Tag Archives: birds

Lapland Longspur, Randall’s Island

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Just as I was about to head to the gym at 1:58 p.m. I received a text alert of an NYSBirds posting: Tom Fiore had learned of a Lapland Longspur on the northeast shore of Randall’s Island from another birder and had seen it for himself. The gym would have to wait.

The last eBird record of Lapland Longspur in Manhattan on land is from 1956 — a retroactively-entered historical record from Central Park. Andrew Farnsworth observed a pair via overnight flight call recording in 2010. For Manhattan it is thus an extreme rarity. Nevertheless, it has been on my short list of species I expect to get for some time. One reason is that it keeps showing up nearby every year. There was a 2013 observation in Van Cortlandt Park just to the north in the Bronx. There are annual observations of it at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

Another reason is that Manhattan has suitable habitat for it. Lapland Longspurs like to winter on open grasslands and tilled fields, and they seem to travel near the water when they pass through the New York City area. So Randall’s Island and Governor’s Island are great for it, and the fields of Inwood Hill Park also offer possibilities — a stopover point for those moving along the Hudson.

I printed out the directions to the bird, dressed appropriately (galoshes because Randall’s Island fields tend to flood when snow melts), and ran for the subway, catching the express to 125th Street. From there I ran across the RFK Bridge and onto the island’s northeast fields. I saw no other birders. I also saw no bird. Then it popped up out of the grass right next to the shore, just south of the sign for ball field #31. It was ten yards away, and my presence did not seem to bother it. I observed it for a few minutes and issued a #birdcp Twitter alert at 2:48 p.m. Then I left the area — I did not want to risk spooking the bird and making it harder for others to observe. Andrew Farnsworth found it in the same place 90 minutes later.

Sora, Central Park Loch

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A substantial drop in temperature, into the low 50s, and moderate northwest winds the day and night before signaled that today could be a very good day for birding. I was expecting a strong raptor flight, which never developed. But other good things did.

I set out early to first check the Central Park Reservoir for new waterfowl and then head to the North End for sparrows and possibly Eastern Bluebird. But a text alert just before 8 a.m. of Nelson’s Sparrows on Randall’s Island’s northeast-shore saltmarsh made me reconsider. I had looked there for these ammodramus sparrows several times over the past week. And even though they generally linger for many days once they arrive, I did not want to pass up the chance to observe them when they were known to be present. I can reach Randall’s Island in twenty minutes from home, so I would still have plenty of time to chase any sightings in Central Park.

The skilled young birder who reported them on Twitter was still watching them when I arrived at 8:55. Though the Nelson’s Sparrows soon became much less active, I still saw them pop up in the low grass and reeds at least several times. We also heard an American Woodcock calling in the marsh. Further along the northeast shore we found a Lincoln’s Sparrow.

I ran back across the RFK Bridge and took the subway home. The plan was to eat, rest a bit, and then return to Central Park to watch the skies for raptors and waterfowl. Just as I was finishing eating, another text alert came in: a Sora was found in the Loch!

As I have mentioned before, Sora is a mega rarity for Manhattan. It is reported here perhaps only once every two or three years. The last one was in Bryant Park in October 2013.

I ran to the Loch, to an area between the two wooden bridges at the west end, and saw several birders observing the Sora. The bird was slowly moving along the Loch’s shore fifteen feet below in plain view, making for a very easy chase.

A Spate of Year Birds

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I have not posted in a few months because I was not observing any exceptional birds. The summer shorebird season was disappointing, with nothing new for me but the common and expected Semipalmated Sandpiper. There is still time for shorebirds, as two of the best from last year arrived in the late-September to early-November period.

Raptor movements have been sparse due to prevailing winds with easterly components. Still, I have managed to see the usual Osprey, Broad-winged Hawk, and Red-shouldered Hawk, the latter two only in very small numbers.

Then, in just the last eight days, I added five new birds to my year list.

