Unusually productive mid-March in Central Park

Almost literally mid-March, on March 15th, saw me in Central Park to look for some unusual birds that had been around.  Foremost amongst those was a Red-necked Grebe hanging out on the Reservoir - there had been one the previous weekend and this one was allegedly an entirely different one.  The appearance by two makes it less obvious that this is really a very rare species in Central Park with the last one being ~30 years ago (I've only been birding CPK for 17 years) and is my park bird #205.

Surreal experience at one point was the Grebe surfacing right next to a Red-breasted Merganser, itself relatively rare in the park.

The Ramble was also extremely productive, since it was hard not to see American Woodcocks as they repeatedly took flight and twittered through the Ramble, probably in response to a lot of people walking through there on a warm spring day.  Took me a while to see one on the ground for more than a few seconds.  At the feeders the sparrow numbers continued to be low, and there was only one Chickadee, but the variety was exceptional for mid-March: a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, singing Fox Sparrows, Brown Creeper, two Baltimore Orioles (overwintering) feeding on oranges.  In fact Fox Sparrows were particularly numerous at Mugger's Woods when I finally caught up with a more-or-less stationary Woodcock (but also had one fly by and others were present that I did not see).

While absolute numbers of birds and species continue to be low, not least of all because of a dilettante 2 hour afternoon visit, it really was very good birding for mid March.  FOY birds were Wood Duck, Black-capped Chickadee, Fox Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole.

Red-necked Grebe
Wood Duck
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-tailed Hawk
American Woodcock (3-5)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Fox Sparrow (10)
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

Central Park, Sept 14th and 15th (total 19 warbler sp + chat, BB Cuckoo)

I think the whole radar migration prediction thing is over-hyped as a useful tool for local birding, so I tend to use the standard method of wind direction and temperature.  So after arriving back in NJ from CA to 94 degree afternoon heat, the alarm bells went off when the highs over the weekend were in the low 70's, backed by a north-west wind.  More-or-less ideal conditions.

Bit of a shock, therefore, when I entered Strawberry Fields and there was barely any chipping.  30 minutes later and it was alive with migrants and in a hour I accumulated what is a very good day's warbler list (16 sp.) including Tennessee, Bay-breasted and Blackburnian.  Black-billed Cuckoo, two Olive-sided Flycatchers and a Chat in the Maintenance Field made for a pretty good day.  However I missed the Connecticut Warbler by scant seconds, and someone didn't look up enough and missed the expected large Broad-winged Hawk flight.

Sunday was quieter, but still many good birds in Strawberry Fields including Bay-breasted Warbler foraging in the grass right in front of me (along with Black-throated Greens).  A change in the mix of warbler species indicated that the second flight was new birds arriving.

Overall I netted 19 warbler species in two mornings, some decent birds (Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was a year bird), and finally saw some Broad-winged Hawk migration on the Sunday.  Conspicuously missing were any Kinglets or any sparrows (excl House), it's still ramping up.

Broad-winged Hawk (Sun)

Osprey (Sun)

Black-billed Cuckoo (Sat, Maint)

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (several both days)

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Olive-sided Flycatcher (two in Maint on Sat)

Least Flycatcher (Sat, poss Sun)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Sun in SF)

Great Crested Flycatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

House Wren

Carolina Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Swainson's Thrush

Veery (Sat)

Wood Thrush (Sat)

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher (Sun)

Cedar Waxwing (large flocks both days)

Ovenbird (only 1, both days)

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler (3+, both days)

Nashville Warbler (1, Sun, SF)

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Cape May Warbler (1, Maint, both days)

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler (both days, very cooperative in SF on Sunday)

Blackburnian Warbler (SF, Sat)

Yellow Warbler (SF, Sat)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Sat)

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Pine Warbler (3+ in SF on Sat)

Black-throated Green Warbler

Canada Warbler (SF)

Wilson's Warbler (SF on Sat)

Yellow-breasted Chat (elusive, Maint on Sat)

Central Park Fri-Sat-Sun 17th-19th, 21 warbler species

With migration now moving along quickly I made what is likely to be my last spring migration CPK trip of 2013 as a Friday to Sunday triple.  Thursday was in fact the biggest migration day, but with birds left over on both Saturday and Sunday even if the weather on Sunday was quite wet.

