Friday, 18th March, & Saturday/19th, 2016
Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City
A few arrivals as of Friday that I managed to find included a singing
male Pine Warbler seen in a large American Elm at the western edge of
the mid-Mall area, in mid-afternoon; at least 2 Tree Swallows,
working the Lake, then (1 at) Turtle Pond, then over the Reservoir, &
finally over the Meer, as well as Winter Wrens (2), E. Phoebes (not
newly, maybe, but up to 6 locations from south to north ends), Golden-
crowned Kinglets, & most numerous, Yellow-shafted Flickers of which
more than 20 were encountered, most numerous in the north woods, which
often sees the highest no's. of them as a fresh migration passes in
the park. Also found were a few small flocks of (very hungry) Dark-
eyed Juncos, a couple of Field Sparrows, & minimal numbers of red Fox
Sparrow as well as the usual wintering White-throated Sparrows, a
couple of wintered-over Hermit Thrush, & a Brown Thrasher & Gray
Catbird in places where they'd been much of the winter. We'll likely
see a good many more of some of these in the next week or so,
excepting the latter three spp. which likely arrive in numbers in the
month or more following. Based on numbers of flickers (in particular)
there was a modest bit of migration movement Thursday night into Fri.,
although hardly of the sort that will be seen in just a few more days
or so.
A Horned Grebe has continued at the reservoir, along with as many as
dozen Double-crested Cormorants there. Duckage & other what-not on the
reservoir was somewhat limited, but still plenty of N. Shovelers, a
(lingering?) drake Red-breasted Merganser by its lonesome and motley
Ruddy Ducks, as well as some 8 or so Hooded Mergansers, the usual bevy
of Buffleheads, & also Pied-billed Grebe, increased no's. of D.-c.
Cormorants, a Coot or 2 of Americano vintage, & typical 3 gulls of the
season here. In geese, all I took note of were standard sized
Canadian; there were no other grebes seen - & rowboats by the hundreds
were plying the lake, as were tourists & other homind forms all 'round
the park on foot & some residents being pulled by semi-tame canids.
The Ramble & points south seemed a bit more bird-y in overall
diversity than did the northern realms, but it will all balance out by
the solstice, once we get beyond the coming equinox... and on the
subject of ambling in the Ramble, & esp. while the ongoing work keeps
a portion of it closed-off, it looks like the western end of the Gill
may require bleacher seating by May, judging the density of birders
sitting & standing at Laupot bridge alone (max. capacity about 6,
unless you like your birding NYC subway at rush-hour style... oh,
that's right, that's about what Central Park can be like at the height
of spring- it's still where a few birds can be seen though so over the
hill & into the dell to vireo's home we go. Also noted, as fly-abouts
getting flushed by boats, fisher-folks, etc. were a trio of male Wood
Ducks. A few Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers here & there are most likely
locally-wintered birds, not quite yet recent arrivals from far-away -
much the same for various others, such as Brown Creeper, or even
Winter Wren.
.................
Saturday's miscellany in Central included what seemed like slightly
less of some of the recent migrants, but still a couple of Golden-
crowned Kinglets in widely spaced locations, as well as a few of the
already-seen sparrows (red Fox, Field, a smattering of new/recent Song
arrivals, and the 1 or 2 Swamp which most likely wintered very
locally)... I spent less time this morning in the Mall area & was
unable to re-find Friday's Pine Warbler, but it may be lurking
anywhere, & of course some more will also likely arrive in the next 10
days or less. The numbers of Flickers in the park seemed down from
Friday as well, & E. Phoebes were in a few spots, also obviously
they'll be seen - in large numbers - in a short while. There were 2
Tree Swallows at the Meer in late morning, but seemingly not a whole
lot for them to feed on just yet. They are able to stand a bit of cold
weather, and the coming week promises real spring temp's, so these
migrants that have come in at an early-ish date will likely fare well,
once past Sun.-Monday's bit of a chill. The first butterflies have
already been reported by a couple of the park's all-around
naturalists, and there are many other insects that have emerged in the
warmth of the previous weeks, as well as lots of blooms on some trees,
shrubs, and (mostly non-native) herbaceous plants. So despite any
potential spring-equinox snow, there's a lot already in bloom, & food
for insectivorous birds.
Good last-of-winter birding, & thanks to the naturalist community
who've been seeing much all this month.
Tom Fiore
Manhattan
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