Sorry, Tom - was writing of squabbling sparrows - so don’t all rush to the already crowded Bryant Park just to see Common White-throated Sparrows.
And you’re done the right thing in pointing out your Catbirds were “Grey”, less anyone think the US has been inundated with a rare influx of “Black" Catbirds which followed me home from my recent trip in the Yucatan (^: Like, you I also didn’t observe any Grey Catbirds in the beginning of the week - they appeared later - and still in numbers much lower than last year. Alan Subject: re: Bryant Park From: Thomas Fiore <tom...@earthlink.net <mailto:tom...@earthlink.net>> Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 07:55:00 -0500 X-Message-Number: 2 hi Alan & all, I think I know that you were referring to the (somewhat common-in- Manhattan's Bryant Park) White-throated Sparrows - but with the capitalized 'C' & 'W' you -perhaps very unintentionally!- listed a bird that is indeed common - Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) - but, it's common in Europe & some of northern Asia in summer moving to south Asia and Arabia, Africa in winter, & would be an "ultra-mega"- rarity in the North American or western hemisphere region; this nys list is looked-at by birders from other areas too, so a few might be wondering in say, Ireland or Finland or even Greenland, 'wow do the yanks really get that bird over there in New York?' - &, as far as I know, we don't (but will see you & the ten-thousand-other birders in the nw corner of Bryant Pk., if it turns out that we do :-) By the by, there seemed to be a modest up-tick in Gray Catbirds in Central Park (Manhattan, NYC) in the last few days, in selected spots, unless it was simply that a dozen or so had been present thru that larger park, & came to prominence with changes in weather, or for other reasons; I suspect new, modest, arrival of them from points north, however. Thank you for your reporting, good to hear what's doing in that so-busy park that gets so many interesting birds thru a year. Lincoln's Sparrow is a darned-good December find in NY. --------- Date: 12/2/16 11:26 pm From: Alan Drogin Subject: [nysbirds-l] Bryant Park This week I checked the birding action of Bryant Park for signs of scavenging among the food vendors in Bryant Park this winter. Unfortunately, the increase in booths, expanded ice rink deck eating area, and view-blocking two-story lounges, along with the larger crowds, have walled in/off many of the garden areas. That and the recent clearing of underbrush have rendered these areas nearly dead zones compared to years past where the birds had easy egress to hide after raiding the fallen crumbs left behind by hungry shoppers. Except for pigeons and fearless House Sparrows, most of the bird action has moved to the peripheral areas. There was a Hermit Thrush on the southern border and the typical Catbirds, although fewer in number at the northwest corner along with a Swamp Sparrow being bullied by the larger Common Whitethroats. A surprise was a Lincoln Sparrow skulking in the southwest corner, could be the same Id seen in that area for a few weeks about a month ago. Happy Birding, Alan Drogin - - - - - 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
