Date: 1/16/26 2:05 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] N.Y. County, NYC - past week
N.Y. County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan, Randalls, Roosevelt, and Governors Islands, and the adjacent surrounding waters and skies above
- thru Jan. 15th -
With several female-plumaged Common Mergansers still lingering at the Central Park reservoir, at least one observer on Wednesday was happy to also see and photograph 6 brightly plumaged males of that species fly directly past. This winter has produced a few days when Common Mergansers showed in numbers at various sites, including more than a dozen on the Central Park reservoir, those mostly not lingering. Red-breasted Mergansers continue as the most-numerous of the 3 merganser species of the county, with most of the latter in the salt and brackish waters. Hooded Mergansers are primarily lingering on the waterbodies of Central Park. We shall see if more waterfowl and other waterbirds start to turn up with the incoming multi-day deep-freeze set to affect all areas north of the NYC region soon.
An Indigo Bunting at Randalls Island last Saturday is a very uncommon, but not unprecedented wintering example of the species for this county. This species has overwintered in Central Park and in one of those instances, was not known to be a male until the bird of that past-times winter gained the brighter plumage as spring arrived, and then went into full bright breeding plumage by mid-spring.
Lincolns Sparrow appears to be an overwintering bird, one reliably refound on Tuesday, at Pier 26, just as in the late weeks of last year in lower-west Manhattan at the Hudson River greenway edge. A different Lincolns Sparrow was found this past week -and photographed- likely wintering on Roosevelt Island, still, to this year a very uncommonly found overwintering species in this county. This bird was seen again there on Saturday, Jan. 10th.
Warblers still lingering in the county in this past week included at least several species in Manhattan, with Nashville, Orange-crowned, Common Yellowthroat, and Ovenbird all in several locations this past week, and Myrtle-form Yellow-rumped enjoying some time up-slope at Highbridge Park, perhaps having moved up from the Harlem river parks. Some or perhaps all of the various warblers were in areas where seen weeks or many weeks prior as well. Others might still be lurking as well. Orange-crowned Warblers were apparently the most numerous lingerers of the warblers, not surprisingly, and two or possibly three of this species were still around Randalls Island. Other insectivores that were hanging on in the county included Golden-crowned Kinglets and at least some Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
One of the more recent sightings of Monk Parakeet took place off West 72nd St., well south of the areas with much more regular sightings of that uncommon but breeding-resident species of Manhattan, a species more regularly seen in counties outside this one. There have been at least some scattered sightings of these in a variety of locations around Manhattan, and more-scarcely also in other sites in the county in recent years.
At The Battery at Manhattans south end, a Wild Turkey continues her very long-lingering residence. It was a bit of a struggle for this county to reach around 100-plus species for January, so far. At least three locations in the county were going thru mid-January with species-lists per-locations of over 60 native bird spp., including Inwood Hill Park and Central Park, with Randalls Island nearly at same level of species to the 15th. Some species considered more sensitive to disturbance are not yet added in to the tallies.
A lack of any rarer gulls, or of very uncommon waterfowl or other rarer waterbirds in the county has been part of that. There have been more than 2,500 Canada Geese on multiple days in the county, and thus a chance that some other goose species are mixed in with such numbers.
