N.Y. County, including mostly-Manhattan sightings / an addendum: All from Tuesday, May 17th:
At least one male SUMMER Tanager was found (or, re-found), with & viewed by many (in part) participants on a Linnaean Society of New York (not-for-profit) bird-walk in that area on Tuesday morning, also still present in that area later on. A note in observing these Piranga (genus) tanagers esp. now, in spring (or summer) would be to listen for any calls or of course, song, and that will help to determine species in instances when the sight-observation[s] are tougher. All of these are often vocal (either gender), even at times when actively feeding - at this time of the year. Ear-birding in general is a huge bonus to almost every aspect of observing and for most, of enjoying birds, everywhere - listening & learning. A fair number of Common Nighthawks were moving at the end of the day Tues., past Manhattan and as noted from multiple locations, incl. up along the East River, as well as over and past Central Park (Ramble area to north end at 110th St.) and also in parts of Harlem to the Heights, at least (the areas from about 97th on up to at least 181st St., with (likely) some potentially visible near Highbridge as well late in the day. All seemed to be trending or very-deliberately working north, or mostly-north & none noted were all that high above water or ground-levels - a minimum of 7 in one passage, near dusk and also at least 4 more (plus some reports of singles that likely were additional for the county) on the evening’s movements. I did not really try for these in a ‘watch’ from near the Hudson river, and some of these sightings were not intentional-seeking, but then turned into more of that. At least a few keen birders were out & about on or near the Hudson at various points (off Manhattan) later in the day-eve., yet I’m not aware of any nighthawk reports from along the Hudson, even though that can be a fine place to watch. As somewhat typical not much (if any) of vocalizing from the nighthawks on Tuesday - that is, typical when the birds are seemingly intent on moving. Multiple male Mourning Warblers were seen, with one individual watched by many, many obs. through most of Tuesday by ‘Turtle Pond” in Central Park, again seen by some of the Linnaean Society of N.Y. bird-walk participants, as well as for most of the day there later on. Other Mournings were seen &/or heard singing from parts of the northern half of Central, from Riverside Park (n.), and from Highbridge Park in n. Manhattan, the latter in the later part of the day & in a shaded, less-visited n. portion of that park (s. of Dyckman St. & east of Amsterdam Ave. as is all of that latter park) - and yet another male Mourning was found at Sherman Creek park, at the n. side of Swindler Cove Park, all east of & n. of the eastern end of Dyckman St. - that one well-documented by M. Waldron for Tuesday; it thus seems very plausible there were some addituonal Mournings spread around the county on the day. This may have been the 1st day of so many of that late-moving migrant in the county, yet more are certain to pass - including more of the females on migration. Worth at least a note that some Purple Finches are still moving through & at least a few in the county have (incl. lately) been well-documented, for example a single adult male in the n. end of Central Park on Tuesday which was photo’d, and with good field-notes from some in the group - 15+ obs. in total. Here’s just one of the recent pix, (by D. Shapiro) from the Macaulay Library archives: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/450214081 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/450214081> (2 photos were in that eBird checklist). Also still at least a few Red-breasted Nuthatches moving on through (to Tuesday), which can be ‘lost’ now for observers bedazzled with other songbirds and so much general-overall 'migration-miraculous-madness’. Sparrow numbers and diversity are each lower now in the county but still some variety and among the species still being pulled-out are Lincoln’s, White-crowned, Field, and Swamp among the more regular of lingerers. Quite a few White-throated Sparrows are still in-town and some, esp. some in the most-urban-center greenspaces, may well hang in for the summer (along with a few in places like Central Park, which hosts a couple or more of that species almost every summer, absolutely non-breeding and not 'behaving in that way', either in this county). Savannah Sparrow is an interesting one to contemplate in N.Y. County - could any attempt to nest, esp. on the ‘other’ islands? A modest no. of that species have lingered, but end of May & into June may well 'tell a different tale’. It’s also not too-late to keep watch for any uncommon-to-rarer sparrow species for the area and the county - those are such which can & have shown in late spring, in some years. (That is also true of a goodly number of rarer species; later in spring can bring some to the region. No time of year allows truly non-movements in some types of birds.) - - - - Winds were rather strong (from west) later in the day Tuesday, & that may have lowered some late-day song or call hearings by some out in those hours, esp. for many more-exposed NYC locations. A moderate amount of damage as well, from the storms which passed through on Monday in the area; I helped a bit in some clean-ups, with some NYC Parks workers in a couple of areas of my home (NY) county. Almost all of the trees and shrubs in the county have had leaf-out by now, and many are well on the way to an almost-summer appearance, although there are also many trees to gain much of their full spring leafy-look. Some of the latter (varieties & species) have also been good for the recent migrants among the insectivores, such as some of our later-leafing Turkey Oaks here, and various other trees; also good at times are some of many tall ‘TulipPoplars’ of which some really superb examples can be seen in Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park, in particular: some enormously-tall specimens exist there (Liriodendron tulipfera - in the large Magnolia family, the Magnoliaceae) - and various many more trees with blooms recently. Hummingbirds are still showing and some come to the various ornamental (& native) Buckeye trees (Aesculus species) around the town, also sometimes called “conker” trees, esp. in Britain. (Just in case some binocular-clad lass or lad should come along to say, “would'ya like to see a hummer in a conker over yon'?”….) Anyhow we have at least 5 *native* Aesculus sp. in eastern N. America and some if not all are planted in NYC parks or gardens as well as some from Asia, & particularly Horsechesnut tree, from Europe & etc. - many now loaded with blooms. - - - - (There was also coverage from Governors Island - in N.Y. County - on Tues. 5/17, and some migrants / migrations were observed from there, with no apparent ‘rarities’ on the day, although a fairly good ongoing diversity of species overall.) Going back (to there) a few days: because it is such a rare species / sighting for N.Y. County, one photo of the Short-billed Dowitcher that M.B. Kooper found -her photo here- and which R. Tsao, and then at least several other keen [and un-tiring!] observers came to view, from Sunday, May 15 (only, not seen again on latter days in the county) - linked her within the Macaulay Library archives: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/449206601 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/449206601> (great photo - great sighting for the area & super for N.Y. County!) This was the day for a Glossy Ibis fly-by quartet seen by at least 5 or more 'dowitcher-twitchers' on Governors, and Ibis also a fine-find for N.Y. County, albeit not nearly as scarce (as a dowitcher), in any historical sense. It’s plausible that more Ibis move past and even through N.Y. County airspace, over the course of that species’ season[s], yet are a bit under-detected, & might also be in some instances at the upper-limits of most "detection-efforts”. A photo by a spotter of those Ibis on Sunday is also included here (from T. Healy) in the Macaulay Library archives: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/449045501 <https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/449045501> - this nicely illustrating what a group of these may look like in a ’typical’ fly-by of any number, including potential singletons, that could be passing (and as this photographer adds, could *almost be tossed off as ‘cormorants’ at some distance*, or in the most-casual of looks) thru the area for feeding or on migrations, within N.Y. County (or at least visible from some of its’ sites). Great coda to a great series of birding-days. It was a sort of finale for a period of 3 days+ of excellent birding with of course those Arctic Terns showing in numbers a top highlight, while also adding a lot of other very-uncommonly found species to the year-list for the county - it’s tough to say when another such Sterna-fest with that species in particular will (if ever, in living future for some of us) be noted again, particularly from Manhattan itself. But, as always, the bird movements never actually end. 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/ --
