(A side note prefacing the Manhattan migration, Richard Veit reports an interesting (drake) Eurasian-Green-winged hybrid Teal at the Goethal's Bridge Ponds on northwest Staten Island, NYC, for Mon., 4/16 - and RV also noted a variety of standard spring shorebird migrants there. That report is available via the SINaturaList, a Yahoo-group local list, with public archives.)
- - - - Monday, 16 April, 2012 - Central Park & Riverside Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Today featured a nice push, if not anything like a flood of fresh arrivals, including multiple new species for the season here in Manhattan. At the evening hour, it seems the warbler 'tally' on the day was up to at least an even dozen (and that with NO report I'm aware of for any Yellow-throated Warbler), and not including a few spp. of which I heard "rumors" (& also reasonable, with what else is showing a bit early - such as ovenbird & common yellowthroat?) In any case, a lot more migrants will be arriving as early as Tuesday! A list of many of what I saw or know of from some of the many spring- time birders is below, for Monday, 4/16. One of the most notable birds (to me) was a GLOSSY IBIS which I've seen less than a dozen times, or at least in less than that no. of individuals, in all my deacdes of watching in Central Park, and exceedingly uncommon as an actual drop-in (this was a fly-over, seen from the reservoir shore). In the past 3 decades there have been occasional individuals, rarely more, that stopped in or visited a bit during spring / summer but that has not happened at all recently to my knowledge, & even as a fly-over it seems quite rarely reported, although there is the flyway that's used all the season by the great & snowy egrets and black-crowned night-herons which is well-known and observed from the northernmost ten blocks or so over Central Park (and is of birds crossing Manhattan island to & from w. L.I. Sound & N.J. Meadowlands locations, as strongly suggested by supplemental observations by birders on East river and Hudson river forays, in April thru August (including all summer). Any mid-April day which includes a Yellow-billed Cuckoo going through is most likely a day with a bunch of other early migrants, yet overall, it was essentially expected species that were, as could be seen with ease, numerically in charge. The sparrow 'tribe' were again nicely represented, & a few others of most-expected mid-April-movers. Of some of the warblers there was the evidence that at least a modest number of birds are reaching north earlier than their historical / typical early arrival date-range, but that is (it seems) increasingly the situation in this new phase of climate change and all that it portends. A look at the CP reservoir very early on was again rather productive; most, or all, of the central dividing dike is exposed and seems to be of interest to various birds including egrets, herons, & just today, shorebirds of the usual April-in-Central Park ilk. I also noted my own first-of-year-in-CP Laughing Gull, in clean spring plumage. I very briefly wandered away from the environs of the Upper West Side (to a bit farther down Manhattan's west shore of the Hudson) and found Atlantic Brant (in modest numbers), a few Common, and one Red-throated (still in basic-type plumage) Loons, plus Red-breasted Merganser (female-type plumage), & just usual gulls including a very few Laughing. I didn't attempt serious scoping or get that far in checking the harbor itself, & etc. There were incidentally a few, or more than a few, migrant sparrows along the west side waterfront greenspaces south of Riverside Park, an indication of nice movement of them ongoing, including Chipping and White-throated Sparrows, and still Dark-eyed Juncos in the larger such spaces near "downtown". I didn't really check the Riverside Park "drip" but in a relatively brief foray in that park, it seemed somewhat less-active to me than the bird scene in Central, and especially compared with the southern half of Central which was fairly active all day and appeared to hold a bit more of the newest arrivals, as may have been so on Sunday 4/15 as well. Not that I've heard about any in Manhattan, or even in NYC so far, but Whip-poor-will is a species that is possible in this sort of mid-April mild-weather migration, and I have seen some reports from north of NYC as of this day or just recently - it's by far the most-likely of the 3 caprimulgids quite this early, and of course one of the others is much more scarce in our region. Some of the below arrivals have been mentioned by others in recent days, & I don't know exactly what the 1st arrival dates may have been, but likely a bunch were new just today or poss. Sunday) Central Park, Monday 4/16 (a full day) Common Loon (a few v. early fly-overs) Pied-billed Grebe (one still on reservoir) Double-crested Cormorant (many at res., & fly-overs, etc.) Great Blue Heron (several, incl. an early-bird at the res.) Great Egret (many,incl. 10 on the res. dike at first light) Snowy Egret (a few, incl. one on res. dike's n. side, 6 am) Green Heron (several, in several locations around park) Black-crowned Night-Heron (multiple locations, incl. res.) Glossy Ibis (fly-by at res.