New York County (in N.Y City) including Manhattan, Randall’s, and Governors Island[s]
The first Great Horned Owl found *and publicly-reported* in Manhattan *this fall* was seen at a location in northern Manhattan on October 2nd (one day ahead of the discovery of that species in the more-regularly-covered, by hundreds of birders, Central Park). That earliest fall-2021, confirmed *and publicly-reported* sighting for Manhattan is now archived in eBird. An adult-male plumaged Mourning Warbler was persisting at the World Trade Center memorial-grounds area in lower Manhattan to Monday, Oct. 4th, and is quite unusual for the date in this region. It’s been photo-documented at that location by multiple observers, from first-sighting to the most recent. For Sunday, Oct. 3rd, at Central Park alone, there were *at least 22 species* of American Warblers seen, by cumulatively scores upon scores of active but quiet and patient birders observing through all of that park and thru almost all of that day. Uncommon so late there (& regionally) was a Blackburnian Warbler seen near the Dene slope, a lovely wildflower-filled small meadow; that record is now archived in eBird. However, many many warbler species, with some in fair numbers, were seen all through N.Y. County, including the two major outlying islands as well as all through Manhattan-island, in dozens and dozens of locations, with some small parks or greenspaces providing space for migrant birds. The near-proliferation of Blackpoll Warbler in the county was ongoing to great extent into Sunday as well - more on that long-long-distance migrant and other migrants, in a note below. There’ve been some Yellow Warblers seen in recent days, while they are not as regular now as were in prior months of southbound-season, the species has been recorded and well-documented even to (rather rarely) December in N.Y. City and is certainly not all that unusual in early October hereabouts. (I’d highly recommend checking pages 210-229 of the [well-worth-knowing] book, “A Field Guide to Warblers of North America, by J. Dunn and K. Garrett, for the lengthy treatment of the Yellow Warbler complex and what goes on in their ‘complex’ migration phenologies and patterns, as well as much more on that species-group. The Yellow Warblers many NY-birders know as summer-breeders are not the same as all that pass through in fall, and that may be particularly so in certain locations in fall.) Northern Waterthrushes have persisted in several locations in Manhattan to Oct. 4th; one was seen in Bryant Park that day (with G. Willow’s walk for non-profit org. there), and as another example around The Pond in Central Park’s s.-e. quadrant, also Monday (C. Weiner), with some others still about as well. That latter species has also been recorded into December in N.Y. City, on multiple occasions. A most-unusual and uncommonly-reported hybrid of Clay-colored x Field Sparrow has been reported from Central Park (T. Zahner) with several photos available at the Macaulay Library archive; here’s a link to one of those, for those with interest - https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/374055011 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/374055011> (photos by the reporter noted above!) As an added note, and as many NYS birders are aware, the breeding-range of Clay-colored Sparrow has expanded and may still be, into eastern NY and east, on through New England, and perhaps still farther within eastern Canadian provinces - this has been ongoing for (at least) some decades by now. (I’m not sure when various regions had the first *documented nestings*, but I recall seeing Clay-colored Sparrow in the breeding-season and on-territory in far-northern NYS as far back as 20+ years ago. Whether those spring-singing birds were *known to breed at that time*, I’m less sure, but eventually, some certainly did in various regions.) Of interest as well on Oct. 3rd was the Solitary Sandpiper seen at Central Park (NYC) by multiple observers. There are Spotted Sandpipers ongoing or still passing in a number of locations around N.Y. County. More Great Cormorants have been turning up in the county, as well as the region, as this month comes in, with the first-reported still that single bird from Sept. 30th, in N.Y. County this fall (C.Q.) Vesper Sparrow was again [re]found on Sunday at Randall’s Island by at least 5 hearty birders seeking the species, and Nelson’s Sparrow was seen again on the latter island again to Monday, Oct. 4th by a number of observers. Yellow-crowned Night-Herons also were persisting on Randall’s Island to 10/4. A slightly-late (but not really-late) Common Nighthawk was seen by an observer on Thursday, Sept. 30th at Inwood Hill Park in early evening; there are multiple later-date records of that species for Manhattan, & more generally for the region. (A few) Veery have been observed again, & these (any October sightings) are late and still uncommon in the region - normally, the vast majority of that species are *south of south Texas* by October! This and many, many, many (as in, millions!) of other migrant species *may well* have had delayed onward southbound movement at least in part thanks-no-thanks to the multiple tropical-storm systems that have impacted the Caribbean region on north into the mid-Atlantic and even North Atlantic ocean and in some places, also the lands closest to all of those regions, with attendant-potential effects on a whole lot (really, almost uncountable-numbers) of migrants that typically head into the tropical or subtropical regions of the Americas (South and Central) / Caribbean isles and have *not* moved on into those various storm-systems, or in the wake or advance of such intensive low-pressure weather-makers. We’ve had a bit of the evidence of delays for a number of species, and seen the individuals still-lingering or passing, within N.Y. County… in some instances, such ‘late’ migrants really stand out within the confines of intra-urban environments. good birding to all, 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
