New York County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan, Roosevelt, Randalls, and Governors Islands and the skies above - Saturday, May 18 -
A Pacific Loon was seen as a flyover-only, on Saturday from Randalls Island, and in addition to a description of the observations by 2 amigos del pajaros, the photos of this very rare find for the region and for the county show this mainly-western species alongside the expected Common Loons it was flying next to during the sighting, with thanks to A. Cunningham and T. Healy for the reports on this and many more species seen in the visit to Randalls. A decidedly unexpected occurrence, to be sure! And, one made possible by very sharp as well as prepared observers - knowing some field-characters of rarer and unexpected species can be helpful in rapid assessments of moving birds, and of some which instead might be real skulkers or, in some instances, heard-only observations. A great addition here to the checklist of birds confirmed seen from or on Randalls Island. A Kentucky Warbler was first found by Claudine Williams, and then refund by G. Willow leading a guided not-for-profit bird walk, on Governors Island - in the Colonels Row sector of that island - on Saturday. Many many more species were also found on Governors Island for the day. Monk Parakeet was interestingly seen there and was also seen at Randalls Island same-day, and those Monk sightings follow on multiple sightings this month from Manhattan locations, which have included sites scattered around Manhattan, although most of those were from northern parts of Manhattan. For Summer Tanager sightings of Manhattan, New York County, we have the ongoing sightings from Central Park thru Saturday but in addition, also sightings of this species from Canal Park and from the nearby Hudson River waterfront park, which may have been the same individual, but also possible those were two separate individuals given the species near-explosive influx in this county this month- found in less than 3 weeks time over the length of the county, south to north, with the confirmed finds of this Tanager species from Inwood Hill Park to Governors Island, and at multiple sites between those locations. With the sighting at Canal Park we must thank A. Evans, for loyalty to that patch and for some years by now. A Caspian Tern was reported over the Hudson River off Manhattan from roughly near W. 106th Street, in Riverside Park, but along the River, on Saturday. A Wild Turkey, possibly the same hen turkey that had worked its way to mid-Manhattan not long ago, has been showing on Roosevelt Island in the East River estuary, that island another part of N.Y. County, thanks to J. Marinov, and other -later- observers. A minimum of 25 species of migratory American warblers were seen in the county - with at least 24 of those species seen by many, many observers just for Central Park -on Saturday, 5-18 alone. That 25th warbler, confirmed in the eBird report, was the Kentucky from the Colonels Row sector of Governors Island. Thanks to the quiet, courteous, keen observers who have found so many of these and far more birds, and offered their reports, photos, and in the instance of some of the Bicknells Thrush observations at the Central Park Ramble on Saturday, 5-18, video and audio recordings, which include confirmed eBird reports. Good birding, Tom Fiore manhattan -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
