Date: 4/16/25 5:19 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] N.Y. County, NYC - to 4/15 - sparrow-palooza w/Grasshopper Sparrow, etc. & strong flight, new arrivals...
New York County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan, Governors, Randalls, and Roosevelt Islands, plus the adjacent waters and the skies-above -
thru Tuesday, April 15th -
At least 11 sparrow species, at least 9 warbler species, and a New Jersey-scoped-from Manhattan wigeon-rarity, etc.
A Grasshopper Sparrow was found -E. Schumann- along the Hudson River greenway south of the G.W. bridge, an area that generally will have sparrows, juncos, and so forth at many times of the year - Song Sparrows almost all year-round, etc. - the Grasshopper Sparrow here a part of a very-strong migration flight over Monday night into Tuesday that has added a broad variety of arrivals and passage-migrants, with the New World sparrow tribe as a major component to the local-landings and also much of the passage - at least 11 species of native sparrows seen in the county, and all as well within Manhattan on Tuesday - that number including Junco as is now properly accepted in the rest of the New World sparrow tribe, but adding separately E. Towhee, which is just-outside of that tribe. Other observers were also able to view this sparrow later in the same day. Other sparrows moving and-or dropping in to this county included Vesper - one of the latter seen by multiple Inwood Hill Park and other Manhattan birders, Savannah, White-crowned a bit-early for this county, Swamp in much-increased numbers, Savannah and Chipping in increased numbers, White-throated in greatly-increased numbers, but one wanted to walk miles to realize that fact, and also increases for Song, Field, and in some locations, Red Fox Sparrows either increased or, also decreased where some of the latter have moved on - with virtually all of the sparrow species -and the juncos- as well as E. Towhees, singing or calling at good spring-normal volume in the morning and some in evening hours. Incidental - for numbers - Tuesday saw at-least 50 Savannah Sparrows in the county, not an unheard-of number for migrations here, but a good indicator of the strong migrations overnight from Monday, with a lean to the sparrows.
The New Jersey-based -Hudson River, which here divides Manhattan and N.Y. County from New Jersey to the west- drake Eurasian Wigeon - a bird present there for a couple of weeks or so, was still being viewed thru 4-14, even distantly-photod by some, from the western edge of Manhattan in the Chelsea area, looking west across all of the wide river, with viewing only really plausible using a scope or a very strong lens on a camera - by now with over 100 N.Y. County birders having made the pilgrimage to observe the duck which is quite rare for the county even as a sighting viewed from afar, as this has been. Some of our N.Y. County observers also made the trip over to the N.J. side where at times, the Eurasian Wigeon could be studied at vastly-closer range, as N.J. observers have been doing all-along. Long-tailed Duck was still present off Governors Island, in N.Y. harbor to at-least Monday, 4-14, and might be around at several known areas for a bit longer yet. Other duckage in the county has included a few ongoing Wood Ducks, as well as very-very long-lingering Green-winged Teal at Central Park, and more-generally, some Hooded Mergansers, fairly-good numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, N. Shovelers, Gadwalls, American Black Ducks, Buffleheads, and the many-usual Mallards, plus typical numbers of both Atlantic Brant and Canada Geese, the latter goose-species including plenty attempting to nest in multiple areas.
Chimney Swifts arrived in low numbers by Tuesday, although reported quite a bit earlier in the season, these were in a more-expected timeframe for early-arrivers, with many more expected in coming weeks here. Also still present and have been seen daily in the county - Barn, Northern Rough-winged, and Tree Swallows all of which were showing in Central Park as well as in multiple other sites recently and more of Barn Swallow in particular by Tuesday at some locations. Ospreys have been more numerous in recent days and yet-more were passing on Tuesday, as were some other migrating raptors such as Sharp-shinned Hawk, Coopers Hawk, Bald Eagle, and some American Kestrels, and likely a few other species of raptor. The Monk Parakeet or parakeets of Morningside Park were still being noted into at least Monday, this is a countable-bird for this county, as it has established itself and has also bred here, over a period of time. The larger established populations of Monk Parakeet continue to be found in other counties adjacent, and also in other states near NY such as in CT, as well as occasionally in a few areas in New Jersey and elsewhere in the U.S. - they are generally rare or occasional in reports for N.Y. County, but at times can appear to be locally-regular, esp. in situations when a nest or nests have been known. The owls of this county include a few ongoing species, and in the month of May, some of the visitant owls may be noted in a report, many of those having moved on.
