Date: Friday, 3 August 2012 (3:00p-7:25p) Location: Manhattan - Swindler Cove Park & Sherman Creek Observers: Including Jacob Drucker, Anders Peltomaa & Lila Fried Reported by: Ben Cacace
This upper Manhattan park is situated along the Harlem River at the end of Dyckman St. & 10th Avenue across the island from Fort Tryon Park. It was a banner day for Manhattan shorebirds. I checked the eBird.org database for shorebird sightings in New York County (Manhattan & environs) & the 5 species total was matched in a report from 25-Aug-2011. I'm sure this number has been bested but the the only accessible checklists are from eBird.org. Thanks to Jacob and David Barrett's reports over the past week on the shorebirds arriving at the creek. This is the highest number of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS I've seen on the creek. The low tide count was 250+ with a count by Anders from a different location of 300+. The species seen were: SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (4), KILLDEER (2), SPOTTED SANDPIPER (2), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (250) & LEAST SANDPIPER (2). Scanning the flock of peeps didn't reveal anything other than Semis. The Leasts showed up close to 6pm and were also seen by Jacob & Anders when they flew west along the creek. The Plovers were late arrivals seen after 5pm. Before leaving the park I spotted a group of 30+ CHIMNEY SWIFTS focussed on a building at Bronx Community College feeding above a building with a prominent antenna. By the time I left I noticed most of the birds were gone with a few stragglers at the same location. I didn't see any of the birds going to roost. While walking back to the Metro-North Station in University Heights I spotted 2 flocks of 150+ peeps flying north over the 207th St. Bridge and appeared to land on the north side of the bridge if they didn't carry on north & west towards Inwood Hill Park. The location where the birds disappeared to is marked on this Google Map < http://goo.gl/maps/FEguC >. ** Total species - 32 ** Weather for 3-Aug for New York, NY (2:51p-7:51p) < http://bit.ly/OQZVeg >: - Conditions: Mostly Cloudy - Temperature: 89.1 to 84.0 F - Wind direction: South - Wind speed: 10 - 13 mph (no gusts reported) Abundance categories from 'The New York City Audubon Society Guide to Finding Birds in the Metropolitan Area' published 2001. Abundance season is 'early Fall', mid July - mid September, and applies to all of New York City. 'Scarce' seen in habitat, but not daily [1 spp]: - Peregrine Falcon - 1; Adult low from the vicinity of the docks flying to the Bronx side. 'Uncommon' seen in small numbers; 1-3 per day in habitat [1 spp]: - Belted Kingfisher - 1 'Fairly Common' usually seen; 3-12 per day in habitat [10 spp]: - Great Egret - 1 - Black-crowned Night-Heron - 5; Incl. 2 first summer birds. - Killdeer - 2 - Spotted Sandpiper - 2 - Chimney Swift - 30; Seen late @ 6:50p. Focus is on antenna building near the location of the Bronx Community College. - Downy Woodpecker - 1 - Cedar Waxwing - 2; Adults with 1 constantly calling and looking around from a low exposed branch. - Yellow Warbler - 1; Female type plumage at the water feature inside park. - Northern Cardinal - 2 - American Goldfinch - 2 'Common' seen easily; more than 12 per day in habitat [20 spp]: - Canada Goose - 33 - Mallard - 22 - Double-crested Cormorant - 4 - Semipalmated Plover - 4; They showed up at 5:25p seen from the end of Compost Alley. - Semipalmated Sandpiper - 250; Initial count of 150 @ 3:10p. All birds resting at 5:05p at waterline between bldg & dock E of Compost Alley. Another group of 50+ arrived at 5:30p seemingly from the N along the river. - Least Sandpiper - 2 - Ring-billed Gull - 29 - Herring Gull - 2 - Great Black-backed Gull - 2 - Rock Pigeon - 6 - Mourning Dove - 6 - Eastern Kingbird - 1 - Blue Jay - 1 - Barn Swallow - 4 - American Robin - 6 - Gray Catbird - 2 - European Starling - 50 - Song Sparrow - 2 - Common Grackle - 2 - House Sparrow - 6 Taxonomic order: - Canada Goose - 33 - Mallard - 22 - Double-crested Cormorant - 4 - Great Egret - 1 - Black-crowned Night-Heron - 5; Incl. 2 first summer birds. - Peregrine Falcon - 1; Adult low from the vicinity of the docks flying to the Bronx side. - Semipalmated Plover - 4; They showed up at 5:25p seen from the end of Compost Alley. - Killdeer - 2 - Spotted Sandpiper - 2 - Semipalmated Sandpiper - 250; Initial count of 150 @ 3:10p. All birds resting at 5:05p at waterline between bldg & dock E of Compost Alley. Another group of 50+ arrived at 5:30p seemingly from the N along the river. - Least Sandpiper - 2 - Ring-billed Gull - 29 - Herring Gull - 2 - Great Black-backed Gull - 2 - Rock Pigeon - 6 - Mourning Dove - 6 - Chimney Swift - 30; Seen late @ 6:50p. Focus is on antenna building near the location of the Bronx Community College. - Belted Kingfisher - 1 - Downy Woodpecker - 1 - Eastern Kingbird - 1 - Blue Jay - 1 - Barn Swallow - 4 - American Robin - 6 - Gray Catbird - 2 - European Starling - 50 - Cedar Waxwing - 2; Adults with 1 constantly calling and looking around from a low exposed branch. - Yellow Warbler - 1; Female type plumage at the water feature inside park. - Song Sparrow - 2 - Northern Cardinal - 2 - Common Grackle - 2 - American Goldfinch - 2 - House Sparrow - 6 -- 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/ --