  1. Many saw the two Connecticut Warblers that lingered at in the Trinity Church courtyard on September 21 and 22;
  2. An immature Red-Headed Woodpecker appeared in the Evodia area of Central Park on morning of the 24th;
  3. An Eastern Whip-poor-will was found roosting on a tree limb at the south end of the Loch early on the morning of the 26th. I raced out to see it, and it remained there the entire day;
  4. Later, on the afternoon of the 26th I had to run out to the North End again to chase a Grasshopper Sparrow on the Grassy Knoll. It appeared furtively a few times, sometimes in flight;
  5. Today, the 29th, a birder visiting from the West Coast reported on eBird seeing a Dickcissel in the Maintenance area of the Ramble sometime between 10:30 and noon. The description checked and the other birds on his list made sense, so I ran to Maintenance shortly after seeing the 12:23 eBird Rare Bird Alert.

The eBird report suggested to me that the bird had been on the small lawn directly east of the all-metal maintenance shed. It was said to associating, as Dickcissels often do, with a flock of House Sparrows. There was a such a House Sparrow flock there, occasionally drinking from the water that collected at the base of a public fountain. I stealthily watched the fountain area for fifteen minutes. No Dickcissel.

I also checked the perimeter of the area, which included the Maintenance Meadow proper. After forty minutes I still did not have the bird.

Then I decided to look into  the northeast corner of Maintenance, where I could see some House Sparrows feeding atop tall grasses and weeds and occasionally perching on the wire fence that encloses the entrance to the shed. Soon the Dickcissel appeared on the tall grass. Of the several Dickcissels I have seen in Manhattan, this one had the brightest yellow breast. It also had a very yellow supercilium.

Paul Sweet’s American Museum of Natural History midday walk was at Maintenance, so I told Paul about the bird and he brought the group over. After some minutes of searching he found the Dickcissel perching on the tree.

The Dickcissel lingered in the general area for the entire day and was seen by many.

Black Skimmer, the Meer

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Black Skimmer (Wikipedia)

Black Skimmer (Wikipedia)

Since the one-time 10 July 2013 appearance of Black Skimmers at Conservatory Water (aka, the model boat pond), I have wanted to add these birds to my Central Park list. I had already looked for them in New York Harbor and on Governors Island in June and July 2012 after Andrew Farnsworth had one on the East River, as I mentioned in my book. As then, at least ten turn up regularly in the sheltered bays surrounding Liberty State Park. You would think that observers on the southwest shore of Manhattan and on Governors Island would see them frequently, but this is not the case — such sightings have been rare.

I had observed the Black Skimmer in Manhattan once before, in October 2012 in the wake of Hurricane Sandy on the Hudson River, but it was a very distant and unsatisfying view.

There was a single report of two Black Skimmers feeding over Turtle Pond in late July 2014, the only known occurrence of them in Central Park that year. These birds used to be seen regularly on Turtle Pond after sundown in June and July of 2003 and 2006. Now one must be a great deal more fortunate in order to see them.

Last Friday, 19 June 2015, one was observed on the Meer at 8:50 p.m. and reported on eBird the following day. Naturally I visited the Meer that evening despite a light mist and occasional drizzle, but I did not see a skimmer.

I wanted to try again when conditions were more favorable. This means mostly clear skies (so the birds are not discouraged from flying several miles to Central Park from their breeding grounds at Breezy Point or elsewhere) and relatively calm winds. Skimmers require calm water for feeding, which is why they prefer small, sheltered bodies of water like Turtle Pond or Conservatory Water).

Yesterday, 22 June, the conditions seemed right, so I ran to the Meer, arriving at 8:37 p.m. just as the sun was setting. I soon saw a large bird with dark wings and a long bill flying over the water, but it turned out to be a Black-crowned Night-Heron. Otherwise, not much was going on. A few Chimney Swifts chattered overhead.

