Manhattan (in N.Y. County), N.Y. City - Thursday, Oct. 8 - A cold front passed early on the prior night, with a few showers locally, while a stronger rain came thru parts of New England also Wed. night; this front was pushed through all of the region on very gusty NW winds which continued all day.
21 species of American Warblers were found in Central Park alone on Thursday, 10/8, & many or all of those species were also found around all of the county, these included a few species now running a bit ‘late’, although none unprecedentedly so, & in keeping with many warbler spp. still being seen around the area & some quite a bit farther north as well, in recent days. (One species most definitely not seen, & has never been recorded in the 48 contiguous U.S. states, & in the Americas apparently just in the western & central Aleutians and associated far-west areas of the state of Alaska, is the Wood Warbler, a Palearctic (old world) warbler species [Phylloscopus sibilatrix], which is unrelated to the American Warblers, and which is not found breeding in the Americas. One citation & search result: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_warbler <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_warbler> ) Some other Phylloscopus-genus ‘old-world’ warblers do occur, some being very rare, at least one breeding, (Arctic Warbler) in parts of N. America -particularly Alaska & the west/northwest- but the Wood Warbler has not been seen in eastern North America. Further note on the American warblers moving through, all of the species noted from Manhattan & N.Y. County are also being seen in other N.Y. City counties / locations, some even in fair no’s. (overall) such as Yellow Warbler as one example. Many of these species are simply in slightly greater no’s. for the start of the 2nd week in October, as relative to their average or ‘typical’ peak autumn dates, which for many would be a bit earlier, a few spp. much earlier, such as (for example) Blackburnian, which are scarce now (& neither expected this late, nor at all unprecedented). We also continue to see the long-term effects of (in part) a series of years of strong spruce budworm outbreaks in boreal forests of N. America, much of that in eastern Canada, and that giving rise to increases in well-fed neotropical migrants when on their breeding grounds, including (but hardly limited to) such species as Tennessee, Bay-breasted, & Cape May Warblers, just to single out those in particular. This is an ongoing trend in parts of the great boreal forests, which (potentially) could go on for some years. A Wilson’s Snipe was photographed at the Great Lawn of Central Park, & with multiple observers; however this bird did not stay in place for the day. This cold-front arrival day featured a fairly strong diurnal migration / movement that went on for all of the morning, & to a lesser extent right on to the end of the day. Multiple observers saw PINE SISKIN into double-digit numbers in this park (also in other parks) on the day, including some spending much of the day in same areas; also seen were high no’s. of Purple Finch and there also were good no’s. of American Goldfinch. A Marsh Wren was still lingering at Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan. Several Rusty Blackbirds came into Central Park & Riverside Park (north sector), although this species may well have already been present. The multiple E. Meadowlarks seen moving past Manhattan (sadly a rarer sight in the county than had once been) are noted in the individual flight notes below; this species should still be watched-for in coming weeks; can be surprisingly skulking & even in open sports fields & such, can find small bits in which to hide themselves, the more so where taller grasses or shrubs are present. Waterfowl in (all of) Central Park for Thursday included at least 1 Ring-necked Duck (female or non-breeding male), 5 Wood Duck (in 3 locations), 3 Green-winged Teal, 65+ N. Shovelers, 18+ Gadwall, 54+ Ruddy Duck, as well as American Black Duck, Mallard, & Canada Goose; there were some fly-over Brant seen from the park as well, in the morning. Additional waterbirds - Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot (reservoir). Great Egret out at Randall’s Island, & Great Blue & Black-crowned Night- Herons in various locations. A flock of fly-over Killdeer was reported by A. Burke, with R. Pasquier, at Central Park (and these observers had a great morning-flight observation from Central Park with many, many other spp. of migrants recorded). There were many observers out & about at various times, and as has been so all this season, some great sightings also came from smaller parks & greenspaces in many areas. A selection of the birds seen in morning flight from near the Hudson River on the higher ground at Riverbank State Park, n. end near W. 144 St. and mainly counting birds in flight only) Brant [Atlantic form] (49, in