Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - thru Saturday, October 19th - The evidence for a start to the changes in the varieties of migrant and-or visitant species around now has begun to be seen at Central Park, with arrivals of the first adult-male Hooded Merganser, and of Bufflehead, in addition to the below noted various waterfowl already present.
Other waterfowl species less common in Central Park might be watched for in that park at any time and in coming weeks. In addition although with some lingering warblers we still had a good diversity thru Saturday, the passerines are starting to be of a more sparrowy flavor with numbers of those remaining fairly high and for diversity. As already noted, Red Fox Sparrows were seen at Central Park and elsewhere in Manhattan for more than one week by now. These next 2 plus months are of course also prime-time for potential vagrant rarer birds to turn up in the region, and thus in N.Y. Citys parks. The at-least 15 species of migratory American warblers in the park on Saturday were collectively seen by many scores of birders all of whom were walking independently, many also photographing these migrants, and by observers affiliated with not-for-profit guided bird walks, including the leaders of such not-for-profit walks. Some of the warbler species may have been represented by just a few or even just one individual bird by Saturday, however in all of New York County, there were more individuals of many of these species. A Northern Waterthrush still lingering at the n. end of the Park was among the unexpected warblers after mid October. An impressive number of Blackpoll Warblers were on the deck for the day on Saturday as that species continues to clear out, almost all headed to South America for their winter. That latter species was widely noted around the entire county thru Saturday. Eastern Bluebirds in the previous week included those seen and photographed to at least Friday, Oct. 18 when Clay-colored Sparrow also was again found in Central Park, and with some other sparrows in the park to Saturday including White-crowned, Lincolns, multiple Red Fox, multiple Savannah, and other Sparrow species. The arrival and passage of Rusty Blackbird has not been that well noted here - just yet. More could show and some are likely to linger in appropriate patches of habitat in Central Park. Waterfowl and associates seen in Central Park on Saturday again included Green-winged Teals, Wood Ducks, increases of Ruddy Duck and N. Shoveler, Gadwall, plus the long long lingering hen Hooded Merganser, and the other very typical species of the park and the season, as well as American Coot. The 2 Bald Eagles that landed on the dividing dike at the center of the CP reservoir on Saturday made for quite the sight. While rather rare this has occurred there in the past, but was much more likely to happen in winter. Far more additional species of birds were also seen on the day, and some species were showing decreases from prior days while at least a few species saw increases in numbers by Saturday. At least 90 species of wild native birds were observed throughout the day on October 19th at Central Park, and as is usual more than that for all of Manhattan and still more for all of New York County, which takes in Manhattan island. .. A Grasshopper Sparrow was confirmed seen at Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan on Thursday, Oct. 17th. Good 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/ --
