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Red-necked Phalarope on the Hudson

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Just before 1 p.m. today a Red-necked Phalarope was reporting swimming near the Manhattan shore of the Hudson River south of Pier 40.

The only other historical eBird record of this species in Manhattan is from 28 August 2011, when Andrew Farnsworth observed over 70 birds in several flocks flying south after being displaced by Hurricane Irene.

I was at the gym, so I did not see today’s alert until 2 p.m. Then I needed to eat, and I also needed to be ready to meet a friend at 3:30 in midtown. I was not set to to leave until 2:35, when I realized that I probably would not be able to both see the bird and make it to my meeting on time. Later a report came in that the bird was no longer being seen at 2 p.m., so I was glad I had not tried for it.

After I was free again at 5:35 I saw reports that the bird had been re-found near the prior location. I walked home, refueled quickly, and by 6:20 was out the door. The Lexington line was fast and took me right to Canal Street, from which I ran to the Hudson shore, arriving around 6:49. Still plenty of light, but a scan of the area did not turn up the bird. I ended up walking further north to Pier 40. It took a few minutes of searching, but the small, long-billed bird popped into view near a couple of gulls. By walking out on Pier 40 I was able to observe the phalarope from as close as 20 feet.

Summer update

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It’s been two months since my last report, and fall migrants are already passing through. Let’s look back at some interesting birds that have appeared in the interim in Manhattan.

A Red-headed Woodpecker appeared over Evodia on May 27 and lingered just southeast of there in the Ramble for roughly a week.

A couple Purple Martins were observed over Turtle Pond in Central Park beginning June 14 through June 19, reported only by one observer. I watched for them and might have seen one flying high at midday but cannot say so conclusively.

A Black Skimmer was reported feeding over the model boat pond in Central Park at 10 p.m. on July 10. I arrived at 11 p.m. that night, and visited again on some successive nights, but did not see it, nor have I seen them on the Reservoir at night, an even more likely spot to check. Black Skimmers had been photographed last in July 2008 on the model boat pond.

Yesterday afternoon, August 5, I visited Swindler Cove Park in Inwood just after low tide and was treated to a flock of fifty Semipalmated Sandpipers ranging over the Sherman Creek mudflats. These birds appeared in 2012 on these mudflats in large numbers, as many as 200 at peak. along with other more unusual shorebirds.

The last couple days have also brought reports of a variety of expected warblers and flycatchers in Central Park.

I am pleased to see that my recent book, “A Big Manhattan Year,” continues to sell well on Amazon. If you want to learn more about birding Manhattan, or just want to read a good big-year story, you should check it out.

Migrants move on

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Wednesday, May 22, was a good day for birding Central Park. There was decent warbler variety, with a Mourning Warbler appearing at times on the Point in the afternoon and evening. An Alder Flycatcher was seen and heard there in the morning, and it may have been the empidonax flycatcher that I saw there in the afternoon. Since it did not vocalize then, I could not make the species ID. Cedar Waxwings, some of which will linger throughout the summer, were also observed frequently in flocks throughout the park.

The good birding days began on May 9 and it appears that May 22 was the last of them. Yesterday very little bird song could be heard in the Ramble, aside from some Baltimore Orioles, Red-eyed Vireos, and Blackpoll Warblers. I noticed a Spotted Sandpiper working the northeast shore of Turtle Pond. Aside from these, it was very quiet. It had the steamy feeling of a June day.

It is possible that we get one more push of migrants. We did last year — May 25, 2012, was a great day, one of the few best of the spring. I certainly would not count on it, though.

I added Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Cedar Waxwing on the 22nd. Common Nighthawk and Chuck-will’s-widow appeared openly on the same day last week and were widely reported; Least Flycatcher and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron showed up at Randall’s Island.

As I have said before, I am not trying to do another big year. I expect that other responsibilities will take precedence over fall birding (which can begin as early as mid-July), but I probably will get out to Randall’s Island and Swindler Cove Park for the summer shorebird season.

A Torrent of Migrants

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The last seven days offered excellent species variety in Manhattan. I added 21 new species for the year, including some rare warblers that I was not expecting to get. This leaves me with 170 species for the year, which suddenly puts me well ahead of last year’s pace (had 161 as of the same date then) after having been well behind it last week.