I was positioned at the extreme western tip of the Meer, midway between the north and south shores. At 9:02 a Black Skimmer appeared over the southwest corner of the Meer and began skimming. The lights by the skating rink along with the natural twilight allowed me an excellent, close view of the skimmer as it slowly fished the water surface. The bird was unmistakable both in appearance and behavior, clearly different from any other that one sees in Central Park. After observing several brief passes over the water, I took out my cell phone and started to enter a #birdcp text alert. By the time I had finished typing the alert I could no longer see the skimmer. I searched the rest of the Meer (mostly algae-filled but worth a look) but I was unable to re-find the bird. After ten minutes I moved on. Perhaps the Meer did not suit the skimmer’s taste; maybe the skimmer was just giving it a quick try while in transit to or from some other more desirable place. At any rate, finally seeing it in Central Park was quite a thrill.

Cliff Swallow, Central Park Meer

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I started thinking about Cliff Swallows earlier this week, as reports of them came in from Long Island. There is little doubt that they pass over Manhattan every year, both in spring and fall, but it seems that they rarely join the three more common swallows (Barn, Tree, and Northern Rough-winged) in skimming the surface of Central Park water bodies. They are known to forage for insects at generally higher levels, which makes them harder to spot.

The morning fog today likely encouraged lower flying, and calm winds made the Meer a good place to find insects. When Deborah Allen, a wildlife photographer and birding tour leader, sent an NYNYBIRD text alert of Cliff Swallows over the Meer at 9:52 a.m., I wasted no time in running there.

Upon arriving, I immediately saw swallows skimming the eastern half of the Meer. Nearly all were Tree Swallows, at least ten, along with some Barn Swallows and at least one Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Then I noticed two swallows with buffy rumps (as viewed from above) flying close together — these were the Cliff Swallows! Had these swallows been flying higher, I would not have been able to see this diagnostic feature, nor would I have seen another such feature, their white foreheads. Given the low fog and extremely poor lighting, I would not have been able to see much at all besides overall shape and tail type. But, as it was, I got great close-range looks.

Winter 2015 highlights

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From mid-January to late February I had to focus on a couple of issues that prevented me from devoting as much time as I usually do to birding. One of these was closing on my purchase of an Upper East Side co-op and then preparing for the two-block move out of the apartment where I had lived for over twenty years to the new one.

The winter was fairly forgiving in the sense that sought-after species generally appeared much more than once and did so at the locations where they were noted. A single Common Redpoll, for example, lingered at the Evodia feeders from January 23 until at least March 9. I observed this bird on several occasions. A drake Long-tailed Duck (a species that took me over three years of birding to see) continued underneath Broadway Bridge at the northern tip of Manhattan. I did not venture there to see this bird. Again, I am not doing another big year in 2015, though I may very well end up observing a lot of birds.

It was not a great winter for new life birds, however. The only bird anyone observed in New York County this winter that I did not already have is the Glaucous Gull that lingered from late January to early March in New York Harbor. I thought that this winter might have provided a Rough-legged Hawk — there certainly were many reports of the species in Brooklyn and the Meadowlands area of New Jersey — but no.

Aside from the birds I mentioned in previous blog posts (the Couch’s Kingbird and the Black-headed Gull) or above, these are my favorite birds of the winter — ones that I did observe:

  • American Tree Sparrow (both at the Central Park feeders and on Randall’s Island). In many years this can be a very tough sparrow to find.
  • Canvasback, nine of them, swimming in the Bronx Kill off Randall’s Island on February 22. An American Wigeon also showed up there that day;
  • Long-eared Owl in Shakespeare Garden on March 5. This or possibly another Long-eared Owl also roosted on the pines of Cherry Hill for at least several following days;
  • Common Goldeneye off Randall’s Island on March 6. This species did not show up as often as in previous years;
  • Common Merganser off Randall’s Island on March 8. This species also appeared under Broadway Bridge and, very briefly, on the Reservoir;
  • American Woodcock on the north shore of Randall’s Island on March 8. In my book I describe woodcock as very hard to find (which they were, in 2012), but in recent years they have been showing up in large numbers in Central Park. Some stay in place, visible but at least somewhat hidden, for the entire day;
  • Horned Grebe, a single bird swimming just south of the RFK bridge in the Harlem River on March 8;
  • Green-winged Teal on the Reservoir, March 16;
  • Red-necked Grebe, which I found swimming just offshore on the Hudson River near 65th Street on March 16, one of only two eBird reports of this species in Manhattan this winter;
  • Northern Pintail, three hens swimming off the northeast shore of Randall’s Island on March 17.

