Friday, 7 January 2011 - Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City The VARIED THRUSH continues, seen at 7:30 - 7:45 a.m. this morning and also very briefly in mid-afternoon as the snow seemed to be ending. The location in both cases was the "usual" area, that is just east of the men's bathroom & maintenance building, located immediately on the south side of the E. 79 Street crosstown Transverse Road that bisects the park (this road is below the grade level of the park itself, and at Central Park West it emerges at West 81 Street, however the E. 79 Street "designation" is slightly more appropriate as that is the junction that is closer to just where the area noted for the thrush is...), and in the morning the thrush was very near the transverse road's upper lip or edge, that is to say it was visible from the park path without having to close in and "push" the thrush as occasionally has happened with eager 'seekers'. I have a few times come upon the thrush with little effort but just as often require an hour or two before it is noticed, and I have missed it especially on days when less than 1/2-hour of effort was given to the bird. It was feeding each time I saw it today. Two male Eastern Towhees also were nearby & there were a lot of White-throated, & at least one "red" Fox Sparrow [s] nearby also. Various other typical winter birds were found in multiple areas.
The Red-headed Woodpecker (first-winter, with little or no red on it's head yet) is continuing in the area of the south side path along Sheep Meadow which also is immediately north of and parallel with the 66 Street Transverse Road of the park. I have seen it range up to several hundred yards (up to 1/4-mile, give or take a few yards) from its favored area, but it does seem loyal to the trees & suuroundings of that path. The area is not quite as far east as the southeast "corner" of Sheep Meadow, & can be in trees near a low area of the path or also farther east, or occasionally farther off. A reasonably patient look will reward, probably more regularly than the more sometimes-elusive varied thrush. The woodpecker is occasionally harassed by European Starlings which is a common situation for various birds, particularly in Central Park. It often 'gives as good as it gets', and that is against more than a few starlings. The feeders in the Ramble (about 100+ yards or more south of where the thrush may be) have been active & are worth a look anytime when birding the area in winter. This day i did not put in a long vigil there and did not see much that would not be expected other than a single swamp sparrow among the many white-throated sparrows. At the reservoir (north of the 86 Street Transverse and all the way up to nearly E. 96 St.) were many gulls and Canada Geese as well as a modest variety of typical wintering ducks, some American Coots and lingering Pied-billed Grebe. The gulls here could be worth checking carefully, as 9 or more species of gulls have been seen at the reservoir over the past 15 years, although only the "usual" three species are at all common & regular in any season. There was a time when such goodies as Tufted Duck showed up amongst huge rafts of scaup as well as canvasbacks, but those birds have not graced Central in such huge numbers in about 2 decades. A fair number of Iceland Gull sightings also once came from that reservoir but they've been much more scarce there since about the same time. 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/ --