My warbler deficit largely got filled with a great influx of the rarer varieties: Blackburnian, Cape May, Prothonotary, Mourning, and Tennessee.

I also picked up my “peeps,” with Solitary Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpiper foraging side-by-side in the Compost Heap last Sunday. I had a single Least Sandpiper on Randall’s Island off the NE shore today. It was near a wading Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, another new species for the year that I had in the same spot last year in July.

I also had a few unexpected species. A Marsh Wren showed up last Saturday in the bamboo on the Riviera section of the Lake. Even more surprising were the two nightjars I had (along with dozens of other birders) yesterday. A Common Nighthawk was found high up in a tree SW of Mugger’s Woods in the Ramble. I wrote a chapter (“Nighthawk Watchman”) in my book about how I spent many August and September evenings watching in vain for a Common Nighthawk flyover until a pair finally arrived. I will not need to repeat that exercise this year. Later another nightjar was found perching prominently high above the north end of Tupelo Meadow. After some debate and close inspection, this bird was determined to be a Chuck-will’s-widow, a species with no prior eBird records for Manhattan. It was a life Manhattan bird for nearly everyone who saw it, including me.

Just minutes after viewing it, I wandered over to the fenced-in area just west of Humming Tombstone and had a Willow Flycatcher, which I identified by call. This, too, was a life Manhattan bird, one of the easiest of those I was missing.

Winds change — birds return!

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It was looking as if we were not going to have a real spring migration in the New York area. The first three days of the week were awful! On Wednesday, May 7, I spent two early-morning hours in the Ramble and had just a single warbler.

Then on Wednesday evening the winds switched to southerly, and Thursday turned out to be very good, though marred by intermittent rain in the morning that soon became heavy and chased birders out of the park. By afternoon the sun was out, and the songs of warblers could be heard all over the Ramble again. I had 14 total warbler species, and added six new birds for the year: Yellow-throated Vireo, Veery, Blue-winged Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager.

Today, Friday the 10th, was even better. Species variety and individual numbers were by far the highest for the year and on par with the best spring days of 2012. A single oak at Summit Rock produced over a dozen migrants over twenty minutes of watching. I added Swainson’s Thrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Canada Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, and Summer Tanager.

My total for the year now is 149 species, not far behind the 158 I had at this time last year. You can tell I am not going for another big year because I did not run to the Blockhouse area in the North End to get the ultra-rare American Bittern that was reported there. Nor did I chase the nearby Black-billed Cuckoo.

A morning at Inwood Hill Park

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I have never gone to Inwood Hill for spring migration before. As I mention in my book, it is one of the best places in Manhattan for fall raptor migration. The east bay can be good for shorebirds in the summer. It has held mating Great Horned Owls. Three weeks ago there were Pileated Woodpecker reports.

It is not, however, a place I generally would recommend for warblers and other spring migrants. It does not have Central Park’s geographical advantage, nor plentiful small ponds and marshes, and its canopy is very high, making for difficult views.

But Central Park right now lacks some species that are appearing at Inwood Hill Park: Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, and Wood Thrush. (All of these have appeared in previous days in Central Park, but in singles or very low numbers.) Generally, the last three of these species have been common in Central Park at this time of year, birds you could expect to find nearly every day, and even Orchard Oriole appeared frequently last year — it is just by nature somewhat hard to find.

I did not want to miss these birds, so off I went to Inwood Hill. I arrived just before 9 a.m. I could hear at least one Orchard Oriole singing in the trees at the north end of the soccer fields, and soon I saw one. Several Warbling Vireos also could be heard and even seen.

Shortly after taking a trail into the woods I began hearing Wood Thrush songs, which alone made the trip worthwhile.

It took some searching, but near the highest point of the Ridge I began hearing the scratchy vreeeep call of the Great Crested Flycatcher, and soon I had the bird in sight.

I never did observe the Eastern Kingbird, but this species peaks in the third week of May and lingers in Central Park through much of the summer, so there is still plenty of time.

Worst May 2 Ever

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The last five birding days have gone from sub-par to awful. None of these days had large numbers of individual birds, though Sunday at least had a decent species count wherein you could observe singles of a variety of warblers, like Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Blue.

