New York County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan, Governors, Randalls, and Roosevelt Islands as well as adjacent waters and skies above - Tuesday, September 24 - and some sightings from prior days...
Highlights of Tuesday include a Clay-colored Sparrow - photos by L. LaBella, and confirmed in eBird, and also the latest Dickcissel both on Governors Island, as well as a good arrival there are over all of the county of many birds, and some lingering migrants, among which two Connecticut Warblers in differing plumages in two nearby sectors of Central Park, the more-observed that which was within the Ramble area proper (east part) and the other, in a subtly-differing plumage, at the Shakespeare Garden which also had multiple, but fewer observers on Tuesday; one or both of these may have lingered from prior days, or could well have been fresh arrivals... quite a fall for Connecticut Warbler, with the earliest possibly in Central Park just before Sept. 1st (private comm.) and then a lot more reports for N.Y. County, with a lot of those having been photo'd and/or confirmed from the reports including textual detail. The prior Dickcissel seen and heard, like some other recent sightings of that species was a flyover on 9-21, from the little-birded J. Robinson Park in northern Manhattan, which is near the somewhat more-birded and larger Highbridge Park. There are some other recent such flyby Dickcissels that also were confirmed, within the past week in the county. Back on Sunday, 9-22, a Nelson’s Sparrow showed a bit earlier than typically expected on Randalls Island, with photos - A. Cunningham - confirming. That sparrow was not refound in subsequent days. A number of sparrow species have been arriving locally, including the first of White-crowned, and more of White-throated, along with Savannah, Field, Chipping, Swamp, and Lincolns Sparrows, and the ongoing Song Sparrows which also breed here, plus a scatter of Slate-colored Juncos recently. At Randalls Island, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was still available in the usual area as of Tuesday, 9-24. Also at Randall's Island, earlier-still on 9-20 was a flyby Caspian Tern, which have been seen rather more regularly if sparsely in recent years at appropriate migration times and certainly in some situations being a bit storm-influenced, but not so for all of the sightings. A report by multiple observers of a rare-in-fall Kentucky Warbler at Strawberry Fields in Central Park early Tuesday is intriguing, still subject to a confirmation and perhaps with some photos of whatever sort forthcoming. A species that is rare here at any season in part because so few are known to breed -or even appear- to the north of N.Y. City, in any years. Of other warbler species, a great diversity was still being found over all of the county into Tuesday, but with some, such species as Canada and Wilsons Warblers as examples, being tougher to find this week. As of Tuesday many observers around the county saw increases of some warblers such as Black-and-white, and Black-throated Blue Warblers as well as some others in various locations on the 4 main islands of the county. A report of the Bryant Park (midtown Manhattan) Yellow-breasted Chat that had lingered a long while, last confirmed from Saturday, 9-21 there, while a more-recent single observer report from Central Park is not confirmed, at least as-of the next morning. Empidonax-genus Flycatchers have been seen which included Yellow-bellied to Tues., 9-24 and there also have been some Least Flycatchers, while other species have not been noted most-recently. As fall goes on, attention to any Empidonax could include attempting crisp photos or video-with-audio, as rarer western-breeding species are somewhat plausible as the fall migration continues apace; however very late Least Flycatcher have been confirmed in this county and this region even to the bird-count season in December, so caution with ID is always required, for any suspected rarer species. Sound-recording is a big help in case of such already-tough distinctions for some of the Empidonax that can and have occurred in the east in late fall in past years, and likely will at some point again. For other flycatcher species, the trend is towards the expected later-moving E. Phoebes, with some E. Wood Pewees also still being seen. E. Kingbird and Great Crested Flycatcher have mainly moved on, and again any of these types ought to be double-checked in case of rarer vagrants that are possible as fall continues here. Vireos in the county were still including White-eyed, from Governors Island and then from Central Park, respectively on 9-22 and 9-23. The last confirmed sighting of any Yellow-throated Vireo for Central Park was on 9-20, via those observers who submit sightings to eBird. Philadelphia Vireo was also still being seen by multiple observers into last weekend and some since then. The increase in Blue-headed Vireos is signal of the season we are in, while Warbling Vireo has become scarce in the past week, but Red-eyed Vireos are still being found. A few Cuckoos, almost all Yellow-billed, have been seen in the past week and might still be, as fall continues. Some hummingbird were still being found but the sightings have dropped off greatly by this week - and any hummers seen or photo'd well enough can be scrutinized as we go into October and onwards - the later in the year for any hummer-sightings, the more-likely that the species seen in this region may not be Ruby-throated, and would be a vagrant from the west or even much-more-rarely, from outside of the N. American ranges of the most regular vagrant-hummingbird species to the east, which are most often noticed in later parts of each year, but are somewhat possible in any month, especially where feeders are maintained all year, or flowers in-bloom all year such as in a glass conservatory with opened windows, etc. Thrushes of recent were still including a few rather-late Veery (which is historically rare by October, but in recent years has sometimes been found much later here, with good documentation to add to those records), and Gray-cheeked-type Thrush are also still being found, at least some of which might have pertained to Bicknells, while more with details or photos are likely of actual Gray-cheeked species. Swainsons Thrush were still passing through but much-diminished now and the same of Wood, while Hermit Thrush have yet to show a major arrival, but have started to show more regularly in some locations. Duckage in the county was not that much changed so far, with Wood Duck, the one early hen Hooded Merganser continuing at Central Park, some Green-winged Teal (at least 4 in the n. end of Central Park) and N. Shovelers, and the rest also more-standard for the time of year such as Gadwall, American Black Duck, etc. Far more migration and other species have been noted in recent days, some of which has been reported here, some not as much. More reports for the county or local parks by this weekend, and thanks to the many keen observers and leaders of not-for-profit guided bird walks out on Tuesday, for many sightings from some locations, as well as all who found and reported birds in the less-busy and less-covered-by-birders parts of the county recently. Good autumnal birding to all, Tom Fiore manhattan -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