Couch’s Kingbird, West Village

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The news first appeared on the New York Birders group on Facebook late yesterday afternoon — Gabriel Willow had received photos from a friend who had been observing an unusual bird perching on his balcony and elsewhere around the building, perhaps for six weeks. The photos indicated either Tropical or Couch’s Kingbird, with a description of the call pointing toward the latter. Already dozens of birders were planning to visit the location from which it could be publicly viewed, the west side of Washington Street between Jane and Horatio Streets. Neither Tropical nor Couch’s Kingbird had ever been recorded in New York State.

In fact, Couch’s Kingbird almost never was observed any farther north than Texas. It is no surprise that Western Kingbirds sometimes appear in New York, as they range throughout the middle and western section of the United States north into Canada. Strong westerly winds can cause them to veer off course as they move south in the fall until they encounter the East Coast. But a Couch’s Kingbird would need to travel over 800 miles north, not south, to arrive in New York from where it is usually found, in addition to veering excessively far east. And that is the sort of mistake very few birds make.

I was still at home when the bird in question was re-found this morning on Hudson Street between Bank and Bethune at 8:15. Andrew Farnsworth and others later heard it calling and the Couch’s identity was confirmed. It then flew back to the Washington and Jane Street location, where it remained through 9:30.

I arrived in the area at 9:55. I saw twenty birders searching for it, but none appeared to be seeing it. So I walked around the neighborhood to try to find it elsewhere, knowing that these birders would issue an online alert if it returned.

I walked over to the Hudson Street location near Bleecker Playground and saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but no Kingbird. Then I continued ambling around, visiting the High Line, and occasionally checking in on the primary location to see if all binoculars were raised. This went on for nearly two hours.

At 11:45 I heard someone yell, “Got it!” I ran from a block away to see the Couch’s Kingbird perching high atop the trees by Washington and Jane, its yellow belly gleaming in the sunlight. It appeared to be roughly the size of an Eastern Kingbird, and it gracefully swooped around the trees and out over the street to catch flies.

By then, forty birders had assembled on the east side of Washington Street, all of them seeing a bird they had never before seen in the city.

Long-tailed Duck, Hudson River, Inwood

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The Long-tailed Duck was perhaps my top nemesis bird. I should have had it during my 2012 big year on one of the morning watches during Hurricane Sandy, but I was not at the right vantage point. Since then I have made many trips around Manhattan looking for it at likely times and places, but until today, never finding it.

There are a couple days each year, usually in early March, when thousands of Long-tailed Ducks gather in New York Harbor and along the southern shore of Brooklyn and Queens. You would think this is the best time to see the species in Manhattan, but I have taken Staten Island Ferry rides and also watched from the Battery and the west side Greenway then and have not seen any. It seems that nearly all of these Long-tailed Ducks proceed northeast and do not pass over Manhattan or follow the Hudson. That is not to say it is impossible to see one — there were a couple observations of single Long-tailed Ducks this year in March from Battery Park or nearby. But you need to go very early, or else have luck on your side.

I also checked the Battery area this January when the Hudson River was mostly frozen over, thinking that the lack of open water to the north would drive birds into the harbor, which remained unfrozen. As far as I could tell, it did not.

I watched for these ducks, too, at Randall’s Island and on many visits to Inwood Hill Park.

