New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island
Tues., 9/13 - An evident -if perhaps modest- ‘fall-out’ of migrants took place, after heavy thunderstorms had rolled thru, twice, in the small hours all pre-daylight of Tuesday. That bird fall-out may have been most evident (for this county) in parts of lower Manhattan, although some effects were likely detected thru the county. Many of the migrants seen in higher-than-typical diversity &/or numbers were warblers. Of the warblers, a bit of a standout for above-average numbers in some small parks & greenspaces were Cape May Warbler, also & again ultra-locally, small concentrations of Black-throated Blue, and of Yellow, Warbler[s]. In all, and in *lower* Manhattan alone, at least 19 spp. of warblers were found. The most widespread / numerous (around the county as well) was again American Redstart; also in numbers but not as many were Black-and-white Warbler; there were many species, indeed almost all that were found in the multiple for just lower Manhattan. While this was a ‘fall-out’ event, it was also a bit scattered in nature, and there were areas of greenery incl. some fair-sized parks with not many migrants, and perhaps no evidence of arrival, as could, by contrast, be seen (in some places) just a few city-blocks away in some places. Over all of the county, at least some small increase (again) of Palm Warblers (of 2 forms) was seen by Tuesday, & also into Wed., 9/14. Around the county, there again were a fair diversity of flycatchers, although E. Kingbird was nearly absent. Great Crested Flycatchers were still found in multiple locations, as were various Empidonax-genus including likely Least, & Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and perhaps any or all of the 3 other migrant spp. of Empidonax. The greatest no’s. of any flycatcher species were E. Wood-Pewee - with a few E. Phoebe also in scattered locations. The majority of thrushes found were still Veery, although others seemed to increase from recent days, including Swainson’s, & a very few gray-cheeked type also were seen, as well as Wood Thrush, and a small (still a bit ‘early’) number of Hermit Thrush. A Blue-winged Teal (again) appeared at the “Pool” in Central Park’s n-w sector; thanks to T. Zahner who alerted for many others who came over to see this duck on Tuesday. A Philadelphia Vireo was seen & photo’d. in Central Park, ID thanks to Paul Sweet [A.M.N.H.], also on Tuesday. Other vireos have been found as well, esp. Red-eyed, as well as Warbling, and Yellow-throated Vireos. Also starting to show in the county after 1 somewhat-early arrival, a few more Blue-headed Vireos (and still modestly-early, but these are still scant, for the ‘moment’.) Both ‘expected’ species of Cuckoo were again present in Central Park. Pied-billed Grebe was also seen (again). With raptor migration picking up, there have been (at least) Ospreys, Bald Eagles, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, Merlins and some [migrant] American Kestrels on the move over and through N.Y. County. A late-day push also included some Broad-winged Hawks on the strong winds of Wednesday; also seen from some locations were Turkey Vultures. In early mornings, some locations have had some blackbird flight, and even (at least a few) Common Grackles look to be moving a bit. More numerous, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, and still a fair number of Bobolink, with a small no. of Baltimore Orioles also moving. Common Nighthawks have continued and have been seen from a number of locations, including from Randall’s Island, where at least 1 adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was continuing. On Wed., 9/14, there was a report of Connecticut Warbler, which if accurately ID’d (I believe was) may be at least the 3rd for Manhattan so far this season, and in an expected ‘window’ for timing. Others of that species have been showing in other parts of N.Y. City, including multiples definitively recorded for this same day, and also regionally as well; some of these very-recent sightings are also of adults. This latest Manhattan sighting, at Corlears Hook, a park along the East River in the lower-east area of the island. That park can, at times, esp. in some peak-migration periods, be surprisingly good for migrants, as can and are a number of other smaller parks of Manhattan, and from one end to the other. Overall, a nice flight came in on the fresh, lower-humidity air brought in on the WNW wind overnight and into all of Wed., with many arriving (and of course, also departing and simply passing-by) migrants, this included some very late-day flight as well as the expected overnight and early-morning flight activities. A bit on the early side and slightly surprising given what seem modest arrivals in the sparrow tribe, at least a few Slate-colored Juncos came along, and even stopped off, at Governors Island, along with a very few (newly-transported) White-throated Sparrows. Interesting, perhaps among the many warblers still moving, a fair number of Pine Warblers came in, particularly by Wednesday. Also found in increased numbers were N. Parula - indeed, this last species may have nearly rivalled American Redstart by Wed., as many of the latter as still continued. Those Redstarts still ‘ruled' in a lot of small areas of greenery, again in Manhattan. Many other migrants, as well as resident, &/or visitant species of birds were also seen. Thanks to the vast numbers of observers all around the county in both days of this report’s period, for many sightings and reports offered. — A higher number of Monarch butterflies were on the move for Manhattan than on most other recent days, noticed esp. on 9/14. Peaceful 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/ --