Best birds: Olive-sided Flycatcher (Saturday), Black-billed Cuckoo (Friday), Tennessee Warblers (Sat, Sun: singing), a very late Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, late Prairie Warbler (Sat, Sun: singing).  The new first-of-year birds included me finally catching up with Cedar Waxwings.  I still maintained a perfect-miss record on Mourning and Kentucky, however.

On Monday morning, although a work day, migration was still humming along based on three warbler species (Blackpoll, Magnolia, Redstart) singing in my back yard, plus Red-eyed Vireo.




Double-crested Cormorant
Spotted Sandpiper (Sat)
Black-billed Cuckoo (Fri)
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Cedar Waxwing
Olive-sided Flycatcher (Sat)
Least Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Sat)
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush (Sun)
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler (Sat, Sun)
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Prairie Warbler (Sat, Sun)
Bay-breasted Warbler (Fri, Sat)
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler (Sat)
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
White-crowned Sparrow (Fri)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park Sat/Sun (11th/12th): 21 warbler species + flycatchers + thrushes

When delayed, spring migration has a predictable way to reassert itself.  In this case the even more compressed migration timeframe saw a noticeable transition in species mix on successive days, as numbers dropped after the big wave day on Friday.

Scarce to non-existant on Friday, Flycatchers and Thrushes turned up Saturday and Sunday.  It was unusual to get first-of-year Least Flycatcher and Eastern Wood-Pewee on the same day, but multiples of the former were seen both days along with Great Cresteds and Eastern Kingbirds (reports from elsewhere suggested a big flight of Eastern Kingbirds).   "Earlier" warbler species were supplemented by later spring species - I saw my first Blackpoll of the year on Friday, and had my first female Blackpoll on Sunday, as Yellow-rumped showed a rapid fall-off in numbers and I had 3 Wilson's on Sunday - they're rarely numerous in the park.

The stars of the show were a cooperative Blackburnian Warbler on Saturday morning, a male Prothonotary Warbler on Sunday afternoon, and I found a Marsh Wren while trying to reacquire the Prothonotary ahead of the storm front on Saturday.  The Prothonotary was seen on Turtle Pond on Sunday morning but then flew north - illustrating the act of faith of migrating warblers since it doesn't know the Reservoir or the Loch is ahead of it when it set off over the Great Lawn.

I came up with an aggregated total of 21 warblers for Sat-Sun and 23 for the Fri-Sun "triple".  Migration still remains, for example few Gray-cheeked Thrushes have been reported and the Eastern Wood-Pewees were silent and as singles, but the majority of the marked migration lag has been removed with the major push over the last few days.  Remains to be seen if we're going to pick up many sparrows this year, with no Lincoln's so far and a single Field and Swamp on Sunday.


Green Heron
Spotted Sandpiper
Chimney Swift
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-capped Chickadee
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park: April 27th/28th

Saturday was slow going with low numbers but a significant uptick in diversity compared to Thursday, the larger volume day.  Notable were first-of-year (for me) Black-throated Green Warbler and an Eastern Kingbird and an especially elusive Hooded Warbler that I finally caught up with at the Tupelo. In contrast to Thursday there were actually some thrushes around, all Hermits.  Nevertheless the going was relatively slow and I managed only 8 warbler species.  A roosting Red Bat was pointed out to me - the first time I've actually seen one roosting in the park although we sometimes encounter daytime bats (perhaps sick ones).

Sunday held the promise of better winds, and migration had a bit more volume but it didn't quite constitute a "good" day.  Highlights were new American Redstart, new Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Worm-eating Warbler and a Great Crested Flycatcher.  Notable by its absence was Kentucky Warbler - seen in Prospect Park and should be pretty much the perfect time for one.   Numbers were up but it manifested as much as more Black-and-whites or Ruby-crowned Kinglets and I netted only one more warbler species on the Sunday than the Saturday.

