Manhattan, N.Y. City
second half of July - 2018 -
A whole lot of migration has taken place, just as expected, in the 2nd half of
July, and - again, as expected - many were not southbound shorebirds (although
of course plenty were), and Manhattan island saw its fair share of those
migrants that were & are working south. (In the month of August, the majority
of species-diversity of N. American-breeding warblers will have departed their
breeding areas and begun to work their way south; some will have reached their
so-called “wintering” destination well before August is over. Note the
reference to diversity - which does include high numbers of individuals, as
well, by later in August; many warblers that breed in parts of our region are
spending up to 7-8 months in the places where they stay for the winter, thus
obviously taking in a lot more than a 3-month period of calendar-winter. Part
of the prrof of this is seen from banding, as well as sight & photo-records,
from many points far south including in South and Central America, Mexico, and
the Caribbean islands.)
The irruptive movements of Red-breasted Nuthatch, which have been noted across
this continent in relatively modest numbers this summer, may or may not
indicate a lot about any other species that are ‘irruptive’. This summer’s
movements of this nuthatch species are not at all unprecedented, and it is hard
to predict what the species may do in our area as we get to the true fall (by
claendar) season; even thenm should more Red-bresated Nuthatches be seen in
downstate NY, this is not that good an indicator that that same area is due for
a finch movement. All of the birds that are irruptive are known to move in ways
that are still not quite predictable, although obviously they will move on if
food for them is scarce. It also should be noted that like so many bird
species we don’t immediately see as “insectivorous”, all of the finches, and
nuthtaches, and a wide variety of other kinds of birds will take insect &
arthropod prey when & where easily obtained. That’s obviously more likely, or
at least possible, in the warnest weather when such prey items can be very
common. It also should be well-known, that there are early-mid summer
movements of icterids, including such members of that family as Bobolink, both
of our breeding species of Oriole (& particularly Orchard Oriole), & also
Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, and Brown-headed Cowbird. As with so
many other after-breeding migrations, the coast is one of the areas, and
especially some sites on the outer barrier-beach strips, where all of these
phenomena might be witnessed… and all it takes are the witnesses!
Still & anyhow, in Manhattan (& excluding the off-island parts of political NY
County, where a lot is also being seen), there were reasonable numbers of
migrants for the latter half of July, 2018 - and at least some hardy watchers
looking out for them.
Among the migrants seen the past 2 weeks in Manhattan, including at Central
Park and multiple other parks; many of those birds detected were in the few
periods of arriving cool fronts on non-southerly, or merely calm & non-stormy
nights in the region. In a few instances, migrants also were moving in as storm
or hot-weather systems were approaching SE NY & then moved in.
Great Blue Heron
American Black Duck
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Osprey
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
- - - (multiples of ALL of the above, noted in July)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (irruptive, so perhaps not necessarily a strict ‘migrant’
in or thru the area, even in summer)
Blue-winged Warbler (very modestl;y early)
Northern Parula (few, & some of these also may have been summering locally,
&/or early to head south)
Yellow Warbler (many, in addition to very modest numbers of breeders &/or those
lingering)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (modestly early, &/or possibly a southbound non-breeder)
Blackburnian Warbler (few, not at all unprecedented in July for first
southbound movement)
Prairie Warbler (few)
Black-and-white Warbler (multiple, but not yet that many; & in addition to very
few which may have been summering & not breeding)
American Redstart (modest increase, and in addition to a few that may have been
summering, as well as very few potential attempts at breeding - or at least at
attracting a mate in Manhattan)
Worm-eating Warbler (usual few, & expected in part as early as July, & far more
thru early-mid August)
Northern Waterthrush (multiple and can be quite common by this date in
migration)
Louisiana Waterthrush (few identified, absolutely expected & some can also
appear in late June, as migrants working south by then)
Canada Warbler (few)
Indigo Bunting (these may be simply non-breeders moving a bit, or early
southbound)
Bobolink (few, and not esp. early for