several groups) Blue Jay (36+, a seemingly very light flight in comparison to some other recent days, but perhaps moving on other flight paths) Black-capped Chickadee (42+, some stopping briefly but most appeared to be moving steadily onwards) Tufted Titmouse (48+, as for chickadees) Pine Siskin (180+, minimal & conservative stationary-count, 5 hrs. thru 12:30, some stopping at least for some time in conifers at the site; still some movement into afternoon as well; also seen in double-digit no’s. at some other locations) … (N.B., this is perhaps 1/3 of the numbers seen from some NYC coastal locations on stationary counts for this same day. And less than 10% of what was seen for the species at - yep, Cape May, New Jersey, on the day… all of the wider region experienced some of this flight of Pine Siskins however, and numbers into triple-digits were no longer at all unusual for either flight-counts, or in some places, for birds seen feeding.) Purple Finch (55+, minimal & conservative stationary-count, 5 hrs. thru 12:30, still some movement into afternoon as well; also seen in double-digit no’s. at some other locations) American Goldfinch (68+ notes much as prev. species) E. Meadowlark (3 seen in flight moving south along the Hudson / Riverside Park, near W. 144 St. - one was also photo’d. at Inwood Hill Park’s ‘Dyckman St. ballfields’ [D. Barrett] Baltimore Oriole (3 in flight, southbound) Common Grackle (90+, several flocks) Brown-headed Cowbird (14+, a group of 11, then 3 more) Red-winged Blackbird (2) Yellow-rumped [all presumed Myrtle] Warbler (75+, which is perhaps a severe undercount, but for all that were low enough to be ID’d. by sight/sound, a reasonable undercount) Palm Warbler (30+, both forms represented in the flight) Various other species also moving in the diurnal flight over / past Manhattan island included: Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk (FEW), Red-tailed Hawk (possibly a migrant or two of this also-resident-in-NYC species), Laughing Gull (few), Ring-billed Gull, American Kestrel (likely some migrants, while this is also a resident NYC-breeding species), Merlin, Peregrine Falcon (perhaps only residents seen, but this is also a peak-migration period of October), Chimney Swift (100+), Hummingbird species (1, presumed Ruby-throated!), Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker (small no’s. on the move), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (small no’s. still moving in early hours), Hairy Woodpecker (1, uncommon for Manhattan as a diurnal migrator -?), Yellow-shafted Flicker (no massive movement, 24+), Eastern Wood-Pewee (modest no’s., perhaps 6-8), Eastern Phoebe (modest no’s. for the date, 25+), Blue-headed Vireo (2), American Crow (14), Tree Swallow (1), Red-breasted Nuthatch (6+, also ongoing in multiple locations including in on-site conifers), White-breasted Nuthatch (3 or 4), Brown Creeper (2), Winter Wren (1, low fly-by & perhaps just settling in at the state park), Golden-crowned Kinglet (45+, with some / many stopping in nearby trees as well), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (30+++), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1), American Robin (160+), Cedar Waxwing (relatively few - 28+), Scarlet Tanager (3), Eastern Towhee (1, in addition to those scattered around already settled in for the day, or for longer stay), Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco (only the latter 2 species seen in numbers, with some of each also on the deck in the state park, & of course elsewhere later on), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (4), Indigo Bunting (2), Rusty Blackbird (at least 1, and also seen in at least 2 local parks, Riverside & Central on the day.) The above is NOT a complete list of all species seen on the day. And, at least 1,200(+) assorted land-birds including many small passerines, of which it is possible very many were Yellow-rumped Warbler, as well as possibly/likely many sparrows (of ‘expected'migrant species and - who knows!). A wide variety of sparrow species continued to be seen around the county, with a few reports that are of potential interest, although (apparently) no real rarities. Many birds either very high, &/or far out over the Hudson, on their way south. ... Monarch butterflies were continuing on, with just modest no’s. noted, although a bit more focus on the birds moving thru! And seen later were some species which included Red-banded Hairstreak & Common Buckeye, at Central Park. Plenty of other insect activity in the afternoon sun. - - - - - "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” - Teddy Roosevelt (26th president of the U.S.A.) "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass (1818-1895; U.S. statesman, orator, writer) good birding to all, & thanks to many for their observations & good ethics out in the field, 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/ --
