Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Friday through Monday, 13th to 16th October, 2017 -
Having a very small part in a project on which Roger Pasquier, PhD has a role within one of his (not my) specialties, art-history, I’ve been getting into a few areas of the park I don’t wander as regularly each day out birding; some areas, as expected, have not yielded too much in either diversity or numbers of migrants, but any corner of the park can yield surprises. It’s also been great to observe the most constant natural features of the park in sharper detail, its rock outcroppings & varied landforms (& a shout-out to Dr. Peter LeTourneau, PhD, who gave such an excellent talk -ahead of Noah Strycker’s delightful program on his “biggest year”- at a September meeting of the Linnaean Society of New York; Dr. LeTourneau, who is a regular C.P. birder, is also a geologist & has recently been working & publishing on the traprock ridges in central Connecticut), as well as the great variety of large, old trees growing all around Central (shout-out to Ned Barnard & Ken Chaya for the ground-breaking, unprecedented, and superbly-crafted Central Park Tree Map project) - which are so much a part of a majority of birding efforts put in here -in addition to all the many other plantings, newer & (some much) older, in every section. For sheer (& in my opinion, stunning) diversity of native plantings, the recently-refurbished Hallett Sanctuary has been wonderful, and helps illustrate what attractors native plants can be for native birds. That there is a terrific diversity of plants (all recently-added species therein being native to N. America, & most to the eastern U.S.) can’t hurt the odds that a wide variety of birds have been utilizing this small gem of a quiet-space (not open to the public before 10 a.m. nor after 5 p.m., but between those hours on a daily basis, at least in non-winter months) & the list of birds found there may only grow, as years pass - it also has potential for some further breeding-bird actvity as the fenced-gated aspect of the sanctuary is helpful in that regard. Of course it is also recognized that some of the visual features of Central Park, including even a few large boulders’ placement, are very much the result of the design-work of the park’s founding builder-architects, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead, that is: the earth was moved, and features of the land worked-on at the time of the park’s creation; more-modest works have continued there sporadically since. At least 18 Warbler species on Friday, 10/13, from a walk taking in most of the park from north to south end & back again to the north end, over a course of ten hours. Among the mini-hot-spots was a section of the bridle path by the E. Drive, near 97th-101st Sts. which is rarely-birded, but occasionally is productive for migrants. I also covered the area of The Pond & Hallett Sanctuary, spending about 2 hours around there; while fairly good for warblers with 11 species just in & around the sanctuary & Pond edges - including Blackpoll, Magnolia, Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart & several Black-throated Blue & Black-and-white Warblers - I did not find a Hooded Warbler, a male-plumaged individual having been seen there on Wed., Oct. 11th (from a fellow birder) - which is a fairly late date for the species. Friday also produced multiple sightings at the recently-opened meadow, planted with native wildflowers, north of the C.P. Zoo’s north gate (& just on the n. side of the E. 65th St. Transverse Road), with several warblers there of interest - Orange-crowned, in particular, as well as N. Parula, Black-throated Blue, Common Yellowthroat, & Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warblers. In the northern parts (especially) of the park, earlier on Friday, were an impressive number of both Chipping Sparrow & Palm Warbler, the former in excess of 300, and the latter in the 100+ range - a location where each of these was abundant was along the outer-perimeter edges of the North Meadow ballfields, & esp. on & near its’ south & west perimeters. To my sense, these appeared to be fresh, overnight arrivals to the park, despite overall feeling that the night prior had featured more exodus than arrival of migrants. Also in just-increased numbers were Song Sparrow, with up to 75 seen in total from the n. to s. ends of the park, in 10 hours walking. A few scattered locations in the southern third of the park had fair-sized Spizella [genus] sparrow flocks, with Chippings, as expected, the obvious majority. Quite late in the day, it was a delight to find a highly-diverse group including young kids & “kids of all ages” (i.e. to & beyond senior-adult age) enjoying a lot of migrants, in quiet reverie, on the Great Hill (and around the n. end of the park generally), under the able leadership on a walk with Gabriel Willow, just one of the bird-walk guides with the non-profit N.Y. City Audubon Society (NYCAS). Among the many birds they were enjoying were Cape May & Black-throated Blue Warblers as I came along on my day-long trek thru the park; other sightings with this group had included a “late” E. Wood-Pewee, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, House & Winter Wrens & more than 3-dozen additional species of birds, all enjoyed in one afternoon. Saturday, 10/14 featured a Marsh Wren seen at Turtle Pond mid-day, by a number of us gathered there, the wren first spotted by Mike Freeman, & further confirmed with Danielle Gustafson. There were still at least 15 warbler species in the park overall, a good number on the date. Some were respresented by just 1 or 2 individuals, again including Orange-crowned, Blackpoll, Chestnut-sided, & American Redstart. The strong showing by Cape May Warbler continues its fantastic run this season (& year) with at least 8 still present Sat. in at least 3 main locations, north end & Pinetum as well as within the Ramble-region. Sunday, 10/15; an E. Wood-Pewee had persisted for nearly 2 weeks in a row at the Shakespeare Garden, mid-park; not all that notable but certainly