New York County, including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island -
days up to and of the Bird-Count and in days just past -
The lingering (Manhattan) Yellow-breasted Chat was seen by multiple observers
on Sunday, Dec. 18th at Riverside Drive near W. 111th-112th-113th Sts., a small
strip of shrubs, trees, and lawn paches with obvious historical statuary… Yew
shrubs near some of those statues have, among other plants, sheltered the Chat
in days of its’ appearances, which also included Monday, 12/19, Tues., 12/20
and Wed. 12/21 - thus all 3 days-after the local C.B.C. (which takes in not
only all of Manhattan island, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island all in New
York County, but also significant area and habitats in New Jersey, on the west
side of the Hudson River. While a bit uncommon, there are multiple C.B.C.’s
that go into 2 states on one count. The one which includes New York County is
called "Lower Hudson”.) The Chat was especially cooperative at times by
Tuesday, 12/20. It’s moved about just a bit and has been just generally to the
north-northwest of W. 110th St. - in the area that is described above and NOT
on the western ("park-proper”) side of Riverside Drive. There are some narrow
paths in this median-type strip of park that is referred to here. Some
patience, as with so many lingering and sometimes-skulking birds, may help in
spotting this one.
At least 8 warbler species appear to have been documented for the (N.Y. County
side-of; the birds on the New Jersey side of this same count are mostly
not-noted here) the C.B.C. on the day of the count, 12/18. At least a couple
of species were seen in more than one location - and one species certainly
stands out for numbers this season - Orange-crowned Warbler, which had multiple
very-separated locations, documented for the C.B.C. - how many? More than 3,
anyhow… (Orange-crowneds were found on the count-day at Governors Island,
Randall’s Island, and more than one location in Manhattan). The most uncommon
of the warblers found and documented was a *Wilson’s Warbler* (thanks to finder
L. Beausoleil) - not unprecedented this late, but rather less regularly seen
than some of the other warblers also found for this C.B.C., which also included
Nashville, Cape May, Palm, Ovenbird (multiple), Common Yellowthroat (multiple),
and Yellow-rumped (of the Myrtle form, as is typical & the ‘default' for all of
the east). A majority of these warblers - indeed, almost all, as seen by
C.B.C.-ers on the Sunday of the count, were *not* found in Central Park, and
that is not unusual. Some small parks and green-spaces certainly “punch above
their weight” when it comes to warblers lurking and lingering in N.Y. County.
(that Wilson’s Warbler was found, first on the day-before count day, as well as
on 12/18, in a community garden on the far-east Lower East Side of Manhattan -
a sort of location that is not all-that-often reported from, but clearly can
hold birds of an unusual kind in colder weather. At least one Nashville
Warbler was also noted on the N.J. side (of same C.B.C.) in addition to the one
located by K.V. Rosenberg and also seen by A. Farnsworth on Randall’s Island
(where the species has lingered, and this fairly likely to have been a
long-lingering, if not frequently-detected individual), for C.B.C. Sunday.
One bird that got some added interest as it’s not been at all common in recent
decades in the county, a drake *Redhead* appeared for CBC-day (and found by one
of the area counters, K. Figueroa, and then seen by others in addition to the
counting-party of the day) at “north cove” docks of Battery Park City park,
which is to the north of The Battery (the latter a.k.a. Battery Park)… In the
1980’s and prior to then, in some years many (many!) Redhead could be found
amongst vastly-larger numbers of Canvasbacks (along with all those huge numbers
of Scaup and the occasional, and of-course rare, Tufted Duck), at the Central
Park reservoir (and also at times on the rivers or harbor areas, in select
sites). A scene with waterfowl that some birders active now were not yet alive
to have seen, nor know of. Want loads of Redheads (the waterfowl that is) in
NYC, better get over to Baisley Park Queens County.
A rare-in-December Swainson’s Thrush was again found - a lingerer - at the
Hudson Yards small park named for Bella Abzug, with habitat patches on the
north and west side of the larger developments of “the Yards” - it was seen at
least for Sat., Dec. 17th (with excellent photos also obtained thanks to L.
LaBella that day - see:https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/514707131
<https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/514707131> ) - and also was still present
there at least to Monday, 12/19. There may also be Hermit Thrushes (a vastly
more regular Catharus-genus thrush of winter in all parts of N.Y. City and
beyond), in the same park &/or nearby, so caution on ID is strongly advised and
good clear photos are the one sure way of getting this ID straight, rather than
a 'quick look’. IF that Swainson’s Thrush were to linger into the new year in
January, it would be that much-more unusual (again, if *well-documented* by
then!)
There were at least 2 Baltimore Orioles seen in 2 far-from-each-other locations
(where each had been seen previously over a period of at-least weeks) - Union
Square Park, and Fort Tryon Park, both found (again) on Sunday, 12/18 by
C.B.C.-ers, and the Union Square Park B. Oriole still around there thru Wed.,
12/21. By this point in this hardly-a-summary of some C.B.C. sightings it can
also be pointed out how many of the highlighted species were found (on count
day, &/or first-found, &/or fully-documented in photos), by birders who are
women.
Some sparrows (and close relations) seen on the C.B.C. included Chipping
Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, [Red] Fox Sparrow (this latter in very good
numbers, esp. in the cumulative tally for all of Central Park), Dark-eyed
[Slate-colored] Junco, White-throated Sparrow (in typically-strong numbers),
Song Sparrow, , Swamp Sparrow, and Eastern Towhee. It is possible that a few
sparrow species were missed, yet present in the county, thru Sunday 12/18
and-or afterwards, with some perhaps counted in the overall C.B.C. circle, and
not made fully public yet.
Red-shouldered Hawks have been around in general, in New York City and
vicinity, a lot this month and one of the most-recent sightings (with photos to
add to the documentation) is an adult of the species seen in the relatively
small space of Clinton Community Garden on the west side of Manhattan, a space
that got some attention in a previous winter-period with the find (then!) of a
western tanager. There are Red-shouldered Hawks apparently lingering in a
number of places in N.Y. City, and (at least) one has been around Central Park,
where seen by C.B.-counters on Sunday, 12/18. Also seen on the day was Bald
Eagle, for additional raptor-rapture on count-day. And some of the owls both
large and small provided further diversity amongst birds of prey seen on this
bird count. Just in Central Park, the 3 species of owl known to have been
lingering this month were all counted by C.B.C.-ers on Sunday (N. Saw-whet,
Barred, and Great Horned) and there may have certainly been other owls from
other locations away from Central (as well as over on the New Jersey side,
where some found owl species as well for the overall Lower Hudson count).
PLEASE, when visiting the *known and highly-publicized sites* of any owl that
is roosting (or whatever it / they may be doing) have a reasonable respect of
the bird that may be sleeping in front of you, and also of the many many other
observers - this would mean, at a minimum keeping voices and other sounds low,
and staying a respectful distance from a sleeping perched bird, whether it is
at eye-level or up a few feet or yards in a tree. Just common sense, and thank
you to all the (most) who do know all of this.
Was an all-time (count) record for numbers of Tufted Titmouse set in this
bird-count? I’m not sure, since there have been past years (in this county) of
huge incursions of that species (as well as of Black-capped Chickadee in the
county), however there certainly were a lot just for Central Park’s
contribution to the overall count on Sunday - well over 700 on that day, 12/18!
All of the above are mere notes to far more of what was seen in the day
leading up to, ON, and days following the bird-count for N.Y. County, and
thanks to all who participated and the organizers!
Good solstice-start and all-holiday-season birding to all,
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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