Wed. & Thursday, Aug. 25th-26th
N.Y. County, including Manhattan, Randall’s & Governors Island[s]
Migration especially nocturnally was strong Mon. night into Tues., & far
stronger still on Tuesday night into Wednesday. Of course, August heat-wave
migration is not exactly same as October-November 'clearing-cold-front'
movement. Fairly good overnight migration also on Wed. night to Thursday,
particularly out of far-eastern Canada and southwardly (or really,
‘southwestwardly’, for our local interest. Some birds such as many warblers &
others were surely headed out to sea, directly off parts of the New England
coastline - next stops, perhaps Caribbean isles, and even S. America. (Some
warbler spp. that nest in N. America have already been recorded returning to
the Caribbean & to Central America where many species stay thru more than half
of their year.)
A Saltmarsh Sparrow turned up at Bryant Park (E. Schumann, finder) in midtown
Manhattan, first noted in the morning of 8/25, & later seen by more observers.
Semi-regular on passage, but near-rare for the county. That sparrow was present
again on Thursday, 8/26. Patience is helpful for good sightings of such a
skulker, but luck also can help out. This bird was seen off-and-on mainly in
the south lawn area, & s.-w. ‘corner’ of the park, occasionally coming out to
be seen well (& photographed), and the sparrow was being watched / sought thru
near-dusk on both days, possibly becoming bolder by Thursday. About the only
other migrant noted there has been a N. Waterthrush, along with long-staying
White-throated Sparrows, Gray Catbirds, and some other usuals of Bryant.
Showing off its shorebird potential again, Inwood Hill Park’s lagoon & nearby
mud-flats offered up among other birds a Semipalmated Plover & up to 25 Least
Sandpipers, plus Semipalmated Sandpiper, on Thursday, 8/26. Also seen at
Inwood was a Marsh Wren, on both days, 8/25-26 - the latter species also found
on the move in other parts of the region.
At Randall’s Island, up to 4 Yellow-crowned (& greater no’s. of Black-crowned)
Night-Herons have been present. Common Nighthawk movement was visibly
increased by Wednesday, as both early morning and evening to after dusk
provided some, esp. over the west edges of Manhattan, but also in (over)
Central Park and at least a few of the smaller parks of n. Manhattan. Up to 28
nighthawks in total (a.m. thru p.m.) for 8/25, and more than 40 for the ‘fall’
so far in the county. A single Monk Parakeet was continuing in n. Manhattan.
Pied-billed Grebe was added (at the Central Park reservoir last several days)
to the waterbirds recently showing up in the county (N. Shovelers, then
Blue-winged & Green-winged Teal having been added to the summering & lately
moving-on Wood Ducks, a few of those still lingering on at Central Park). There
was a nice movement of Bobolink for Wed. early-hours, esp. along the Hudson
river side of Manhattan, with some R.-w. Blackbirds also moving, and a small
number of Baltimore Orioles as well as at least 1 Orchard Oriole in early
diurnal flight. The number of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Scarlet Tanagers, &
Veery increased very modestly by Wed., 8/25. E. Kingbirds & several species of
Empidonax (with Alder/Willow *mostly* not distinguished), as well as Blue-gray
Gnatcatchers have been moving, and showing in multiple locations, too.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird movement has been ongoing (with good no’s. of
stop-overs feeding in flowered areas, as well as speedy southward diurnal
migrators). Chimney Swift movement seemed to slow a bit by Thursday however it
will be picking up again.
At least 22 species of warblers were part of the migration, with at least 20 of
those species present by Tues. 8/24, and a further 2 species added for the
following day, within N.Y. County - and, all of those species having been seen
within Central Park in Manhattan & numerous of those also found in a variety of
other parks and greenspaces in the county. Indeed, Manhattan *south of* 42nd
Street had at least 12 species of warblers by 8/25 - although to my knowledge
(and visits) no *one* park or greenspace of those areas had all those many
species. Some diversity on the Hudson and East River sides of the island, and
there have been a fair variety of new migrant species showing on Governors
Island, since 8/24. By far, the bulk of warblers on migration have been
American Redstarts so far this week. (It *seems* that the 2-weeks-staying
Prothonotary Warbler moved on at last, having made a good run of a portion of
Central Park’s watery abodes.) There were also modest increases of a number of
species, such as N. Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Common
Yellowthroat, while some species diminished such as Canada Warbler & others.
Some less-birded areas have been quite productive in early-a.m. hours. Also
having some migrants have been parks on the East River.
Around the wider region, some Y.-br. Chats have been on the move in recent
days. There have been modest Indigo Bunting movements, some visible in
early-a.m. hours, along the Hudson river, esp. so on Wed. morning, 8/25. On
Thursday, it seemed a far-slower morning (& day) of migration, with fewer
species & many-fewer individuals of most kinds of migrants - an exception
(perhaps) being - shorebirds…. Presumably, Wed. night was a good lift-off
(departure) night.
Over the 2 days, Wed.-Thurs., 8/25-26, all around the county, esp. as found in
Central Park:
Worm-eating Warbler (scarce)
Ovenbird (scant again)
Northern Waterthrush (multiple)
Common Yellowthroat (multiple)
Blue-winged Warbler (multiple, but not very many)
Tennessee Warbler (not many)
Nashville Warbler (fresh arrivals, 8/25 - seen in multiple locations incl.
Inwood Hill, Riverside, Central Park[s])
Northern Parula (multiple recently)
Yellow Warbler (modest numbers)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (multiple)
Magnolia Warbler (multiple, but not very many)
Cape May Warbler (*not re-found Thurs., 8/26)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (multiple)
Black-throated Green Warbler (several)
Blackburnian Warbler (multiple recently)
Pine Warbler (still scarce)
Blackpoll Warbler (additional arrival, 8/25)
Bay-breasted Warbler (additional arrival, 8/25)
Black-and-white Warbler (fairly numerous)
American Redstart (numerous)
Wilson's Warbler (scant again)
Canada Warbler (multiple, but not very many)
good birding to all,
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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