Tag Archives: Central Park

Northern Pintail, Central Park

Posted on by

After I finished trading the market this morning, I had a brilliant idea: visit the Hudson by Inwood to watch raptor and waterfowl migration. Winds would be favorable (northwest and strong) for the first time since the cold air arrived yesterday. I emailed Andrew Farnsworth to let him know my plan.

It turns out Farnsworth was, as usual, already a step ahead. He had been birding the Dyckman ball fields area of Inwood Hill Park since 10 a.m. and his lengthy eBird list arrived in my inbox before I was even ready to leave.

He warned me that the birds were flying high and that I would want to bring a scope, but 10 x 42 binoculars were all I had, and besides I was already walking across the park on my way to the C train at 86th Street. He was on his way back home, but he planned to be back in the afternoon again.

I went first to Fort Tryon Park, thinking that the extra 200+ feet of elevation would help me get better views. I arrived at 12:40 p.m. Within ten minutes I saw an adult Bald Eagle fly low and directly overhead — I was off to a great start. But this was nearly all I saw, and after forty minutes I decided to try the Dyckman fields.

I immediately started seeing more birds, mostly geese and Red-tailed Hawks, that were swerving east over the hill and thus not passing over Fort Tryon.

Somewhat later, at 2:35 p.m., a text alert arrived: Sandra Paci (who took part in the birdathon in honor of Starr Saphir) had found a male Northern Pintail on the Lake in Central Park, just west of the Point.

Right away I texted Farnsworth that I had to leave Inwood to chase the pintail.

Northern Pintail observations in Central Park are extremely rare. The last verified one was from February and March of 2007, when a male pintail overwintered on the 59th Street Pond. They can be had in flight over the East River, but that takes a lot of watching and some luck.

The one on the Lake was, as the expression goes, a “sitting duck.” All I had to do was reach it before it flew away. (Not a trivial concern — the Blue-winged Teal I found on the Lake in spring flew off after little more than an hour.)

I went directly toward the the Dyckman 203rd Street station and quickly caught the express train going downtown. By 3:20 I was in Central Park on the south side of the lake, west of Bethesda Fountain and north of Cedar Hill.

I scanned the shoreline of the Point and quickly found the duck sleeping under a tree branch near some Mallards. It was well concealed from most viewing angles and not showing any movement. If this is how it was when Sandra found it, it was certainly was not an easy find.

By 3:30 I was on my way back to join Farnsworth for more migration-watching in Inwood. We got in a half-hour of viewing before he had to leave, with the highlight being another low-flying adult Bald Eagle.

Lark Sparrow, Great Hill Central Park

Posted on by

At 4:52 p.m. today a text alert arrived of a Lark Sparrow on the Great Hill north of the balancing rock. With the strong westerly wind flow of the previous few days, I had been wondering about the possibility of Lark Sparrow. An eBird report that arrived less than 50 minutes earlier indicated the bird was first seen briefly this morning by a couple of observers, with the last sighting at 11:20 a.m.

I was late getting the text, and then I had to change into running clothes. But I ran fast and arrived on the Great Hill at 5:19. There were no sparrows near the balancing rock, but I saw two birders intently observing something at the NE end of the sloping meadow nearby. It turned out that they did not have the Lark Sparrow, so I started searching the area, and soon split from them to check higher on the hill. There I found a flock of at least twenty Chipping Sparrows and twenty Dark-eyed Juncos.

Soon the other birders began walking toward me, so I met them and suggested we examine the flock. We walked toward it, and when I looked again the Lark Sparrow was 25 feet away right in my binocular view and I called it out. It took some time to get everyone of the six birders on it, as there were many sparrows moving about, but eventually all saw it. It is large for a sparrow, with a dramatic, unmistakable head pattern.

We observed the bird for roughly 15 minutes before the flock frightened and moved north. The other birders move on. I pursued the flock to the far NE end of the Great Hill, where I last saw the Lark Sparrow at 6:15 p.m. just as darkness was falling.

The last prior report of Lark Sparrow in Manhattan was just over two years ago on 13 September 2011 at the same initial location, the Great Hill’s southern slope.

Grasshopper Sparrow, Central Park

Posted on by

At 11:39 a.m. today, as I was watching the market, I received an email from eBirdsNYC: Stephen Chang, one of Manhattan’s top birders, had found a rare Grasshopper Sparrow on the lawn west of Triplets Bridge. (This lawn is at the very west end of Central Park, north of the 77th Street entrance off Central Park West and a block east of CPW, just west of the stream that feeds the Lake.)

