Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Saturday, May 14th (Global Migratory Bird “Big Day”) -
There are some rare-for-the county and VERY-rare sightings that were made by/with the ‘TeamSapsucker' group of expert observers in Manhattan on Saturday, and some of those may be commented on at a later time/date. The not-mega nor *very* rare include Bank Swallow at Inwood Hill Park in n. Manhattan, for which there were some additional observers (and on Friday/13th, *Cliff* Swallows were also seen on the move, from Inwood). An excellent sighting for any day in the county, a Pileated Woodpecker was present for this “big day” event on Sat. at Inwood Hill Park - the proven-as-best location in the county to try for that largest U.S. woodpecker species. See eBird (NY Co.) activity/alerts for ongoing or forthcoming details & potential add’l. documentation. An uncommonly-seen species at any season for the county, a female-plumaged Surf Scoter was nicely-photo’d. off Chelsea waterside park, in that stretch of the Hudson River waterfront of Manhattan (far-west & as indicated, off the Chelsea neighborhood that’s partly n. of 23rd Street) by A. Cunningham who also noted some Common Terns out over the river (but NO Arctics as on Friday/13th) for Saturday/14th. Thanks also to R. Serio - and later on, to P. Ribolow, for checking out the Hudson River in the foggy conditions of very-early Sat./14th, as well as to other watchers on Saturday (and Friday) who gave efforts to seek out rare Sterna-sightings or any other unexpected birds on those 2 days. (P.R. reports a single of Ruddy Duck among a modest ass’t. of other species for mid-morn, Sat./14th; that’s a late-mover but we have occasionally had later-lingering Ruddy Ducks in N.Y. County.) - - - - Central Park: A sometimes-singing, first-spring (hatched last summer) BICKNELL’S Thrush was ongoing in the n.-w. sector of Central Park, again enjoyed by many quiet observers in its’ multi-days stay there. This thrush was still present and being seen into the afternoon on Saturday. At least 25 species of American Warblers were being found even by noon-hour just in Central Park on Saturday 5/14. The Warbler species found included at least low-multiples of such as Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Cape May, Tennessee, and some of the other more-boreal-breeding species among the Parulidae. Also found was Mourning Warbler, by now a bit more ‘expected’ as a freshly-arrived migrant stop-in here, and not the 1st-of-year for Central Park. Although still low for what will be likely to pass in coming days-weeks, the Blackpoll Warbler numbers were as high as have been found *so far* this year.Overall, the numbers of most warbler species seemed not all that high. A LOT of migration passed over, and thru in the night of May 13th-14th. There also were some of the early-spring species of warblers, in low numbers and running rather late at this location and county. These and other migrants scattered all thru the entire park, and including sites where fewer birders regularly visit - along with the best-known birding sections of that park (The Ramble, etc.) Some additional late-to-clear-out migrant / visitors also included such as Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, & multiple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in the county, some (or all?) of these also seen for Central Park. Among more remarkable sightings from (for) Central was a fly-over LESSER Yellowlegs, seen & ID’d by the expert team on the global big-day effort, and also by some additional observers present on Summit Rock to see the rare-for N.Y. County wader in flight. A long-long lingering G.H. Owl was still in Central Park & seen by many yet again on Saturday, one of several nocturnally-active species around now and recently. Among areas of Central that had a variety of migrants were trees surrounding & adjacent to the reservoir & it’s surrounding bridle-path & nearby groves, as well as a few patches in and near the perimiter walls of parts of the park. In Riverside Park later in the day, some areas were slightly-busy with migrants & some not at all, as is usual for parts of that park. A high diversity including many many additional kinds of migrant birds were being found and that effort continuing on through the day- & into the night for some. From Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and our two Cuckoo species, to (at least) 6 species of flycatchers and 5 species of Vireos, as well as 6 species of “Catharus” type thrushes, and a modest variety of sparrow species, along with some less-expected shorebirds, a few late or lingering waterfowl and other waterbird species, some raptors and 2 vulture species, and a bit more in the way of migrants, and far more certainly from all of N.Y. County as a whole. We appear to still have been in the ‘realm of the N. Parula’ - an interesting migrant species for our region and in whole, as that species can both appear quite early in migration in spring, as well as be found very late on some spring seasons, and is among rather few of the also-boreal nesters that has even nested in the vicinity of N.Y. City and indeed has in the city-limits, albeit very sparingly as far as known from any modern records. It is also one of those warblers which can and will winter in modest numbers within the U.S., mainly (when it does so) in the Gulf Coast states including Florida. We also had a goodly number of Black-and-white Warblers still on the move in Manhattan for Saturday, not unusual as that’s a rather common migrant here, but showing-up to some extent how the overall migration of the Parulidae is progresssing, even if one needs to watch over what is happening region-wide; Manhattan (and Central Park esp.) are just pieces of a vastly-larger picture that can be put together for some sense of migration-movement. Fog that started off the day here had lifted to reveal more & more in some areas of the county - including birds for Central Park. Up to 3 Wood Ducks are still lingering in Central Park, one of those attendant with a female Mallard, the others seemingly removed from that "odd-couple”. Around the county as a whole, there were some arrivals and a few species of migrants were increased at least a bit, including Y-b. Cuckoo, Red-eyed & Warbling Vireos, and such fairly-common and nesting-locally warbler species as Yellow Warbler & Common Yellowthroat - as well as some of the other more-common migrant warblers - but, there was a definite sense of a bunch-of-birds having moved in the night on Friday-Sat. morn’… More migrations to show - soon! ... More to report at a later time or date. There were no further reports for the ultra-rare-in-the-county Arctic Terns seen widely (in the region), from N.Y. County on 5/13, as of mid-p.m. Saturday - although some of that species *were being reported* in other states, and *poss. in inland-eastern NY state*, & also possibly in various New England- **inland** locations for Saturday, 5/14. - - - PS, quite a nice find of an adult-male Summer Tanager at Sterling Forest in Orange County, NY on Friday, 5/13 (photo by F. Pimentel) - and would be interesting indeed if a female came along too for that county and in the same area. This tanager species has been increasing its range bit-by-bit over the years, and is no longer as uncommon-to-rare as was in the past, over some of the region and to the north & east of New Jersey, & N.Y. City areas - which does not at all diminish these new finds of the species in parts of this region… the next phase of their incursions of note, and to be watched, is how many pairs form, and attempt to breed for the region. good May 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/ --