Saturday:

Gadwall
Chimney Swift
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow

Sunday:

Chimney Swift

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Great Crested Flycatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Warbling Vireo (heard)

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Hermit Thrush

Wood Thrush (heard)

Gray Catbird

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Worm-eating Warbler

Ovenbird

Eastern Towhee

Swamp Sparrow

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

4/25 Central Park: 11 warbler species

In what felt like a "right on time" migration day I managed to pick the weather right and chose the cooler of the two days to visit the park based on wind direction (Weds was 75 degrees but the previous night had northerlies).  I had 4 Chimney Swifts the night before over my house (c.NJ) and on the northbound train at dawn there were another four over Linden.

The initial impression from Strawberry Fields was that it was quiet, albeit quiet with a lot of Chipping Sparrows, a singing Yellow Warbler and a Northern Parula.  I encountered some Chipping Sparrow flocks in the Ramble and elsewhere that suggested a big day for them.  In contrast only the one lingering female Dark-eyed Junco.  Hernshead was rather more active with two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers.  A distant waterthrush seemed Northern-ish and there were one or two Northerns at the Upper Lobe.  I was reluctant to call the waterthrush at the Triplets Bridge a Louisiana at the time, but on my way out of the park caught up with Louisiana Waterthrush south of Hernshead.  That's my first one for the year.

In the Ramble there were a lot of Palm Warblers exploring the now more open areas where many trees came down in Hurricane Sandy: the swampy ex-Pin Oak area and the Summer House.  Many Eastern (yellow) Palms in that area, and overall I saw perhaps as many as 30 throughout the park - rather a contrast to the Palms I saw in Florida recently which were all of the drab Western subspecies.  Several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, more Gnatcatchers, a few Blue-headed Vireos, but only one Hermit Thrush and zero Phoebes.  The Black-and-white Warblers had as many females as males - a strange thing for their first big movement in the park.  However the best two warblers for the day were a male Prairie Warbler and a male Hooded Warbler, the latter covering ground rapidly near the Summer House and Swampy Pin Oak.

The final interesting birds for the day were a brief glimpse of Ovenbird near Azalea Pond and a male Baltimore Oriole at Maintenance Field.



Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo (3+)
Barn Swallow
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (5+)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5+)
Hermit Thrush
Northern Parula (1)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler (1 first spring female)
Prairie Warbler (1)
Palm Warbler (30+)
Black-and-white Warbler (5)
Ovenbird (1)
Northern Waterthrush (2)
Louisiana Waterthrush (1)
Hooded Warbler (1)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Baltimore Oriole

Strong migration for early April, Central Park

Rarely do I go into Central Park on a workday morning in April, much less on April NINTH, but the forecast for today was for a second day of unseasonable heat - into the high 70's and perhaps 80's, bringing with it hopes of a strong migration showing.

Early April means much lower diversity than early May, but there were about as many individuals of each of the migrant species as I remember seeing this early on in spring migration.  I had double digits of both Kinglets and Hermit Thrushes, Flickers were bordering on abundant, but the date being what it was I had only one warbler species - three Palm Warblers - having missed the Louisiana Waterthrush.  Best bird for the day was a single Rusty Blackbird in fully black plumage, spending time in the Upper Lobe with the Wood Duck pair.  Two Winter Wrens were also a decent find.  Fox Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Towhees and a singles of Swamp and Field Sparrow were the sparrow migrants of note, with also an uptick of Song Sparrows.

In a couple of weeks this sort of pro-migration weather would be expected to carpet the park with Yellow-rumped Warblers.


Wood Duck
Gadwall
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Palm Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Rusty Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch

Dec 15th: White-winged Crossbill and CPK #200 (actually 204)

A brief visit to Central Park on the morning of Dec 15th was entirely mercenary with one species in mind: White-winged Crossbill.  Having dipped on Evening Grosbeak and Red Crossbill previously I was immensely relieved to find three female White-winged Crossbills in Mugger's Woods (charming name, historically accurate) feeding on sweet-gum seeds.  While Evening Grosbeaks were seen earlier that day they continued to evade me.  A Barred Owl was still present, although the vanishing leaves had led it to move roosts to an evergreen over its previous deciduous.

