Central Park, Manhattan, N.Y. City - Friday, March 21st - 2 Black-headed Gulls continued to visit the reservoir Friday in Central Park, with one, the less-developed in plumage being seen by more observers, and the further-towards-adult-breeding gull a bit tougher to spot as it was, at-times, tucked in and with head also tucked back in sleep. Both of these gulls were however present mid afternoon, perhaps not in the morning when relatively few gulls of any species were present, more gulls arriving later. A scope -and patience- and-or at-least a fairly-high-power lens with optics is best to have the best chance for spotting one or both of these birds.
Also present on the C.P. reservoir on Friday were a Pied-billed Grebe in spring-ish plumage, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, a hen and drake, some Hooded Mergansers, Wood and American Black and Ruddy Ducks, Gadwall, N. Shovelers, Buffleheads, and at times, some Double-crested Cormorants as well as the usual motley Mallards and Canada Geese. The other and regular gulls in the park are Ring-billed, American Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls. At the Pool, in the parks n-w quadrant, 2 Green-winged Teal were ongoing, and there are Wood Ducks in the n. end of the park as well. Possibly up to one-quarter or so of all of the 20-plus Eastern Phoebes in the park on the day were concentrated at the shores of the Pool, hawking insect life there of course. At least two Rusty Blackbirds are ongoing, one in the heart of the Ramble and another mobile in and around the Loch area at the parks n. end. Pine Warblers are in a few areas of the park with at least one in the Pinetum area, and one found at Cherry Hill west of the Bethesda Fountain, as well as at the northernmost end of the park, with -perhaps- a few more also around. Far more species are showing now in the park, some have been singing whether breeding-resident species or simply such birds that winter in numbers and will be increasing by next month, such as White-throated Sparrows. Some Red Fox Sparrows have continued and are singing occasionally. - - - Each day lately had been gradually bringing more of the buds and leaves out on some early-blooming trees, shrubs, and other plants. Also gradually increasing are numbers and diversity of insects and arthropods, many of which will be providing food to some birds, arrivals as well as hungry resident birds. Good spring 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/ --
