Van Cortlandt Park, western Bronx Co., NY A Pink-footed Goose seems to have been last observed at Van Cortlandt Park as of Dec. 29th; I know of no more-recent sightings of the species (for that site) since; a [Richardson's form] Cackling Goose has been continuing with one seen thru Monday Jan. 2nd, after 4pm, on the Parade Grounds field, as well as a single Snow Goose (at far north edge) at about the same time - the flocks of Canada Geese totaling over 1,000 & thus the possibility that other geese, including perhaps the "missing" Pink-footed or other species, may be in the vicinity and have just escaped recent detection in the known fields or at the lake of Van Cortlandt Park (there are a good many alternative areas for geese to gather, feed, rest both within that park & not far away.) There did however seem to be a general diminution of waterfowl in the past few days, with particularly fewer ducks on the VCP lake than had been for the Dec. 26th CBC & for a day or two afterwards. My (Mon. Jan. 2nd) visit to the Parade Grounds & lake was relatively hasty and late, 3:50-4:30 pm and thus any one bird (goose) might have been missed despite some scanning & walking.
------------------- At Central Park (Manhattan, NYC) on Monday, 2nd day of January, 63 species of (wild) birds were found (with those seen as singles noted; many of these in known areas, and a few that had been just-reported for the areas where seen); this was an 8-hour effort through all areas of the park, the 2 'surprise' species of the day were an American Woodcock (at the south end, photographed) & a Field Sparrow (north end, near the compost area), with some other species I'd not seen in most-recent outings still around in areas they'd been frequenting. Although no warblers were found, there have been a few species seen in rather recent days in parts of Manhattan, and there is a chance one or more species might be lurking within Central Park as well (nb, one or more of the Manhattan warblers were in smaller parks, but also "offshore" at Randall's Island in the East River; a few warbler species have been lingering in other NYC boroughs/counties as well). I've not sought nor seen any of these in this new year. The most- numerous CP species seen was White-throated Sparrow, not an unusual finding for this park in early winter. Thanks to the several birders who shared sightings on-scene in various areas, especially around the south end. Central Park, Manhattan January 2nd, 2017- Pied-billed Grebe (1) Double-crested Cormorant (2) Great Blue Heron (1) Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon (1) American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail (1) Green-winged Teal (1) Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck Sharp-shinned Hawk (1) Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon (1) American Coot American Woodcock (1) Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher (1) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (1) Blue Jay American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper (1) Carolina Wren (1) Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird (1) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (1) European Starling Cedar Waxwing Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow (1) [Red] Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Good birding and to a happy bird-filled New Year, Tom Fiore Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