Mr. Chang seems to have a way with Grasshopper Sparrows. He also was the finder of the one near the Lawn Bowling courts in May 2012 about which I wrote in my book.

I ran to area, arriving at 11:55 a.m. I was first on the scene, and I saw neither the bird nor its original finder. I did see some House Sparrows on the lawn, so I scanned them and then circled around the lawn.

As I was searching the opposite side of the lawn, another birder called out that the bird was appearing by the fence just west of the stream. I turned and got a good look. Its eye ring, buffy throat, and overall shape and coloring left no doubt as to its identity.

The bird remained in view for five minutes and then seemed to disappear into the brush. I remained on the scene for another twenty minutes as seven birders watched for it, but it did not reappear. It was reported again later in the afternoon.

The Grasshopper Sparrow has been appearing roughly once per season in recent years in Central Park. As we begin the fall sparrowing season, I am hoping that more ammodramus sparrows will show up in Central Park.

I visited the northeast shore of Randall’s Island on Monday, September 30, and found the lone Saltmarsh Sparrow (also of the ammodramus genus) that had been found by another observer the day before.

Eastern Whip-poor-will in Central Park Ramble

Posted on by

An Eastern Whip-poor-will was reported at 11:39 a.m. today roosting thirty feet high in a tree just north of the Gill and west of Azalea Pond. I arrived on the scene at 12:35 p.m. and saw two of Central Park’s top bird photographers with their cameras in place. The bird was resting on a mostly horizontal branch in full view, so it was easy to see the relevant markings.

This is the second nightjar appearance of the year in Central Park — a Chuck-will’s-widow was seen by many in Tupelo Field on 16 May. The last noted appearance of an Eastern Whip-poor-will in the park was just over a year ago, 15 September 2012, at the very source of the Gill only a hundred yards away.

Virginia Rail in the Central Park Loch

Posted on by

At the very early hour of 5:50 a.m. on 9 September, a downtown birder observed a juvenile Virginia Rail in the Wall Street area near Maiden and William streets and later reported it on eBird. The observer was unable to re-find the bird after it flew off, so I did not expect to have any better luck trying at least several hours later, and so, did not pursue it.

The incident did, however, start me thinking about Virginia Rails and about the Rallidae family of birds in general. One member of this family, the American Coot, appears regularly in Manhattan. American Coots can be seen every day on the Reservoir in Central Park during the cold months of the year. Most of the others are never noted in Manhattan except  for the Sora and the Common Gallinule, which are reported at most a few times per decade. The last verified sighting of a Sora in Central Park was during 17-19 September 2011; and of a Common Gallinule, May 2010.

So I was surprised when I received an email from Andrew Farnsworth late on the evening of 10 September asking if I had chased the Virginia Rail. I initially figured he meant the one from the previous day seen downtown, but when I checked the rest of my inbox I saw an 11:28 p.m. eBirdsNYC report of a Virginia Rail in the Central Park Loch.

I had missed the finder’s alert because my cell often does not receive texts in a timely manner when I am at home. But when I put together the timeline, I realized that I probably would not have been able to get the bird even if I had received the alert immediately.

The lone observer noted seeing the Virginia Rail along the shore of the Loch in the Central Park North End between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. and no more after that. The observer finished birding at 6:10, and did not send the alert until 6:30. I have no idea why the lengthy delay.

At any rate, some birders tried to re-find the bird the following morning without success. The Sora had remained for three days, so I knew there was some chance that the Virginia Rail would stick around, particularly since the winds were not favorable for migration and the bird had chosen a hospitable section of the park.

At 5:23 p.m. that evening two North End birders alerted that they were seeing the Virginia Rail. I was just on my way back from the gym, so I ran home, got my binoculars, and ran to the Loch, arriving at 5:40. After five minutes of waiting, the Rail popped out of cover and began walking along the shore and drinking from the stream.

The bird appeared at least several more times on the evening of 11 September, giving close views (it did not seem to mind the presence of people) to all who went.

Migrants move on

Posted on by

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.

Winds change — birds return!

Posted on by

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.

Blue-winged Teal on the Lake

Posted on by

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.

My 100th bird of the year

Posted on by

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.

Warblers arrive

Posted on by

For those of you looking at my book, I had to re-submit some digital files. It should be available again within a day or two.

As for spring migration, the warblers have begun arriving. Sunday the 7th brought Louisiana Waterthrush to the Loch in the North End along with Pine Warbler in the Pinetum. I saw my first Pine Warblers today (Monday the 8th). I also had my first-of-season Winter Wren, Palm Warbler (I saw an over-wintering one in January), Chipping Sparrow, and Brown-headed Cowbird today.