There’ve been many species - & in some sense, almost all - that deserve special note, yet of all that’s passed thru just Central Park in the last several days, a Chuck-will’s-widow seen at intervals through the day on Friday (5/4) in the Ramble area rates very high, both for being unexpected in Central and a very sparsely-seen species in the state, or even region outside of a very few places where they breed, more so to the south of N.Y. state (or city); & thanks to all who noted & shared sightings of that one!
The rush and roar of all the migrants has again been quite impressive, hereabouts, while it’s also clear that many, including some of the southern-affinity species, have made their ways onward well north in many reports coming from all around New England, as well as the larger region - one notable example being Swainson’s Warbler reported in central Mass. the other day, & for Sat. 5/5 from Garrett Mtn. in n. New Jersey, as well as slightly less-surprising recent find in Cape May, N.J. - a rather cryptic species IF not singing, although it could be coming up into NY a bit more than is understood or noticed & not all birders are going to know that “chip” note call, without a sighting… There have been a modest movement of other southern-affinity species well to the north & east as well, some better-known in New England on such waves as this has been, such as Summer Tanagers, Blue Grosbeaks, & a number of other of such jumped-north migrants. It’s also obviously notable that as of even Friday, 32 Warbler species (& a hybrid form) of Warbler had been found and (mostly) widely-seen in just Central Park alone - with highlights amongst these including lingering Prothonotary, & Kentucky, Cerulean, Bay-breasted and Cape May and Hooded in the multiple, plus all the many others having been around in varying numbers, some certainly still in modest number, while others - Yellow-rumped [Myrtle] of course, in very strong movement. A bright male BLUE Grosbeak, in the Ramble (the Point), & a Yellow-breasted Chat appeared on the Great Hill early on Friday morning (near the n. side not too far from the hill-top restrooms) but was perhaps not re-found (or not by this observer) later, but might well be lingering in that general area, as Chats are sometimes prone to do - same for Blue Grosbeaks. At least 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers have continued, one’s been at the e. side in trees by the N. Meadow ballfields, and another seen by far more observers seemed to be staying within the Ramble, so far up thru this Sat. (5/5). The Sparrow diversity has been very good, with a Clay-colored seen Sat. (at & near Strawberry Fields s. side), Vesper at the N. Meadow (east side rocks) on Friday, & both Lincoln’s & White-crowned Sparrows in various locations, plus at least some of the more-common sparrows; even Slate-colored Junco was still being seen to Friday, if not again since. Also obviously notable have been American Bittern (perhaps one that had lingered, but as likely a fresh arrival moving in / thru, in the s. end of the park at The Pond, Thursday 5/3), Sora (at the bridge on the northwest edge of the Lake), Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (a species that seems to be more regular in very recent years in Manhattan), Glossy Ibis (early a.m. fly-by at the north end, moving on north however, Sat. 5/5), and fly-overs moving thru of all of the 5 ‘regular' swallows at the Reservoir (Cliff, as of Friday, Bank also on Sat. at the Meer, at least, the other spp. already having been regular), a modest mix of waterfowl that’s included “late” (not really) Atlantic Brant fly-overs, N. Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, & Red-breasted Merganser, along with more-expected spp., some raptors including Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, & a little more notably for spring, Broad-winged Hawk (Sat. 5/5) as well as the resident red-tailed hawks, and Am. Kestrels & Peregrines, at least 3 typical shorebird spp. - Least & Spotted & Solitary Sandpipers (all seen at the reservoir, but the latter 2 spp. as well in various locations), both Cuckoo species (and in fair numbers for each), flycatchers now adding Olive-sided (Fri., Great Hill), & a few more Empidonax, mostly (prob.) Least (some heard, some not) Flycatcher, also all of the 6 usual Vireo spp. with a Philadelphia at the north end (in woods near Blockhouse & west of) on Sat. 5/5; the others including White-eyed, & certainly Red-eyed Vireo increasing daily in the 3-day period of Thurs.-Sat., Thrushes now including a few Gray-cheeked & possible Bicknell’s types, none heard singing yet (by me, that is), with all of the other Catharus thrushes we expect also passing thru still, Summer (more than 2, at this point, with full-plumaged male[s], female, & young male all in 1 day on Thurs. 5/3) & Scarlet Tanagers as well as many Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and lots of Indigo Buntings, & a very good showing of Orchard Orioles along with more-common Baltimores, plus all of the many other migrants - surely including at least a few that I’ve failed to note here! Thanks to all of the many birders out & about & giving word-of-mouth updates on a number of the migrants. It’s been a very busy-birding several days. Certainly some of these migrants were also being found in other parks, & I’d even noticed a few (of the more-common) warblers in local street trees on Friday morning. Manhattan - these from just in Central Park, Thursday-Saturday, May 3-4-5: Common Loon (fly-overs, all 3 days noted) Double-crested Cormorant American Bittern (The Pond) Great Egret Snowy Egret (fly-bys, north end) Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Lake) Glossy Ibis (fly-by, n. end) Canada Goose Atlantic Brant (fly-overs) Wood Duck Gadwall Mallard Northern Shoveler Red-breasted Merganser (reservoir) Ruddy Duck Osprey (fly-over) Sharp-shinned Hawk (fly-over) Broad-winged Hawk (fly-over) Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Sora (Lake’s n. side) American Coot (1, Pond) Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Laughing Gull (mainly reservoir) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Black-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chuck-will's-widow (Ramble) Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher (Pond, Pool) Red-headed Woodpecker (2) Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (last noted 5/4?) Downy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Olive-sided Flycatcher (Great Hill) Eastern Wood-Pewee Least Flycatcher (at least several) Empidonax sp. (perhaps all Least) Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo Warbling Vireo Philadelphia Vireo (north woods) Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Cliff Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Veery Gray-cheeked / Bicknell's Thrush (either/or, non-singing, & scarce so far) Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (few) European Starling Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Brewster's Warbler Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Pine Warbler Prairie Warbler Palm Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Cerulean Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Prothonotary Warbler Worm-eating Warbler Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Louisiana Waterthrush Kentucky Warbler Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat (Great Hill, n.w. edge) Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow (strawberry fields area) Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow (n. meadow, e. edges) Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Slate-coloredd Junco (quite late) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak (Ramble) Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Thanks to those who practise ethical birding & who give all the migrants a chance to feed, rest, & recoup some energy to fly on to where they will be courting, nesting, & raising young. good May birding, 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/ --