Some of many species which increased overnight from Monday getting to Tuesday included Laughing Gull, the latter already having increased in the past week, Black-crowned Night-Heron for which the same comment, and for this new-arrival flight in particular, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, E. Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, more-modestly Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hermit Thrush and the first of Wood Thrush reports in the county -but not in N.Y - this year, plus more of Brown Thrasher, and some of the warblers as noted just-below. Also passing were some blackbird flocks that included as-expected more of female Red-winged Blackbirds, and also Brown-headed Cowbirds, with some Rusty Blackbirds of which some were still ongoing at locations such as Central Park, and for additional passage-migrants with a few dropping-in, Purple Finches and American Goldfinches, along with a few potential Pine Siskins passing in-flight fairly high in the first hour of daylight, with dim lighting at that hour. There are also some Northern House Wrens, which have also been reported in minimal number so far with slightly more as-of Tuesday.
American Warblers have shown some increases and there were at least a few new arrivals, including Ovenbird -the latter in a location where they had not been specifically-wintering or attempting to- and a few more N. Parulas, as well as Black-and-white Warblers, plus Yellow which had already shown minimally - all of these species in Mamhattan including at Central Park, while the more evident increases were for Palm Warbler of the expected yellow-form in higher numbers by Tuesday, as well as ongoing numbers of Pine Warbler, and a passage of additional Myrtle-form Yellow-rumped Warblers, many of which overflew Manhattan and the county, and perhaps overflew all counties of N.Y. City on Monday night well-into Tues. morning’s overcast start. As one example of increases, Black-and-white Warblers were into double-digits in Central Park, while Palm Warbler exceeded 100 individuals thru -ALL of- that one park on Tuesday. Numbers of Pine Warbler also increased and some were evident even in the smallest of parks, greenspaces and gardens, or in somer places, in street-trees, with the same of some other migrant-arrivals in the fresh push of birds. Vastly more migrants -of many species and families - overflew the county than landed in any of our birding or other sites, the migration of Monday night to Tuesday pushed some migrants far into the mid-Hudson valley, into southern and central New England, and so forth. This was the strongest flight so far this year of songbirds, or of passerines for the entire region. At least 9 American Warbler species showed in the county for Tuesday, although the more-common species continued to be those which had been around in the multiple over recent days. At least 2 Northern Waterthrushes have shown among the more-numerous Louisiana, however Northerns first-date of arrival is not entirely clear, perhaps seen in the day or two prior as well as on Tuesday- by Tues., at least one of the latter species was singing a bit as well.
On Sunday, 4-13, at least 25 Bonapartes Gulls were seen well off Randalls Island by several observers, as part of the recent good movements of that gull species in our area. On Monday, a Wild Turkey that has been on Roosevelt Island -just east of mid-Manhattan- was seen on the former island, and then late-day a Wild Turkey of the same appearance showed at the east side of Manhattan, not sure of the same individual, perhaps with wandering-instincts now, if it is the one-and-same bird called Astoria by some of the Roosevelt regular-observers.
Atlantic Brant - still very numerous in select areas, also scattered about other areas of the county waters.
Canada Goose
Mute Swan - East River.
Wood Duck - several, ongoing.
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
- - - Eurasian Wigeon - - - in New Jersey waters, but scoped from Manhattan recently by many birders, to at least Monday.
Mallard
American Black Duck
Green-winged Teal - ongoing at Central Park, v. long-staying there in one location.
Long-tailed Duck - to at least Mon., 4-14, in the N.Y. harbor near Governors Island.
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser - fair numbers, still in multiple areas of the county-waters.
Ruddy Duck - multiple locations, and not-only at Central Park even if most-observed there within this county.
Wild Turkey - one, at least from Roosevelt Island, perhaps also coming over to re-visit Manhattan again.
Pied-billed Grebe
feral Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift - few, not extra-early but among the first of these arriving generally in the overall region.
American Coot
Killdeer - some passage as well as those staying in some select locations.
American Woodcock - a few still around including ongoing at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan.
Wilsons Snipe - in several locations where seen previously, but these were likely fresh migrants.
Spotted Sandpiper - now added to the Central Park year list, and on the early-ish side for there.
