show in any number of locations and among them would be the Central Park reservoir, where over many many decades, Iceland Gull has appeared, usually scantily and -mostly- just rarely. There have also been more-rare past occasions when Glaucous and Iceland Gull were each observed at the Central Park reservoir, even -very scarcely- together on the same past date[s]. Other locations may be fruitful as well for gull-finding.) 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls were seen off the marina over the Hudson River, from the western terminus of Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan, on Sunday, Dec. 12th. Despite the recent finds of this gull species on and along the Hudson River -just off of Manhattan- and occasionally elsewhere recently within the county, this remains a quite rare species overall for the county, and only time (over some years) will tell if the recent occurrences are highly-unusual or represent any continuing trends for the county. A Ruddy Turnstone was found at Randall’s Island on Friday, Dec. 10th (T. Healy) and was still present there thru 12/13; this is a very rare sighting for N.Y. County. 2 Purple Sandpipers were seen on Governors Island on Mon., Dec. 13th, which may possibly be the best of N.Y. County locations to seek this species, rare or at least very-uncommon for the county, as far as known. A link to a photo of one of these noted individuals is at the Macaulay Library archive: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/395678251 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/395678251> A Yellow-breasted Chat was continuing to be seen at Hudson River Park, found at least to Sunday, Dec. 12th, again in company with White-throated Sparrows (and on occasion, also [Red] Fox Sparrow), opposite the western end of Desbrosses St. and at the boardwalk area of the waterfront park; this is a long-lingering bird here. Photo’d. on 12/12, by the original finder of this individual many weeks ago, a link to the recent photo (A. Evans) is available in the Macaulay Library archive at: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/395313261 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/395313261> A Grasshopper Sparrow was found (and photo’d.) on Randall’s Island on Saturday, Dec. 11th and seen by a good many observers then; this was found with Savannah Sparrow and might well still be lingering in the area, even though not reported again since the date of first sighting[s]. Chipping Sparrow was still being found recently in the county and occasionally, at least a few will also overwinter. An Eastern Phoebe was found (again, as happened last winter) at Morningside Park, thru Dec. 13th (S. Chang), and perhaps could linger there into the C.B.C. period or through 'count-day'. A long-lingering Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has remained at Randall’s Island; this is the same adult bird which was seen regularly over the previous winter there; often but not always seen in the Little Hell Gate salt marsh area - sighted thru Monday, Dec. 13th. Warblers over recent days included a quite late American Redstart on Dec. 8th at Central Park, and seen by many many obsevers on that day, not reported again there after Dec. 9th - but just might be lingering there (or elsewhere in the county)… The Redstart was in the Ramble, near the section known as The Point and also just west of that area. Also seen recently were (some to Dec. 13th)) Pine Warbler, Orange-crowned Warblers in **multiple locations**, Ovenbirds, and Common Yellowthroats, as well as multiple Myrtle / Yellow-rumped Warblers, the latter esp. on Governors Island, where a wintering populatuon may well be supported due to a good supply of favored food there in “The Hills” area of that island-park, in particular. Scrutiny of warblers on the outlying islands as well as anywhere else for Manhattan & the county might reveal some additional warbler species that could yet be lingering. N.B. - As recently as Dec. 5th-6th, there were Prairie, Nashville, and Black-and-white Warblers in N.Y. County, with the former 2 species at least lingering on at Randall’s Island, and the latter still at Central Park; any of these and even additional / other spp. might yet be around the county even to now. Also seen recently have been a good number of Black Vultures (in flight), many Horned Larks, some further American Pipits, American Tree Sparrows, [Red] Fox Sparrows, and various other songbird species. The waterfowl in the county have included a small number of Common Goldeneyes, off Randall’s Island, where rather regular each winter (that number could potentially grown in the days or weeks ahead). A handsome drake Northern Pintail was still around at the ‘Boat Basin’ off West 79th St. along the Hudson River, accessed at Riverside Park - this is a returning bird which had been at least occasionally seen in the previous winter at this location, often but not always with some Mallards there - patience may be needed to locate the N. Pintail at times. Additional species of waterfowl have included ongoing Greater Scaup and Green-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, N. Shovelers, Buffleheads, Gadwalls, American Black Ducks, [Atlantic] Brants, and other water birds have included recent Common Loon, as well as the usual smallish no’s. of American Coots at Central Park. Rusty Blackbirds have been seen earlier this month and some may persist into winter, which is not unusual for the county. Other recent passerines and other ‘land-birds’ have included Common Ravens, Winter Wren and Carolina Wren, both of our Kinglet species, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, Cedar Waxwings (in the multiple), and other birds such as Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Yellow-shafted Flicker. There have been Bald Eagle sightings recently (& rather regularly) and also some Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawk sightings along with the locally-wintering raptors such as Red-tailed Hawks, plus city-dwelling American Kestrels and Peregrine Falcons. In Central Park alone, nearly 60 species were found since just Dec. 8th, as seen by multiple observers. More than 85 species of birds were seen for all of N.Y. County in that same time period. Going back to Dec. 8th, one of at least 4 species of owls was seen in N.Y. County, some of those being known residents and all of the species being regular if rather sporadic in observations in the county. Some reports may be kept ‘hidden’ for a time in order that -hopefully- less disturbance occurs than can take place around ANY owl species in this very large and very busy city. - - - The last report for a Dickcissel in Manhattan appears to be from Dec. 5th at Inwood Hill Park, but that species might possibly turn up again at any time in the coming days or weeks. A photo of that Dec. 5th sighting of the latter (by W. Andermann) is included in the Macaulay Library archives: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/393607281 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/393607281> thanks to many many observers having quietly observed and reliably reported so many species for the past week & more, and keep in mind that the C.B.C. 'count-period' is coming right up, and any uncommon or rare species ought to be photo-documented if possible along with good note-making whenever possible while in the field. good birding & count-scouting 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/ --
