Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Monday, April 11th - As seen by multitudes of keen, courteous, and quiet observers, the long-lingering (Day Eleven - thanks again, Paul Sweet!) Yellow-throated Warbler (of the form ‘albilora’) was around Belvedere Castle and showing off with some super viewing, at times, for Monday. A rather-early Blue-winged Warbler was both seen & heard in the same vicinity by multiple observers. Also seen in Central Park on Monday were Louisiana Waterthrush, and many Palm and Pine Warblers, as well as [Myrtle] Yellow-rumped Warbler. Some independent birders saw up to, and over 40 species of birds, even after 6 pm on Monday in Central Park. Also, more than 40 spp. of birds found by just 1 veteran observer walking thru some of Inwood Hill Park, in n. Manhattan; that tally there included (again) Louisiana Waterthrush, a nice sighting for upper Manhattan.
. . . . Among species seen on Randall’s Island (in N.Y. County) has been Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, which for a time was not being seen there; an adult again present thru Monday, 4/11, at the Little Hell Gate salt marsh. (Black-crowned Night-Herons also have been around, and sometimes in the multiple. Great Cormorant was also continuing, as seen off of Randall’s.) . . . . Going back a bit to April 8th, a Yellow-throated Vireo that was photographed in Washington Square Park (in Manhattan) is quite an early date (for that species of vireo) for the city, as well as the state and the northeast region. At least a few White-eyed Vireos have been sighted in the northeast, this spring so far, however that is a species which has even wintered (very rarely) in N.Y. City. Some Yellow-throated Vireos possibly winter in Florida or elsewhere along the Gulf (within the U.S. mainland) although likely much more sparingly that do some Blue-headed Vireos, or White-eyeds. That Manhattan sightng for April 8th is in the NY State RBA (eBird, where confirmed), due to the unusually-early date (and also a great bird at any date for the city park where seen & photo’d. - thanks to 'Washington Square Eco-Projects’!) In the context of the Yellow-throated Vireo & some other sightings both photographically and textually documented such as a Worm-eating Warbler on 4/10 at Jones Beach SP, on Long Island, NY, - and some other spp. running a bit early; we may have had a bit of an event with some of those arrivals - a recent Blue Grosbeak (for N.Y. County) also perhaps a part of that, albeit seeming not to be all just on (only) one bangup migration morning. And of course, the arrivals of at least a couple of Prothonotary Warblers also could be suggestive of an event, even when these are sometimes rather-early - and expected to be earlier-arrivers where they are quite common as a breeding species in locations to our south/southwest. - - It’s worth noting that just-a-bit *extralimitally*, a Swallow-tailed Kite was seen from Middlesex County of New Jersey, on Sunday, 4/10 - and reports added the note “flying in a NW direction”. And among a lot of fresh observations from that state, there are a number of much-earlier-than-average arrivals of various neo-tropical-wintering species, showing there in the last few days (getting back to an ‘event’ for some of the region with early-birds - although, a S.-t. Kite is not esp. early, simply a rarity this far north yet sporadically-regular in early spring to the northeast). - - - Quite impressive numbers for the location[s]: N. Gannets in the western parts of Long Island Sound on Monday, 4/11, with counts into the low-hundreds for even the eastern edges of Bronx County, NY - and far more, perhaps over 500 in total, reported in Westchester County, NY waters & vicinity, also 4/11. good -and ethical- 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/ --
