Many of those subscribed to this list may be very aware that a Common Greenshank has been seen again, in New Jersey’s Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, near the Atlantic ocean shore; this bird’s been looked-at now by quite a lot of birders, from multiple states, and should it continue could potentially be sought by thousands of birders, eventually. It’s not been constantly seen at that site, however, as it’s been noted moving about in the large areas of habitat within the refuge. While a common-enough bird for the ‘old world’, here in the western hemisphere it is fairly rare, particularly in or near the e. coast of N. America.
Staying with southern New Jersey, a good many Cave Swallows were noted from the Cape May area, Thursday/26th; that species have been reported in other more-southerly states over recent days as well. (The numbers from Cape May & vicinity were in the 50+ range for the day.) And Cave Swallow[s] are now getting into NY state as well - but just how many, & where? ----------------- Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Thursday, 26 October, 2017 - There was supposedly some sort of a front scheduled to come through around here… ? (did anyone detect it… yep, there were some showers & some wind that may have even been out of a northerly place, but - this is not your dad’s (gramma’s, uncle’s, older sister’s) “cold” front… if anything, this felt like how a “cold” front feels when it reaches the Florida Keys - in September. And without the early duck movement. (however, in a couple or more spots in central-west New England, there was a bit of waterbird fallout, although that evidence of birds *maybe* moving south, a little, could be contrasted with the White Ibis photographed the other day in w. Massachusetts, & only now being more widely noted to birders… such is our region’s ‘southbound’ - or, autumn … season, in some respects. So, after watching & listening a while for things-with-wings from a lookout in Central Park, I chose to instead seek out some lingering birds, & what’s been lingering, in variety - or, perhaps, also pushing thru, as Wed. night’s migration down thru at least as far east as Manhattan seemed to be, well, happening thru the night. For flight that was visible, not much in smaller birds - yet in 9 hours afield, only briefly interrupted for a little lunch, there are at least 15 warbler species in 1 Manhattan park and All Hallow’s Eve, a.k.a. Halloween, is five days off. It’s happened before, & maybe it will be happening more in years to come… or, - ? Many of the warblers seen today were in locations either near, or very near where seen over the past 1 or 2 weeks, and at least some seem to be lingerers. However, some also may have only just turned up, as rather subtle ‘pushes’ of late migrants can be hard to detect as such, if not accomapnied with major or more-obvious waves of seasonally-typical avian-accomplices… it’s plausible that some, maybe even most, of these late-ish lingerers could stick around a bit longer. And none is truly late in terms of records for the region - I have seen (& in many instances, photo-documented) almost all of the species noted herein, on regional CBC’s (Christmas Bird Counts) over the past 3 decades, & seen a few other species of warblers on those besides - i.e. there are records to (& sometimes well past) mid/late December to early January for all of these in our SE NY area, & (for a good many) also rare records in December north, even occasionally well north, of the N.Y. City region.(C.B.C. archives will indicate some of all this.) Also among Manhattan (& N.Y. City) C.B.C. records that I’ve been part of / witness to, is Scarlet Tanager - thus one of those in Central on Oct. 26, while quite “late", is placed in perspective with what is genuinely, really late & that much more notable for a later date record. The tanager seen today was in the Pinetum area, which has a tendency to attract, & occasionally hold, some interesting late-ish (or rare) species of migrants or vagrants (as there was a record of Western Tanager from the Pinetum many years ago, which since its demise, at that location one frosty night, is held now in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History, for the sake of a physical record that can be studied by scientists & researchers.) … Much more often, at the Pinetum area, will be found some warblers, & occasionally other late-ish songbirds lingering well past expected fall dates, in company of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers - which can be prolific & active there, amongst tall old Siberian Elms that both give sap and equally importantly, may harbor some insect life past when a lot of other trees are able to offer such bounties in the park. Some of the sightings for Thursday in Central Park; N.B. some of these warblers & other birds seen as well by additional observers. I covered all of the park’s sections from north to south, west to east, & again back to the n. end in the hours from early morning to end of the day & that rain that came down heavily in other parts of N.Y. City on Thursday? - not at Central Park. Orange-crowned Warbler (1 in the Ramble’s eastern section) Nashville Warbler (2, one at the Great Hill, a 2nd at Strawberry Fields) Northern Parula (minimum of 3: one: n. woods; one: Pinetum area; & one: Hallett Sanctuary) Magnolia Warbler (minimum of 4, including an adult female; others were first-year plumages) Cape May Warbler (minimum of 2, in 2 separate locations where the species has often been this month) Black-throated Blue Warbler (minimum of 3, all seen were not adult males, & perhaps all females) Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] Warbler (several in n. end, 1 near Turtle Pond, & 2 more south of 72 Street) Black-throated Green Warbler (minimum of 2, a fall male, and a first-fall female) Pine Warbler (minimum of 6, esp. evident in 2 areas where they’ve often been recently) Palm Warbler (minimum of 15, including 6 seen simultaneously on 1 large meadow) Black-and-white Warbler (probably-lingering female in Ramble) American Redstart (female, Hallett Sanctuary) Ovenbird (several locations, & minimum of 3) Northern Waterthrush (lingering at least at The Pond; another had still been at The Pool to at least Wed.) Common Yellowthroat (at least several, 4 locations, including 1 adult male still lingering in same place) Additionally seen on Thursday, Oct. 26, Central Pk: Pied-billed Grebe (reservoir) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron (continuing) Canada Goose Brant (small no., flying S-SE) Wood Duck Gadwall (in numbers) American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Bufflehead (drake, reservoir) Ruddy Duck (mainly reservoir) Cooper's Hawk (hunting in the park) Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon American Coot (multiple, reservoir) Laughing Gull (getting a bit late for this park; reservoir) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (all 3 typical gulls at reservoir) ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (multiple) Downy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker (multiple) Eastern Phoebe (few) Blue-headed Vireo (4, in 4 locations) Red-eyed Vireo (rather late, n. woods) Blue Jay (many) American Crow (15+) Black-capped Chickadee (several) Tufted Titmouse (few) Red-breasted Nuthatch (2, Pinetum area) White-breasted Nuthatch (several areas) Brown Creeper (2) Carolina Wren Winter Wren (at least 6) Golden-crowned Kinglet (8+) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (12+) Hermit Thrush (20+ locations) American Robin (many areas) Gray Catbird (several locations) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (multiple areas) European Starling Cedar Waxwing (40+) Warblers (15 species, fully noted above) Scarlet Tanager (1 female, noted above) Eastern Towhee (multiple) Chipping Sparrow (300+, very conservatively) Field Sparrow (several) Song Sparrow (many) Lincoln's Sparrow (1 noted by me; others seen elsewhere) Swamp Sparrow (many) White-throated Sparrow (in modest numbers, park-wide) White-crowned Sparrow (2) Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco (25+) Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (non-adult, near C.P. Zoo) House Finch American Goldfinch (I noted just 2 today) House Sparrow An additional Central Park note: many flowers that had been in full bloom were, as is typical around this time in late October, removed by staff & volunteers from the Conservatory Garden’s south garden area; a very few plants in bloom may have been allowed to remain; other flower removals will likely follow, perhaps soon in the north garden. Those flowers had been providing nectar, shelter and other important qualities to many thousands of insects over the past week alone. Flowers are pulled out on a schedule, so that the beds may be prepared for spring bulbs &/or other planting-prep. --------- Here’s a bird-list from Pelham Bay Park, Bronx Co. NYC, on Tuesday Oct. 24th, with photos of Nelson’s Sparrows, Pectoral Sandpipers & plenty more, as reported by M. Benoit via eBird - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40120045 … the 4 (to possibly 6) Nelson’s Sparrows, & the 2 “Pec’s”, were seen & photographed in the reeds & grasses of Turtle Cove at P.B. Park. An uplifting piece in the N.Y. Times on artistry in the neighborhood where Jean James Audubon was laid to rest, yet still lives on, in the spirit of creative painting of birds of many species: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/opinion/audubon-public-art-nyc.html?_r=0 Good & respectully quiet birding to all, 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/ --
