Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Thursday 28 January, & prior week+, 2016
At least 65 species of birds have been seen the past 10 days in Central Park, quite higher than most years in this same time period. Of particular note are an (perhaps more than 1 individual visiting) Iceland Gull that had been, which was still visiting the reservoir at least to this Tuesday (26th - a.m.), & could well be continuing to visit in the large no's. of gulls, averaging far more than 1,000 per day lately, that come & go at that location; a bit more regular (but still not at all common in Central) is a female Common Merganser, patrolling & feeding near the center dike in the reservoir all this morning, seen at about noon somewhat closer to the s. portion, & just on the w. side of the center dike. 2 Snow Geese seem to have moved on, they were present thru at least Sun. immediately after the storm's passage, but I was unable to find them again later that day. One drake Ring-necked Duck has been fairly regular, sometimes shows itself at the sunny edges, other times much more actively feeding at the reservoir. Also appearing at the reservoir are Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, and a couple of times in the past week, a Great Blue Heron. The ice is breaking up (or already has) at the reservoir, while taking slightly longer at most of the park's other water-bodies, but all will see more open water in the coming days. The typical / regular N. Shovelers, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks & other waterbirds all continue as well at the reservoir, some of them also at the lake, & will spread to where there's open water soon available elsewhere as well. The most recent 2 lingering warblers seem not to have been found since the snow, the more unusual for January being a Wilson's in the north end at both the Great Hill & adjacent Loch (ravine) areas, with some sightings also closer to the Pool; and an Orange-crowned (near E. 79th St.) which far more birders were able to see; it is still just possible for these to have survived in the area, & could yet turn up, but that is much less likely with both a big storm & the sub-freezing temp's. that have occurred. (Elsewhere in N.Y. City this month have been scattered sightings of multiple other warblers, including additional Orange-crowneds, Wilson's, Nashville, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Pine, Palm, as well as Myrtle/Yellow-rumped - there may have even been a few others.) Other recent-current birds of some note for the winter in Central include 2 Snow Geese, mostly at the reservoir with Canada Geese; Common Raven (including 2 low & calling flyovers 1/24, seen at the s. end flying due north), and Bald Eagle (flyover 1/19). More icterids are turning up with at least 1 Rusty Blackbird in the Ramble, a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, & some Red-winged Blackbirds joining the Common Grackle crowd that has been around all winter. A couple of Pine Siskins have showed, but only very briefly in the visits I know of at the feeders, & otherwise scarcely in other locations, esp. in sweet gum trees. (and I've not seen any Purple Finch in Central in a while. (Red) Fox Sparrows seem scarce this winter, but a very few have been around in the Ramble, & at both the south & n. ends of the park. Swamp Sparrow is typically scarce in winter in Central, & this year is like that, with at least 2 around, but just sporadic sightings. Snow Goose (quite rare IN park, regular but not too often-noted as passage migrants mostly in fall) Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Ring-necked Duck (1, reservoir; regular but uncommon winter visitor in Central Park) Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Common Merganser (female, reservoir, 1/28) Ruddy Duck Great Blue Heron Double-crested Cormorant Pied-billed Grebe Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Ring-billed Gull (extremely common this past week) Herring Gull Iceland Gull (1, at least to 1/26; reservoir; irregular winter visitor there, missed some years) Great Black-backed Gull American Coot Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (uncommon in winter) Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven (becoming somewhat regular in recent years) Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (often uncommon or irregular winter-resident) Carolina Wren Winter Wren (generally uncommon in winter, despite its name) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (uncommon in winter) Hermit Thrush (uncommon but regular in winter) American Robin Gray Catbird (uncommon in winter) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (uncommon in winter) European Starling Cedar Waxwing Orange-crowned Warbler (uncommon, & rare in mid-winter in Central Park, was present to Friday, the day ahead of the big snow.) Wilson's Warbler (rare in winter, unprecedented in Central Park well into January) Eastern Towhee (uncommon in winter) Fox Sparrow (rather scarce this winter, 1 today under the Great Horned Owl's tree) Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow (uncommon in winter) White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Rusty Blackbird (in Ramble - lately along Gill; uncommon & irregular winter visitor) Red-winged Blackbird (a few more starting to turn up this week) Common Grackle (no's. continue in park) Brown-headed Cowbird (modest numbers now in the park) Pine Siskin (singles & occ. 2 have visited feeders, only sporadically, sometimes just for a minute or two) House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow good el Nino-winter 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/ --