Other birds were an ongoing swarm of Tufted Titmice at the Ramble feeders, a Brown Creeper, a flock of Cedar Waxwings at Strawberry Fields feeding on holly, and a late Baltimore Oriole.  Judging from tail feather shape this oriole was a first winter bird.  Hopefully it heads south quickly because despite a fairly mild start to the winter I cannot imagine it's going to be as mild as last winter.

On Saturday I was elated about the Crossbills at least in part because I thought they were Central Park bird #200.  In fact I'd seriously undercounted and they were #204:

• 204: White-winged Crossbill
• 203: Brant (Nov 17th 2012)
• 202: Barred Owl (Nov 17th 2012)
• 201: Grasshopper Sparrow (May 4th 2012)
• 200: Acadian Flycatcher (May 3rd 2011)

Given that #198 and 199 were Western Tanager Dickcissel (2008) and Varied Thrush (2010) it's clear that 2012 was a far better-than-average year for difficult park species and equally clear that I'm getting laissez-faire with my editing of some of my location species lists - Central Park is actually one of the ones I pay attention to, allegedly.

I'm still missing Red Crossbill and Evening Grosbeak in what is an invasion year for both, however.

Thanksgiving Weekend birding

Thursday: a nice little foray into Staten Island netted Eurasian Wigeon at Tottenville Train Station - this bird had been reported last year and is likely the same individual that sometimes was seen at Perth Amboy waterfront last winter.  This time I was far luckier than my Perth Amboy forays and actually saw it in a small flock of American Wigeons.  Then the maint target for the day: Cave Swallows at Cemetery of the Resurrection adjacent to Mount Loretto.  This flock had been upwards of 60 birds a week earlier but between 8 and 20 still persisted when I was there, visiting the pond to hawk insects.  The number is ambiguous because I wasn't sure if I saw the same flock 3x or three different flocks.  A single Tree Swallow was present and also fly-by Pine Siskin and Purple Finch.  Then back into NJ with a visit to Roselle where finding the Greater White-fronted Goose and Cackling Geese wasn't especially hard at Warinanco Park.

Friday: back into NYC in Central Park, where there was no Brant on the Reservoir, no Rufous Hummingbird at the Conservatory Garden, a single Barred Owl in the usual location and a few Fox Sparrows in the Ramble but not a great deal else.  Noteworthy was so many Tufted Titmice it almost constituted a plague.

Saturday: despite strong winds following the passage of a cold front I went out to Barnegat Inlet hoping for a little coastal finch movement - to no avail.  However in challenging conditions I found a late Brown Pelican flying up the inlet, a Royal Tern amongst the Forster's Terns and a larger Bonaparte's Gull flock, and the usual Harlequins.  The rest of the sea duck count was very low, with only two Long-tailed Ducks and 20 Black Scoters.  Down at Brigantine div. of Forsythe NWR where the violence that Hurricane Sandy had done to the wildlife drive (closed even to walking) was quite evident, I did snag a Cave Swallow over the open section of drive toward the gull tower.  Otherwise things were quite distant (abundant waterfowl) or keeping their head down in the strong wind.

Sunday: failing yet again to find Crossbills in NYC - this time in Prospect Park - I did manage to find a single Rusty Blackbird, and a couple of Pine Siskins at the Breeze Hill feeders.

Inwood and Central Parks, Nov 17th: Barred/Bluebird/Brant but no Barnacle

The possibility of a Barnacle Goose lured me all the way up to the tip of Manhattan and Inwood Hill Park early on Saturday.  The Barnacle was nowhere to be found, although I checked all the grassy areas.  A consolation prize - and apparently my first ones for Manhattan - were a flock of 10 American Pipits on the eastern ball fields.