I went to Inwood Hill Park, the Dyckman fields, today (October 30) mostly to sky-watch. It seemed like a good day for Golden Eagle, Snow Goose, and Northern Harrier. I also scanned the fields for sparrows and other land birds, but did not find anything unusual.

Andrew Farnsworth joined me just after 3:15 p.m., and we watched from the pier at the marina. Aside from a low pass by an adult Bald Eagle, I was not seeing much of interest. Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks were flying very high, and a Peregrine Falcon occasionally visited the area.

But at 3:45 things got interesting. Andrew noted a distant flock of ducks flying south very low over the river. Before they were close enough to identify they reversed direction briefly and then continued south. As they approached I could see dark wings with white on the face, neck, and flanks. They were a dozen Long-tailed Ducks!

They soon reversed direction again (they did this quite a bit) and headed back north, out of view. Perhaps they encountered and joined another flock, because a few minutes later we saw what turned out to be 46 Long-tailed Ducks flying back and forth over the river, this time going past us toward the the George Washington Bridge and then turning around and again proceeding north.

Pine Siskin, Central Park Wildflower Meadow

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The early arrival of Red-breasted Nuthatches, some in August, across southern New York State augured well for winter finch irruptions, just as it did in 2012 when massive finch irruptions followed. It does not appear that this winter will bring the same volume and species variety that 2012 did, but some of the more common finches may show up in Manhattan.

There have been anecdotal reports, beginning last week, of Pine Siskins moving through Central Park in the very early mornings. The first eBird report came on Monday, 29 September, of this week, when five Pine Siskins were observed briefly at the south end of Strawberry Fields.

I recalled the initial frustration I had in adding Pine Siskin to my year list in 2012 — it took me a week from the first Central Park report for me to see one, despite birding nearly every day. I did not want to go through that again, nor did I want to be in the park at 7 a.m. watching for morning flight.

I remembered that in 2012 some Pine Siskins were seen among the large flock of American Goldfinches in the Wildflower Meadow. This year the meadow is in unusually good condition, abounding with fruits and seeds on trees and shrubs. On my second pass through it, midday on 2 October, I saw a Pine Siskin perching atop a shoot of vegetation. It soon flew, but it gave its rising zhee call a number of times afterward.

Connecticut Warbler, Central Park Ramble

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The Connecticut Warbler has proved over the last couple years to be very chaseable. Unlike most warblers, it prefers walking (not hopping, and this is an important element in identification) to flying during the day, and so it tends not to go far from where it is sighted. When it appears in a not-densely-vegetated area, as it did two years ago near Tupelo Meadow in the Ramble, it can offer extended views to many observers. The flip side is that its tendency to stay low in heavy brush can also make it very hard to see in the first place and challenging to re-find.

Yesterday, September 29, a Connecticut Warbler was observed walking on the loose dirt and leaves of the hill that rises just north of the Riviera (the path along the Lake) at the south end of the Central Park Ramble. It was reported quickly, both online and by BirdCP text alert at 5:59 p.m. I was at home when I received the alert, and in a few minutes I was running toward the Ramble, binoculars in hand.

I did not want to waste any time, as sunset was 6:40 and the Ramble could be dark well before then on a cloudy day. I arrived at 6:13 and saw three birders in the area. They said they had just seen the Connecticut, and almost immediately it appeared again near a large log. I watched it for a few minutes as some of them took photographs. The bird had a gray hood and unbroken eye-ring, and it was walking, so there was no question about identity.

The Connecticut Warbler was my 196th species of the year. I still need Golden-winged Warbler to complete another “perfect” warbler year (of all regularly-occurring warblers in Manhattan), as I had once before in 2012. It appears extremely unlikely that I will see one, as none have ever been recorded on eBird in Manhattan in October, and cross-breeding is making the pure species rarer each year.

**3 October Update: 

More chaseable Connecticut Warbler reports in Manhattan followed: first at Madison Square Park in the afternoon on 30 September, and then the next day in Strawberry Fields, Central Park at 5:35 p.m.