Tag Archives: big year

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.

My 100th bird of the year

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I added four new birds for the year today to bring my total to 102 species in Manhattan in 2013. These were Savannah Sparrow and Barn Swallow, with multiple numbers of both seen on the NE shore of Randall’s Island; Fish Crow, of which two were calling as I returned over the 103rd Street pedestrian bridge over the East River; and a single Pine Siskin seen at the Evodia feeders in the Central Park Ramble at 3:25 p.m. 

It took roughly ten miles of running/walking to do all this, which included an early morning visit to the Ramble that turned up nothing new.

Even though I am not planning on doing another big year in 2013, I am slightly ahead of last year’s pace. As of April 13, 2012, I had 94 species, but on I added six birds on the following day. Last year my 102nd species came on April 16.  

This is an exciting time of year to be birding. You can expect to average nearly two new birds each day between now and the end of April, that is if we get decent weather and things go the way they did last year.