- a v. uncommon sight over C.P.) Turkey Vulture (a few fly-overs, mid-day) Canada Goose Wood Duck (2) Gadwall Mallard Northern Shoveler (almost all moved out) Bufflehead (mainly or only left at the res.) Ruddy Duck (res. & Meer) Osprey (one fly-over, mid-a.m.) Sharp-shinned Hawk (fly-over) Cooper's Hawk (early fly-over) Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon (n. end, high fly-over) Spotted Sandpiper (2 at res. - part-time on the dike there) Laughing Gull (at least one on res., a.m.) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (mainly on res. plus some fly-bys) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo (VERY early for Central, & generally) Chimney Swift (not so many yet in my observations anyhow) Belted Kingfisher (n. end) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (fairly good movement, continued) Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker (n. woods) Northern [Yellow-shafted] Flicker (fair movement, early a.m.) Eastern Phoebe (v. few in my observations, less than recent) White-eyed Vireo (1, a bit vocal at 7 am, e. edge of Ramble near cat statue) Blue-headed Vireo (fairly common now, but not peak just yet) Warbling Vireo (2, perhaps more singing from CP breeding areas: lake- side) Blue Jay (still moving including diurnal migrators passing thru) American Crow Tree Swallow (a few, mainly v. high as is somewhat typical in CP in migration) Northern Rough-winged Swallow (a few, Lake/Res./Meer) Barn Swallow (modest no's. esp. later in day at res.) Black-capped Chickadee (2 remaining) Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (just a few that I came up with) Carolina Wren House Wren (2) Winter Wren (still in force) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (in numbers, fem's. incr.) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (not as many as hoped-for yet) Hermit Thrush (many, esp. in those rare "quiet" areas) American Robin (all around; also still passing through!) Gray Catbird (a couple, and likely the first few arrivals) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (in growing numbers just lately) European Starling ... warblers Monday: Orange-crowned Warbler (reported. for the north end: Tom Perlman) Nashville Warbler (at least two singing, one seen, E. 72 St. area, a.m.) Northern Parula (several singing and seen) Yellow Warbler (a few, also singing occ. at the Meer & the Pool, a.m.) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (common enough, but not their peak) Pine Warbler (a few; & saw more females today) Prairie Warbler (the well-seen one in the Ramble, and singing a lot...) Palm Warbler (many in trees, as is typical in busy CP) Black-and-white Warbler (a few locations, all males) Worm-eating Warbler (1, west side from 73 - 76 Sts., early-mid a.m.) Northern Waterthrush (confirmed in Loch, seen singing, typical song) Louisiana Waterthrush (several locations) ... (Ovenbird ? - heard a rumor again, but did not see, nor hear this bird.) (Common Yellowthroat ? also rumored again but did not see nor hear.) (& any -) others?? ... Eastern Towhee (nice numbers) Chipping Sparrow (plenty all around, many in trees as is typical in CP) Field Sparrow (multiple locations) Savannah Sparrow (multiples in a few widely separated locations) Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow (more than a few! - incl. some far from wetter areas) White-throated Sparrow (very numerous) Dark-eyed [Slate-colored] Junco (still a bunch passing thru) Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird (few staying in) Rusty Blackbird (one female in matte-black plumage, Loch, mid-day) Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird (a couple) Purple Finch (a few moving by in a.m., some singing / calling a bit) House Finch American Goldfinch (chatterboxes continue) House Sparrow -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