Bonaparte's Gull - as noted above, on 4-13, a good-sized flock were noticed off Randalls Island.
Laughing Gull - increasing over recent days.
Ring-billed Gull
American Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon - some in flight, including early Tuesday.
Great Cormorant - still lingering in some typical sites, NOT within Central Park where Double-cresteds are very-regular.
Double-crested Cormorant - increasing with some flocks moving overhead on most days recently.
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron - ongoing in nice numbers in the county. Some roost-sites with well-over a dozen lately.Black Vulture - mostly seen from northern Manahattan.
Turkey Vulture - some small groups as well as singles noted.
Osprey - plenty of local and regional movements by these now.
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk - scant by now, but at least one showing in the county on Tues.
Broad-winged Hawk - one or more came thru by Tues., perhaps part of at least several migrating groups in the area.
Red-tailed Hawk
- - owls - -
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - increases again by Tuesday.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Yellow-shafted Flicker - ongoing further arrivals.
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Monk Parakeet - as noted above in text-notes.
Eastern Phoebe - ongoing in good numbers.
Blue-headed Vireo - slight uptick in numbers.
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee - ongoing in numbers in some locations, these are also on the move too.
Tufted Titmouse - many on the move in addition to those staying, or at least lingering.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow - modest increases in recent days.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - increased again by Tues.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper -continuing to show in nice numbers.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - slight increases noted.
House Wren - slightly more, some singing a bit.
Winter Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher - small increases. Present in Manhattan all winter in low numbers, and in Central Park for most of spring.
Northern Mockingbird
Hermit Thrush - many - in Central Park alone, over 200 on Tuesday - some small areas held 20-plus in a small woods area.
Wood Thrush - one report.
American Robin - very common and a part of overflights, as well as greatly-increased in migratory flocks stopping off.
Cedar Waxwing - in small numbers.
House Sparrow
House Finch
Purple Finch - multiple, but not that many.
Pine Siskin - scant by any dropping in to be widely-observed.
American Goldfinch
Grasshopper Sparrow - noted at top, seen along Hudson River greenway, a bit south of G.W. Bridge, west side of Manhattan.
Chipping Sparrow - more than previously.
Field Sparrow - large increase over all of the county by Tuesday.
Red Fox Sparrow - increased, overall - some singing.
Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco - huge increases - even after many have already been coming thru.
White-crowned Sparrow - still very scarce, and a bit early in just mid-April here.
White-throated Sparrow - great increases despite already being numerous here.
Vesper Sparrow - a few, one in particular enjoyed by many at Inwood Hill Park, thanks to A-and-K, and also to N.S. later on.
Savannah Sparrow - good increases, many scattered all around the county.
Song Sparrow - still managing some increases even after a lot of these have moved thru, not always noticed a lot as migrants.
Swamp Sparrow - good increases by Tuesday.
Eastern Towhee - increased for Tuesday.
Eastern Meadowlark - a few, one of which might be lingering a little at one location.
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Rusty Blackbird - increased as well as some passing thru on Tuesday.
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
-
Ovenbird - first of the spring, and very-likely longer-distance arrivals.
Louisiana Waterthrush - as many as ten in Central Park alone on Tues., while likely far-more passed thru and northwards.
Northern Waterthrush - at least 2 arrivals, either new to Tues. or quite recent.
Black-and-white Warbler - modest increases for Tues.
Northern Parula - perhaps one individual lingering, but at least 2 birds showing and singing at times.
Yellow Warbler - few, and not first-of-season, but possibly a further, but scant arrival of this species.
Palm Warbler - all have been of the yellow-form, as is most-expected in spring here. Near-common by Tuesday.
Pine Warbler - many, again some in various locations and also some small groups of these in single small areas.
Myrtle form, Yellow-rumped Warbler - many passed thru in a morning-flight, which is typical of this species on migrations, also increased as county-stop-ins for Tues.
-
And likely at least a few additional species of native birds which may have arrived in the large widespread flight. Thanks to the many observers and photographers giving reports and alerts on non-x apps, as well as via eBird and with the Macaulay Library for media. Also thanks as always to all guides, participants, and supporters with bird and nature walks done on behalf of and with not-for-profit institutions and organizations which work for conservation, science education and research, and benefit the birds and other wildlife.
Good birding to all,
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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