New York County (in N.Y. City), including Manhattan, Randall’s Island, and Governors Island Tues. - Wed., February 22 - 23:
The east-side (of Manhattan) Western Tanager was again in Carl Schurz Park, seen at least in very early morning on Wed. (also seen there on Tues.) and might be more prone to work on potential 'fly-catching’ (?) on such a weather-day as Wed. became, in N.Y. City. The west-side W. Tan. also likely continues near Tenth Ave.’s east side & at West 48th Street & vicinity, but may not have been noted by any birder in the 2 days of this report. Orange-crowned Warblers continued - one at Battery Park City Park’s ’south cove’ (T. Olson) on Tues., 2/22, in addition to the still-lingering one at Randall’s Island (freshwater marsh area). And while the (at least) 2 Pine Warblers in Manhattan may have moved on (or not), there were still Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroat in Manhattan, and [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warblers in (at least) several locations in N.Y. County. Through Wednesday, 2/23, two Snow Geese continued at Central Park, with (many) Canada Geese, working on keeping grass trimmed at the Great Lawn and also visiting adjacent waters at times. A hen Green-winged Teal lingered on at “the Pool” in the park’s n. end, and a Ring-necked Duck was on the C.P. reservoir, poss. an individual that’s been occasional there, or just as possibly a new arrival into the area, as so many waterfowl spp. have been moving in the mild spell of weather, that latter species also having been on the move in the region for some weeks. Some Killdeer were again seen on Governors Island, and there were, like all the rest of the region, signs of recent increase with species such as Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, and possibly for a few others. Adding to other recent sightings of the species in & around the county this month, 3 Mute Swans were noted on the Hudson River moving to the north of Dyckman St., off upper Manhattan, Wed. morning & later, the same very keen observer found 4 Black Vultures moving over Ft. Tryon Park, also in n. Manhattan. Many more birds were heard singing (or just calling) over recent warmer days (and some previously, when a lot colder as well), these have included (and not limited to) - Mourning Dove (calling), Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren (and calling also), Golden-crowned Kinglet (mainly calling), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (and also calling), American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher (at least one bird gave a bit of song on Wed.), House Sparrow European Starling, Cedar Waxwing (mainly calling), Orange-crowned Warbler (calls only, as far as I know), [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warbler (calls only), Ovenbird (calls), Common Yellowthroat (calls), Western Tanager (calls, from the Carl Schurz Park bird), Eastern Towhee (calling), Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow (calling by each of the latter 2 spp.), [Red] Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow (one gave song on Wed., at Central Park), White-throated Sparrow (lots of 'spring tune-up' singing from around the county, esp. in Manhattan), Slate-colored Junco, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird (a few singing, many more only calling), Rusty Blackbird (calls), Common Grackle (mainly calling), Brown-headed Cowbird (a few at least tuning-up, with calls as well), House Finch (plenty of singing, in some locations), American Goldfinch (bits of song, but mostly calls). Also being vocal have been Fish Crow (in limited locations), American Crow (including their regular rounds to gather where birds of prey were roosting), and Common Ravens. Blue Jays have been vocal with the many kinds of sounds they are able to emit, at times. 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/ --
