Thursday, 3 May, 2012 - Manhattan, N.Y. City Well what does one say for a day in which over 30 (thirty) species of wood-warblers were found, plus two hybrid forms of that group!?! It was a variety not seen all that much in recent years of spring migrations, while it must be said that the great many birders out & about all contributed to the ongoing finds through the day. There were also at least ten members of the Sparrow tribe present and including one much more scarcely seen that once was. In general, numbers of many regular migrants were good, some great. It seems there was again a good early a.m. flight that included any number of birds that simply moved on with the early foggy conditions. A fair number of these birds likely make it past the city in the earliest daylight hours before they settle in somewhere to feed & rest up. [P.S.- clarification on the Grasshopper Sparrow - that species while increasingly uncommon in the city is about annual, and has been seen many times in the past in Central Park, including a well-seen and well- reported individual in the park's north end in 2007. An excellent find of any year in N.Y. City.]
While a great deal of the excitement, and virtually all of the Manhattan coverage by birders ends up being at Central Park, there were a couple of late-day notables at Riverside Park, on Manhattan's far west edge - a male Kentucky Warbler and a singing male Cerulean Warbler were within ~ 200 yards or less from each other (the Cerulean very high in trees, the Kentucky going into a low shrub for a few seconds as I saw it, otherwise in low ground-cover. The Cerulean was in trees directly above the Peter Sharp volunteer house, just inside Riverside at 107 Street, and the Kentucky Warbler was in low vegetation along the inner perimeter wall & was close to about W. 109 St., just inside the park, & not singing but did call once after I saw it hop to a low shrub, then down & out of sight again. Otherwise Riverside Pk. seemed a bit quiet - but perhaps it had good activity earlier in the day. Here are just some of today's birds (of which I am aware): Snowy Egret (mainly fly-overs at north end) Green Heron Wood Duck (2) Bufflehead (few lingering) Ruddy Duck (few lingering) Osprey (1 fly-over at river - Hudson River) Peregrine Falcon (fly-over) Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper (reservoir) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (several) Chimney Swift (many) Ruby-throated Hummingbird Least Flycatcher (at least several) Great Crested Flycatcher (multiple) Eastern Kingbird (multiple) White-eyed Vireo (2) Blue-headed Vireo (many) Yellow-throated Vireo (few) Warbling Vireo (multiple) Red-eyed Vireo (increasing) Bank Swallow Barn Swallow House Wren (many) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (still in fair no's) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (few) Veery (many) Swainson's Thrush (increasing) Hermit Thrush (many) Wood Thrush (multiple) Gray Catbird (abundant) Brown Thrasher (a few) ... 31 or more species of wood-warblers! 30 or more in Central Park alone: 5/3. ... Blue-winged Warbler (many) Golden-winged Warbler (north end) 'Brewster's Warbler' (hybrid) 'Lawrence's Warbler' (hybrid; north end/Central Park) Tennessee Warbler (several) Nashville Warbler (multiple) Northern Parula (many) Yellow Warbler (many) Chestnut-sided Warbler (multiple) Magnolia Warbler (multiple) Cape May Warbler (several) Black-throated Blue Warbler (many) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (many) Black-throated Green Warbler (many) Blackburnian Warbler (multiple) Pine Warbler (few; females or 1st-year) Prairie Warbler (several) Palm Warbler (multiple) Bay-breasted Warbler (few) Blackpoll Warbler (few) Cerulean Warbler (Riverside Park; see above notes) Black-and-white Warbler (many) American Redstart (multiple) Worm-eating Warbler (2) Ovenbird (many) Northern Waterthrush (many) Louisiana Waterthrush (Pool) Kentucky Warbler (3: 1.n. end/C.P., 1/Bryant Park; 1/Riverside Park) Common Yellowthroat (many) Hooded Warbler (several) Wilson's Warbler (several) Canada Warbler (several) Yellow-breasted Chat (n. end, Central Park) Scarlet Tanager (multiple) Eastern Towhee (still good no's.) Chipping Sparrow (still good no's.) Field Sparrow (few) Savannah Sparrow (good numbers) Grasshopper Sparrow (lawn n. of Sheep Meadow) Song Sparrow (regular & resident) Lincoln's Sparrow (at least several) Swamp Sparrow (many) White-throated Sparrow (many) White-crowned Sparrow (few) Slate-colored Junco (1) Rose-breasted Grosbeak (many) Indigo Bunting (multiple) Bobolink (at least several fly-bys) Orchard Oriole (at least several) Baltimore Oriole (very common) American Goldfinch (v. common) (& the above is NOT a complete listing of all this day's sightings! ...and incidentally, at least several Mourning Warblers were found in points north of N.Y. City, with one being seen through the day only a few miles east from the NY state line at Greenwich, Fairfield County, CT as reported to that state's list by multiple observers there.) 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/[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/ --
