Sunday, 15 April, 2012 - Central Park & Riverside Park, (both in) Manhattan, N.Y. City
In Central Park, a singing Yellow-throated Warbler was found at the NW edge of the Ramble, just north of the NW end of the lake, near about W. 79 St. (in trees on the south of the West 81 St. Transverse that runs below ground level), at ~ 6:30 a.m. - presumably the same bird seen very near there on Saturday. The Yellow-throated sang several times very intermittently in the space of 15 minutes or so and was quite high in oaks, associating with Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers and a smaller no. of Palm Warblers, & a few other species such as Ruby- crowned Kinglets. It seems possible that bird may move with that flock and could stay near there, or easily drift to another area, perhaps by Delacorte Theatre, Turtle Pond, or farther on. At the north end of Central, a bit later and thru about 8:30 a.m., the impression was of far fewer birds than the day before, although there were still decent numbers of the more-common & expected migrants, as well as hints of a bit of fresh arrival, as with a singing Yellow Warbler at the edge of the Meer's s. side trees. The numbers of sparrows and their kin (juncos and E. Towhees) were again quite high, with a little more of some such as Savannah. I also noted the partially-leucistic White-throated Sparrow in Strawberry Fields on a quick foray thru there at sunrise hour. One nice & interesting sight was at the CP reservoir, where I witnessed at least one dozen Great Egrets, and one Snowy Egret, plus a few Black-crowned Night-Herons at first light, all on the dike or edges of the reservoir, the most of their tribe I've ever seen at that specific location within the park, that is within the reservoir itself and clearly finding at least some sustenance in there. I did not see any other notables - there were still a few of the various duckage that's been, such as Bufflehead, Gadwall, Ruddy, and Northern Shoveler, plus a single Pied-billed Grebe, but I missed any coots, or mergansers, if such were still around today. At Riverside Park's sanctuary area, near 116-120+ Streets off Riverside Park on Manhattan's far west side, the yellow-throated warbler of yesterday had not been re-found as of about 10:30 a.m., despite a good many birders working that area, and despite some of the same-looking flocks of Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers in that area again, along with an appearance by a Louisiana Waterthrush at the nearby "drip" & skulking off into the woods. Most of the warblers and their companions of the flocks were again quite high in the oaks, although with enough sun & warmth, the idea of the "drip" is that birds will come down to that level to bathe and/or drink - as happens on warm sunny days with migrants. (Monday could potentially be productive there, if it becomes as warm as predicted, and assuming some migrants are about to be seen.) A nice report came from Karen Fung (who also put in time searching this a.m. for that warbler), as she saw a singing White-crowned Sparrow, in Riverside Park near W. 108 St., which is "interestingly" near where one of that species attempted to, or did, overwinter. Good birding, Tom Fiore, Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