This morning was eerily bad. I had only two warblers, Northern Parula and Prairie Warbler (which I have had every day now for a week) and well under 30 total species. Last year on the same date I had 20 warblers and 70 species.

The strange thing is that temperatures have been only a bit cool, in the low 50s at dawn, and winds have been light, though usually with an easterly or northerly component.

Some say that all it takes is light easterly winds to deflect migrants to the west of New York City (and the East Coast in general), so that migration may be happening and it may be passing us by. I don’t know. eBird maps do not show many warbler observations to the west and north, but these areas tend to be less well-reported.

I will look forward to reading the next weekly BirdCast projections, which should be coming out on Friday the 3rd. According to Weather.com, the winds should have an easterly component for the next ten (!!) days, with only a small southerly component beginning on Sunday. This cannot be good.

Private meeting with a Prairie Warbler

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English: Prairie warbler

Prairie warbler (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, April 25, brought more warblers to Central Park, though the only ones in great numbers were Yellow-rumped Warblers, as would be expected. My morning walk had three Black-and-white Warblers (also five Blue-headed Vireos) but otherwise the new warblers that appeared did so singly, or close to it.

I saw a male Prairie Warbler twice. The first time was at 8:20 a.m. just west of Azalea Pond. The bird appeared with close to thirty birders nearby (I believe that Joe DiCostanzo spotted it first), and all were treated to close, sunlit views. This was my first Prairie Warbler of the year.

I returned to the park for a late-afternoon walk. On a not-too-hot day this can be productive: birders are fewer and migrants can become active again. I found a shady, unoccupied part of the Ramble where I was hearing some songs: Northern Parula and Prairie Warbler. As I was standing there, the male Prairie fluttered down to within ten feet of me and perched low. What a treat!

Weather continues to discourage migration

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Since the very promising Wednesday, April 17, of last week, we have had five consecutive poor birding days. Continued cold weather and northerly winds surely are to blame. By now we normally would be seeing great numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers, but birders are tallying only one or two per outing. Last year these warblers were already abundant by the 17th.

The standout migrant so far has been Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Last year this was a difficult bird to to observe all throughout spring migration. I believe I had only two during all of April. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, totals of three to six gnatcatchers were the norm among eBird lists that I checked, and my own counts were also in this range.

Other warblers have appeared, but perhaps only one or two birds across the whole of Central Park: Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush, for example.

All three swallow species have been appearing on the Lake, along with a Black-crowned Night-Heron or two. I had my first-of-season Chimney Swifts on Sunday over the Lake.

I also had my first-of-year Red-breasted Nuthatch in Inwood Hill Park on Saturday (heard only), followed by a close-up visual of one in the North End on Sunday.

Conditions for migration may be briefly more favorable during the middle of this week. We will see!

 

Blue-winged Teal on the Lake

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After adding a new life bird for Manhattan yesterday, I was thrilled to add another one today, one that I was not at all expecting to see. There are some birds missing from my life Manhattan list for which I am always on watch, most notably, Common Raven, which can fly over any time and has been appearing more often in Manhattan this year; or Canvasback, or Boat-tailed Grackle.

Blue-winged Teal, however, has not been reported on eBird in Manhattan since 2009, even though it appears frequently in Brooklyn and nearby New Jersey (the Meadowlands). I have no idea why these birds avoid Manhattan! I suspect that they occur in flyovers, particularly in the fall, but few birders watch the skies for flyover ducks. There must be at least twenty birds I deemed more likely to join my life list than this one.

At 8:25 a.m. today I was scanning the Lake for swallows when I saw a pair of unusual ducks. The male clearly looked like a Blue-winged Teal, or at least like what I recalled a Blue-winged Teal to be from the guidebook — I had never seen one before in the field. I sent out an alert and led the birders to the shore of the Lake east of and opposite Hernshead. It took a couple minutes, but the pair of teal came into view, swimming together 60 yards offshore near a Gadwall.

For nearly everyone this was a life Central Park bird.

Year birds for me today included Yellow-rumped Warbler, Green Heron, and Blue-headed Vireo.