VARIED THRUSH continued... (several locations: only into Thursday; now gone?)
Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Sat., 12 March thru Friday, 18 March, 2011 The first-year RED-HEADED WOODPECKER does continue in the area just south of Sheep Meadow, and near the 66 Street transverse around the section by the Carousel (merry-go-round). The woodpecker, beginning to show more red but still far from a bright adult plumage, has wandered around the area described and with milder weather, may be a bit more active than it was much of the winter. it could stay around for weeks longer. Friday, 3/18 - Although a lot of migration appeared to have taken place Thursday night, there was relatively little evidence for it in Central Park Friday morning... a one-hour search for the Varied Thrush did NOT reveal it this morning although that hardly means it has moved on. Still, it is just as likely to have, and if there are no further sightings, I would assume that it did. At least 2 PINE WARBLERS were present in the park - in the Ramble as well as in the north end on the Great Hill. Other migrants that had modest (or very modest) increases today included Eastern Phoebe (with 8+ thru the entire park), Golden-crowned Kinglet (also 8+), American Robin (500+), Field Sparrow (several), "red" Fox Sparrow (20+), Song Sparrow (100+, including a single dense flock of 40+ in the wildflower meadow area in the a.m.), and Slate-colored Junco (100+), plus fly- through flocks of Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird and Brown- headed Cowbird totaling over 1,000: the majority of these grackles. A lot of birds had clearly gone thru overnight with the clear skies and SW wind; a very good indicator of the night flight were some of the straggler flocks that were seen in the northern-most end of the park, some of which were continuing their migration into the mid-morning, such as blackbirds & to a lesser extent, American Robins. A few Hermit Thrush were in areas where I had not seen them recently, and these could be extra-early movers, or simply "locals", among a small number that wintered here and/or very nearby. The reservoir had about the same variety and numbers as it had for the past several days; waterfowl are still fairly low, and gulls are not as numerous as they could be. - - - - - - Thursday 3/17 - (St. Patrick's Day) - In an early-morning search, the VARIED THRUSH was still present, on Cedar Hill's slope, about 200+ feet south of the E. 79 Street transverse road and at least 80 feet east of the park's E. Drive. Nearby were many American Robins as well as Slate-colored Juncos and a mix of other common wintering &/or resident species. The thrush was working in conifers a bit but mainly on the ground near the trees. Will this be the last day for this visitor - or might it stay a while longer? As days lengthen and migration picks up it's increasingly likely to move on. - - - - - - Wednesday 3/16 - after rain ended mid-morning, I sought and found the VARIED THRUSH again - it was in an area where it's been on occasion in the past 3 & 1/2 months: at the shrubby south side of Cleopatra's Needle, the very tall stone obelisk that is a bit east of the SE section of the Great Lawn. It was, as it often has been, in proximity with a male E. Towhee and a fair number of White-throated Sparrows, and various other wintering &/or resident birds. It took me a bit more than an hour of searching to find the thrush; I'd mainly looked for it in the areas it had been more regularly seen. At the north end, late in the day, a bright male PINE WARBLER made a cheering appearance with sun also re-emerging. The warbler was working in trees at the northeast part of the Great Hill, and near the west drive. It seemed that a modest number of birds had come in despite the weather - or because of it? - on Wednesday, the most apparent being some 200+ Brown-headed Cowbirds mucking around on the western parts of the N. Meadow ballfields - along with those numbers was at least one E. MEADOWLARK. I did not see the meadowlark again late in the day. At the ramble's feeders as the rain was almost ending, were quite a swarm of American Goldfinch with at least one male Purple Finch (along with multiple House Finches). This was the first Purple I'd seen in some time here. Also scattered about the entire park were hundreds more American Robins than had been up 'til this day. The reservoir was not so notable for any arrivals, beyond a couple of Double-crested Cormorants... Pied-billed Grebe, N. Shovelers, and some additional ducks were lingering. - - - - Monday - a mixed bag but there were again a few migrants that either just arrived or were noticed, including 6 sparrow spp., Swamp, Field, Savannah, Song, Fox, and by far the most common wintering sparrow, White-throated. A goodly number of icterids also went thru, with at least 2 Rusty Blackbirds also lingering around the ramble & the loch. A few E. Phoebes continued in several locations in the park. - - - - - Sunday - 7:45 a.m. Daylight Savings Time, VARIED THRUSH seen rather briefly, a bit east of maintenance field building, then flew farther east but I did not try to follow. A single Pine Siskin visited the ramble's nyjer seed feeders early on, with the usual crowd of lingering American Goldfinches. Among arrivals, a couple of Eastern Phoebes turned up, in both the Ramble & n. end, as well as at the edge of Sheep Meadow, and at least one Ruby-crowned Kinglet was seen, in addition to the several Golden-crowned Kinglets that may have overwintered around Cedar Hill. A fairly strong blackbird movement which included a few Rusty Blackbirds, one or two staying in the Ramble and two or more at the north end. Most of the icterid movement however were of the expected Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackle flocks, with some of each also moving thru other Manhattan parks and generally through the island. With a bit of an eye to the sky, some additional fly-by birds were detected in the early a.m. from first light thru one hour past sunrise - a few Killdeer, at least 6 Eastern Bluebirds, a modest number of sparrows - some landed, especially Song Sparrows, which quintupled in numbers at several parks, and of raptors, an Osprey, and several Cooper's & Sharp-shinned Hawks, as well as some dozen Turkey Vultures (in the like-a-raptor category), plus waterfowl, including what appeared to be Green-winged Teal (very high up and in small no's.) as well as Canada (many) and Snow Geese (few), along with American Black Ducks in modest numbers. In the park, and elsewhere in northern Manhattan there was an increase in American Robins. Saturday 3/12 - noonish, Red-shoulderd Hawk (adult) circling fairly low over n. end, headed n. - and later in the day, 4 Turkey Vultures moved north. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