most of this species has moved on, by now. This bird occasionally vocalized & confirmed its identity to species (i.e., not a Western; [N.B., a Western Wood-Pewee was audio-recorded & banded this fall at site in New England]). Monday, 10/16 —— Still a smattering of Warblers, but fewer & farther-between - even for Palms. There was what seemed to be a small-ish flight of Yellow-rumped Warbler early this day, as well as some other light movement by various migrants - perhaps, mostly shorter-distance types of migrants. Found yet again at The Pond, in the SE corner of the park: Northern Waterthrush, which has (presumably) been there for quite a while by now. Also seen today (& running later), a Chestnut-sided Warbler, in the SE part of the Ramble, not far from The Point. Additional warblers included Magnolia (happy to point Jordan Spindel to the direction for that, & that he re-found it too), Palm (15+), Black-and-white (2), Ovenbird, Pine (6+, with at least 3 in the area just east of Turtle Pond), Cape May (minimum of 5, 2 at the Great Hill, 3 -varying plumages - still around the Pinetum’s tall elms), Blackpoll (3), Northern Parula (3, singles from the n. end, the Hallett Sanctuary, & later in the day at Strawberry Fields w. edges), Black-throated Blue (5+ including at the n. end, & one at the new meadow-plantings on the slope overlooking The Dene, which is near Fifth Ave. & about E. 65th St., also seen in Hallett Sanctuary, & much later on, just west of the Locust Grove, where I then encountered J. Spindel) & Black-throated Green Warbler (at the n. end, also seen & photo’d by T. Zahner). And, Common Yellowthroats (also greatly reduced in no’s. now), which made for 14 Warbler species on the day - park-wide & with a lot of effort, as well as knowing what sites to focus more attention to... A fair number of the migrants seen Monday were likely simply lingering, rather than just-arrived, including most if not all of the above-noted 14 Warbler species. Golden-crowned Kinglet, for example, was seen in a few sites where numbers were lingering, but not widely this day, otherwise. Hermit Thrush, so recently-common, was now more uncommon. Greatly diminished in overall numbers, all around the park, were such species as House Wren, Winter Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, all Catharus [genus] thrushes, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, even a lot of sparrows such as Chipping, Swamp, & most-numerous in both migration, & eventual winterers, White-throated Sparrow. Another indicator of lingering, White-crowned Sparrows which were still by the plantings at the knoll n. of the NE edge of the N. Meadow; Lincoln’s Sparrow at the wildflower meadow, the ‘Swampy' part of the Ramble, & in Strawberry Fields’ again. A modest movement of raptors (perhaps very modest compared with potential for now) Friday included 2 Bald Eagles, at least 4 Cooper’s Hawks (not hunting), & a few Sharp-shinned Hawks struggling a bit as the NW winds kicked up in the afternoon; I put in almost an hour on the upper floor of Belvedere Castle watching a rather foreboding sky, which contained much moisture & also featured very high clouds moving from the SW, while simultaneously the cold NW winds & much-lower cloud moved in from the NW. There were Blue Jays & American Robins pushing through in modest numbers even at that mid-day hour, & by far the best sighting (for rarity in Central), 2 American Pipits came thru, calling, circling the Great Lawn, while apparently deciding turf-grass was not their best option, & moving on south-SW again. Some Chimney Swifts came in to bathe/drink at Turtle Pond. Some of the recent duckage at the reservoir has moved on, while the hundreds of gulls appear to have included just the 3 usuals of the season, with Great Black-backed at times prominent in numbers, but in (most) mid-afternoons, also many Ring-billed & American Herring Gulls present there, as well as frequent fly-overs. Drake Wood Ducks continue at The Pond, reservoir, & (at least occasional on) The Meer, while N. Shovelers are about in lower numbers as are Ruddy Ducks & Gadwalls, plus the scattered usual few American Black Ducks. A full list of species may be forthcoming with the next report. -- Another (at least 2nd of this fall here) Ocola Skipper (generaly rare as far north as this, but near-annual in scant numbers in the NYC region, & occsionally farther north) was well-documented by Ken Chaya, on Tuesday, 10/10, at the Conservatory Garden in the park’s north end. From the photos, this was a female Ocola in good condition (often, but not always, such southern-stray butterfly vagrants can be in less-than-stunning condition & appearance, & can also confound those not familiar with them, on observing & attempting identification). Manhattan island also had another, perhaps slightly rarer skipper appear, a Long-tailed Skipper, also a southern-stray vagrant-immigrant; that sighting was from Tompkins Square Park in lower Manhattan & was also photographed as documentation for ID purposes, back in September. On Sunday, 10/15, four of us with interest in documenting butterflies & many other insects found these in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden, in mid-late afternoon: White M Hairstreak, Common Buckeye, Common Checkered-Skipper, & Ocola Skipper. These 4 were all extensively photographed. In addition we noted many Painted Ladys (& just 1 American Lady), many Monarchs, lots of Cabbage Whites, several Orange Sulphurs, a few Fiery Skippers, multiple Sachems (a skipper species), & a possible “mystery” skipper, which may turn out to be an atypical Sachem. There were still many scores of other insect species in the north & south portions of this well-flowered garden, including many kinds of flies, bees, wasps, & a few beetles, bugs, moths, & representatives of other insect groups. Thanks to Ken Chaya, Mike Freeman, & Ellen Michaels for a lot of photo-work & many interesting ‘bug’ discoveries. Good birding, & thanks to those respecting the birds, all wildlife, & their fellow-birders, 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/ --
