I understand the Common Greenshank is again being reported this morning at Brig half way up the east dike on the wildlife drive that’s about half way ‘round.
Not a greenshank, but there’s been vesper, swamp, white crowned, and loads of savannah sparrows on landfill at Croton Point as well as a few pipits, meadowlarks, kestrel and harriers. Larry Trachtenberg Ossining From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas Fiore Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 8:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [nysbirds-l] Central Park, NYC 10/28-29-30 - Hooded & Yellow-throated Warbler, etc. Belated congrat’s & shout-out to Queens County Bird Club sparrow-skulker finders of the LeConte's Sparrow at Pelham Bay Park’s Turtle Cove, Peter Reisfeld, Jeff Ritter, and Bobby Veltri; thanks also to Jared Cole; that LeConte’s Sparrow ultimately seen or at least glimpsed by additional observers, through almost all the rest of Saturday, 10/29. A very nice sighting for Bronx County that was, indeed. Also & more obviously, congrat’s to the many who recently braved the crowds of birders to get to see the Common Greenshank staying on at Brigantine / Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in coastal New Jersey; there are a lot of tales being told of that bird & the birders who went to see it… an eastern U.S. “mega” in a true sense. Thanks for this discovery are due Sam Galick & Virginia Rettig, who found & photographed the Greenshank. You can see loads of photos -from loads of birders- of this individual, but here is one set (embedded into an extensive eBird list from later on in the 1st day that the greenshank was first reported, 10/23/‘17; these pix and the accompanying report are Tom Johnson’s, who is known to many on this list & now around the world as well: https://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40091881 ----------------- Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City Saturday-Sunday-Monday, 28-29-30 October, 2017 Thanks to Andrew Rubenfeld & friends for spotting a Yellow-throated Warbler** near the East Drive (park roadway) area of the East 79th St. Transverse Rd., just north of the Maintenance meadow section of the Ramble (it’s NE corner), & with other observers also being able to see this unusual fall visitor. This bird was seen 3 days in a row, with Sunday’s sighting by 7:20 a.m. - in rather ‘misty’ conditions, & then on Monday 10/30 (after the deluge, & ahead of the higher winds, in Manhattan), after at least one keen observer had a bit of a look for this, I happened on it - with a fair amount of effort - at Cedar Hill (east of the East Drive, immediately south of the E. 79th St. Transverse road) - however the Yellow-throated was flitting & flying all around that hill’s fairly broad expanse of conifers, plane-trees, & some of the other trees, & I last made sighting of this warbler as it appeared to go off & maybe over the Transverse to the north, possibly also to the *direction* OF the south wall of the Met. Museum of Art (wall-portion well within Central Park, that is) - or simply in the vicinity of the E. 79th St. Transverse. If it ‘sticks’, it may be a bird that moves about in that general area a lot (which is also fairly typical of most yellow-throated warblers that show in Central, although by far most are of spring occurrence.) ** This Yellow-throated Warbler is just as likely (as not) to be associated with what is shaping up as a fairly significant push of “wrong-way” sorts of migrants that have been showing up in eastern / coastal states over the past week or so, all the way northeast along the North American eastern coast into the Maritimes of Canada. (Yellow-throated Warblers included, with many other species of migrants showing just in the past week, in eastern CANADA - & also some in coastal northern New England, such as (notably) Fork-tailed Flycatcher (photos from New Brunswick, CANADA), Tropical Kingbird (photos from Nova Scotia, CANADA - 1st-time fully-documented provincial record, see: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist/S40099789 ), Dusky Flycatcher (also reported from Nova Scotia), and the “supporting cast” in just Nova Scotia select locations over the past week have additionally included multiples of: Y.-b. Cuckoo, numbers of at least Red-eyed, White-eyed, & Yellow-throated Vireos, various Catharus thrushes including late Veerys, & others, other warblers besides the multiple Yellow-throateds (of which several from Monhegan Island, off-shore Maine, but far more & of at least 2 races, in e. Canada; see below report for a hint of the numbers of that warbler species) - Hoodeds (in numbers, esp. notable for maritime Canada where they do not breed), & a total of well over 20 Warbler species in all, from even single-sites in e. Canada, as well as multiples of Summer (& some Scarlet) Tanagers, Rose-breasted & Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings (in the probable hundreds -in total- just from e. Canada, some single-site reports of dozens of Indigos), & Orioles, mainly Baltimore by reports, & lots of other migrants - far more may yet be discovered in coming days or weeks, as birders get out - & banding stations continue reporting as well… And also turning up inland lately (as well as coastally) are Cattle Egrets in numbers, with more of this latter species turning up daily (multiples are in Maine now, as an example) & much more; for a mere “sampler” of some of this “wrong-way” migration event see the incredible numbers of some species in this Nova Scotia report: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40159912 For those determined to seek out the rarer species, consider that Maryland just had it’s first-ever Shiny Cowbird and there’s been Common Ground-Dove in Quebec (Canada) recently, among some of the other unexpected migrants from southern places. Another