As noted partly below, there is a major migration underway for Saturday, -by actual birds that are moving and observations of millions of migrants, through all of the northeast of the North American continent. (radar, too.)
- - - - Friday, 23 August, 2019 - Manhattan, N.Y. City - including Central, Riverside, & multiple other parks Modest migration detected both in new / overnight arrivals, and in diurnal flight past Manhattan points. Numbers of individuals were good for a small no. of rather common-widespread species, most migrants were in small or very small no’s., as noted. A Yellow-breasted CHAT appeared in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields; it was still in that area into mid-afternoon, although very elusive most of the time BUT many observers have viewed it as of mid-p.m. on Friday. A male Mourning Warbler was seen well at Central Park’s northwest corner, but only in a.m. hours, not re-found by mid-afternoon in that area. Arrivals of warbler species also include Black-throated Blue in a few locations including in Central Park’s Ramble and n. end. Uncommon for N.Y. County generally, a pair of Blue-winged Teal made their way down the East River, from north of E. 108 St, possibly headed southeast, in a.m. rain-showers; at the Sherman Creek & Swindler Cove Park on the Harlem river off the e. end of Dyckman St., Manhattan, a flock of Semipalmated Plovers were again seen, with some of other species that have been there recently - and at least 1 Semipalmated Plover also appeared at Inwood’s mudflats at the far northern edge of Manhattan. For some of the passerine migrants, there was a sense of slow-moving, ongoing movement, thru all the showers & drizzles - which went on partially to after noon. Also, there were more than 50 warbler “sp.”, some of which were likely American Redstarts, high in the sky at first-light; however, some also were other species of Parulidae, our American warblers. And some sounded as though possibly more of the boreal-breeding group that includes Cape May & Bay-breasted as well as Blackpoll. One of the preceding was found very late in the day in Central Park’s n. end. The flight from Thursday evening into Friday was very likely just a ‘vanguard’ of a somewhat heavier, broader migration for the weekend’s cool-to-cold front. Thanks to the 35-40+ folks who were out on the prowl for migrants & all manner of birds to see and to quietly enjoy on a changing-weather day. Other species; migrants, fly-overs as well as stop-ins, & resident or summering birds included (and were hardly limited to these): Cape May Warbler (brilliant adult male, Central Park - Great Hill, ~ 7 p.m., with slight sun on east slope) Tennessee Warbler (at least several) Northern Parula (at least several) Worm-eating Warbler (at least several) Ovenbird (several) Northern Waterthrush (multiple; a few far from water in a.m.) Louisiana Waterthrush (at least 2) Black-throated Blue Warbler (several) Black-throated Green Warbler (several) Blackburnian Warbler (at least 3 in 3 distinct sites) Prairie Warbler (at least several) Blue-winged Warbler (at least several, likely more) Yellow Warbler (multiple, in various parks) Chestnut-sided Warbler (at least several) Magnolia Warbler (at least 2, 2 locations) Black-and-white Warbler (multiple) American Redstart (numerous in some locations) Mourning Warbler (male, Central Park’s northwest woods, a.m.-only) Common Yellowthroat (multiple but not very many) Hooded Warbler (at least several, in both male & female plumages) Wilson's Warbler (at least 2) Canada Warbler (multiple - in multiple parks) & Pied-billed Grebe (early-ish; not at all unprecedented for date/NYC) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose American Black Duck Blue-winged Teal (fly-by pair, as noted above) Northern Shoveler (also fly-bys at East River) Osprey Bald Eagle Cooper's Hawk Broad-winged Hawk (3 fly-bys mid-afternoon) Killdeer Semipalmated Plover (Sherman Creek area, Manhattan, as noted above) Greater Yellowlegs (fly-bys, a.m.) Lesser Yellowlegs (fly-bys, calling as were their congeners) Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Common Tern (thank you to all observers of these fine NY County birds) Laughing Gull (few noted) Ring-billed Gull [American] Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull ['feral'] Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove American Kestrel Yellow-billed Cuckoo (several locations; 3 parks) Chimney Swift (some flocks & some seemed to be moving on; over 50 were counted, by ones, in the later afternoon over just Central Park’s NW quadrant) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (increased and some in southbound diurnal migration seen from near both the East, & Hudson rivers along Manhattan island) Belted Kingfisher (several in 2 parks, & likely more are around by now) Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-shafted Flicker Olive-sided Flycatcher (Central Park n. woods near Blockhouse, a.m./p.m.) Eastern Wood-Pewee Willow Flycatcher (heard calling and seen doing so) Empidonax [genus] Flycatcher (at least several, non-vocal & unid. to species) Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird (multiple, including some moving in the morning) Yellow-throated Vireo (1, Riverside Park’s northern end, iW. 117-18 Sts. area) Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo (multiple) Blue Jay Common Raven (several!) American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow (on the move) Northern Rough-winged Swallow (2) Bank Swallow (on the move) Barn Swallow (many, some on the move) Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet (a single at East River edge park, north of E. 106th) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (multiple) Veery (at least several locations) Swainson's Thrush (a singleton in Central Park) Wood Thrush (multiple, may include a few that are migrators on passage) American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing (multiple, but many nested, & have stayed nearby) Scarlet Tanager (more than a few now) Chipping Sparrow (these almost certainly from fairly local nestings) Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow (summered & still around in Central Park) Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak (multiple, but not many) Indigo Bunting (2 seen) Bobolink (a.m. fly-bys) Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole (multiple, including 5 or more early a.m. fly-throughs) House Finch Purple Finch (unexpected, but not unprecedented; 1 female-type, Riverside Park, n. section) American Goldfinch House Sparrow Ongoing movements through the day on Friday 8/23, & it should be good to watch for Common Nighthawks moving, all through the rest of this month. Plenty of butterflies and other invertebrate life ongoing in the Manhattan parks, greenspaces, & urban-refugia, despite some rain and drizzles - indeed, the added moisture can get some insect life re-invigorated and did not seem to hold back too many birds, either! _ _ _ _ "We look at science as something very elite, which only a few people can learn. That's just not true. You just have to start early and give kids a foundation. Kids live up, or down, to expectations.” - Dr. Mae Jemison (first African-American woman into space; NASA mission of Sept. 12, 1992) good 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/ --
