Tuesday, 20 July, 2010 - Rockaway peninsula, Queens Co. and Central Park, Manhattan
Among land birds of interest at Fort Tilden & Breezy Point this morning were a smattering of warblers, including far more Yellow Wartblers than breed there, as well as singletons of Worm-eating Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush, plus Common Yellowthroat (which breeds there). There also were a few Bobolinks lingering at the far western tip of Breezy, perhaps part of a bigger number that passed earlier or in the pre-dawn. A single Osprey was moving south across the bay towards Sandy Hook, NJ or the adjacent NJ coast. The Swallow numbers and variety were good with 4 species (no Cliff noted) and #'s in the high triple digits for Tree and Barn, many dozens of Bank, & a lesser no. of N. Rough-winged noted. A couple of Chimney Swifts also moved through. I found 8 Piping Plovers but suspect more could have been seen with a bit of effort. In addition a number of migrant shorebirds included a few Least, 25+ Semipalmated, and a Spotted Sandpiper[s], 4 Red Knots, a very mobile group of Short- billed Dowitchers, and a few Lesser Yellowlegs plus one calling Greater-legs moving past. A little bit of a reminder of cooler weather ahead, seeing a few Sanderlings play in the surf... On & over the ocean there were fair numbers of Common Terns, with Least Terns near their colonies as well as Black Skimmers in the hundreds. There were a few very distant Storm-Petrels, all presumed Wilson's Storm-Petrels - and also a few rather distant N. Gannets. The sea was in a good state for viewing at first but that deteriorated with the sun increasing later. - - - Back in Central Park in the heat of the day, at least 3 Yellow Warblers (migrants all) were seen in the south, central, & north parts of the park respectively. Some of the less-common breeding birds were around with fledged youngsters, too: N. [Yellow-shafted] Flickers, E. Kingbirds, Red-eyed (2 familes) & Warbling (6^ families) Vireos, Eastern Towhee (success!!), Orchard (2 families) & Baltimore (many) Orioles, and a fair variety of other species. A few Chimney Swifts around the n. end of the park along with the typical Snowy & Great Egrets moving overhead in their usual east-west-east fly-way over the northern part of the park & adjacent neighborhoods - to & from areas in western Long Island Sound & the New Jersey meadowlands. - - - - a Long Island, NY birder hit by lightning now recovering: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebirdsnyc/message/7915 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/ --