species (an irruptive one) to keep in mind are that Red Crossbills are making a very strong showing into some Great Lakes & midwestern states, & (so far) to a lesser extent east, but they may start to be seen almost anywhere & there could be various forms on the move, in whatever areas they invade. ** …. So, back into Central Park in Manhattan, NYC(!) … had been ongoing Hooded Warbler (male-plumaged) seen again at the Great Hill’s w. edges, in & near the area known as the P.J. Sharp children’s glade, which is well-circuited with small paths & shrubby & un-mowed patches in a wooded edge; on Sat. seen by multiple observers; on Sunday seen in the morning at the far northern edge of the noted Peter J. Sharp glade, & then again Mon. morning (10/30), but back to the southern part of the Sharp glade, on the more SW portion of the Great Hill (this last being just up some stairs from a park entrance at West 103rd Street.) … the illegally off-leash dog & owner there Monday were sent running, by my threat to ‘sic’ park-police on the dog’s owner... Many other warblers also were continuing to at least Saturday/28th, with Orange-crowned, Nashville, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped [Myrtle], Black-throated Green, Pine, Palm, Black-and-white, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat. A late Tennessee Warbler was also reported by Tod Winston (& possibly other observers) on Sat./28th. A number of these were still in the park on Sunday, but by Monday/30th, I was unable to find most of these species, excepting as noted above for those much-rarer in late fall 2 species, & also Monday, Pines, Palms, Yellow-rumpeds [Myrtles], 2 Ovenbirds, & one Nashville- the last at the wildflower meadow’s e. edges. There may have been others around on Monday esp., perhaps, around the Great Hill, Cedar Hill, & the Pinetums (east & west). Various other species in the 3-day period of 28th-30th in Central Park were: Pied-billed Grebe (continued, reservoir) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Bufflehead (1 drake to at least Sat. on reservoir) Ruddy Duck Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon American Coot (5 continuing on reservoir, seen in group on Mon.,10/30) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove ** Great Horned Owl (has just been publicly reported, may or may not be same bird I saw earlier in Oct. in different part of park) ** Ruby-throated Hummingbird (reports of one from CP Conservany staffer - only presumed still this species! at Conservatory Garden Sunday 10/29) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Eastern Phoebe (rather few, but still present to Monday, 10/30) Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo (quite late now, Sat., 10/28) Blue Jay (many) American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Winter Wren Marsh Wren (s. edges of Meer, Sunday 10/29) Golden-crowned Kinglet (few) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (far fewer by Mon, 10/30) Hermit Thrush (still f.common to Sat. & then less-so by Mon. 10/30) Wood Thrush (1, C.P. Zoo grounds) American Robin (many) Gray Catbird (very few) Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (few) European Starling Cedar Waxwing (a few small-ish flocks noticed) Eastern Towhee (modest numbers, throughout) Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow [Red] Fox Sparrow (at least Saturday, 10/28) Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (at least 1, to Monday 10/30) Swamp Sparrow (fewer noted by Mon., 10/30) White-throated Sparrow (widespread) White-crowned Sparrow (2, to Mon., 10/30) Dark-eyed [Slate-colored] Junco (multiple) Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch (very few) House Sparrow There were still a minimum of ten species of butterflies seen in the Conservatory Garden of Central Park alone as of Friday-Saturday, 10/27-28. These 10 species were: Cabbage White, Orange Sulphur, Painted Lady (many), American Lady, Red Admiral, Common Buckeye (several), Monarch (many!!), & these skipper species: Sachem, Fiery Skipper &, on Friday 10/28, an Ocola Skipper documented by Ken Chaya in the south garden area. I’ve learned that the CP Conservancy / Conservatory Garden staff may extend the “grace” period for the Korean Chrysanthemum display at Central Park’s Conservatory Gardens (in the north garden, near Fifth Ave. & 105-106th Streets) to possibly almost mid-November, this being in part thanks to popular demand that the flowers there not all be pulled too soon. (In the south garden there, a majority of blooming plants in the central beds have been taken out, in prep. for spring plantings & bed-preparation). This is the largest single remaining show of flowers in bloom in this park at this season and can attract a lot of diverse insects - and N.B., MOST of those insects now being seen are NOT honey bees, many are flies in the family Syrphidae, which may mimic bees! (Close looks & some ID-skills may reveal this aspect.) Those regulars will know well, that for Central Park - and many points within the boroughs, of N.Y. City this coming Sunday (as well as prior days in Central Park, where the finish-line is located) there will be massive crowds, & crowd-control & so forth, for the annual NYC Marathon, coming right up… this most obviously affects the area of the finish-line, near West 67th Street in the park, but on the day, much of the park can be very busy, & helicopters with news-cameras and the like will also be a constant, particularly as the race-leaders approach & enter Central for the “sprint” to the finish. One can expect that in a few area, parks police, NYPD & so forth may re-direct some foot traffic, on Marathon-Sunday. Good -& quietly respectful- birding & observations to all. Tom Fiore manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- 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/ --