The rest of the day turned out rather more successfully, and by the time I limped off to the train I'd covered a few miles and added three Central Park birds to my list, which now numbers 199.  A little walk across the north end of the park brought me to the Conservatory Garden where the northern (circular) flower garden is an absolute riot of color.  It's understandably lured in a Rufous Hummingbird  that's been there for about a week - I got enough poor tail-spread photographs to be sure it was a female Rufous and not any other Selasphorus, and the incomplete emergent gorget spot suggests it's an immature although I'm not totally certain on age.  This is not the first hummingbird seen in this location - there was an Allen's in 2002, and it's not the first Rufous I've seen in the park since there was an adult female Rufous in 2004.  As long as those flowers keep going and there's not a hard frost the hummingbird should do well for some time at this location.  (Update: it was gone by the following Friday).  I spent some time at this very colorful and warm location and also noted two Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker but not a great deal else - although there were crossbills reported from more coastal locations there did not seem to be a flight over the park.

I met Junko at the hummingbird who told me about a Brant at the Reservoir.  I managed to miss this on the way down the park the first time but looped back up there on my way out of the park and got good looks at an immature Brant hanging out with Canada Geese.  Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead and Ruddy Ducks were some of the more interesting waterfowl on the Reservoir, mostly clustered at the north end.

The I headed down to what has become a reliable spot for Barred Owl.  Barred Owl would normally be exceptionally rare in the park but there was one on the western edge of the park last winter (also roamed the Upper West Side, apparently) and this winter there may be as many as three Barred Owls here.  Despite once being a pretty regular Long-eared Owl roosting spot, Central Park hasn't hosted any regularly roosting owls in years.  Thankfully (and rather unlike the Long-eared) the Barred Owl roost is a long way off the ground, immune to curious onlookers.  A lot of passer's by were curious about this owl, so my skyward-pointed camera turned out to be mostly used a spotting scope.  I've accumulated a pretty good list of owls seen in the park (Long-eared, Northern Saw-whet, Great Horned, Barn, Barred, Boreal) but this was one of the better ones and one that I never expected to see here.

Finally, I was alerted to an Eastern Bluebird feeding at Sparrow Rock.  This bird seemed pretty tame for a Bluebird, considering a small crowd of birders gathered to admire it, and was in immature male plumage - still pretty resplendent in deep sky blue and red but with a little brown shading to the blue color on the scapulars and nape and pointed retrices.  Also there was a Hermit Thrush, which the Bluebird seemed to be using at times to detect insects and then attempted to steal them from it.  The Bluebird seemed to be doing fairly well on insect hunting, and the continuing fairly sunny and milder conditions (high in the 50's) suggest that all the park rarities should do fine for at least the next week.


Brant                              
Wood Duck                            
Gadwall                              
Northern Shoveler                    
Bufflehead                            
Hooded Merganser                      
Ruddy Duck                            
Pied-billed Grebe                                                
Barred Owl
Rufous Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker              
American Kestrel                      
White-breasted Nuthatch              
Carolina Wren                        
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                  
Eastern Bluebird                        
Hermit Thrush                        

Update: the Barnacle Goose seems to be more reliably seen at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, which is geographically close to Inwood.

Northern LapwingS

Northern Lapwings at a distance - record shot only

An unprecedented fall-out of Northern Lapwings has occurred in the north-east with between 5 and 11 individuals being spotted - it depends on your philosophy about how related individual sightings are, and my own suspicion is that there have to be more than this since Lapwings are fond of farm fields where they are not always obvious to birders passing by.   The current sightings are summarized in this piece on the ABA blog.  The nearest Lapwing population is Iceland, and I assume they head south-east in fall to Britain for winter.  Most European Lapwings head south-west in response to harsh weather.

I birded Central Park on Sunday morning (Nov 11th) and drove into NYC with the strategy that if the Lapwings were re-found I'd head out to Montauk.  Central Park had a modest finch flight, so I had Pine Siskins and Purple Finches but alas not the elusive White-winged Crossbills or Evening Grosbeaks.  More conventional early winter species like Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-crowned Sparrow and quite a few Hermit Thrushes were around.  Much of the Ramble was closed off for post-storm tree clean-up (both Sandy and the following week's Nor'easter had an impact on the park).

Then I saw an email reporting the Lapwings and I was back in the car by 10am.

The Midtown Tunnel had  re-opened just the previous Friday after being flooded by Sandy so after leaving Manhattan the first part of the trip was speedy (L.I.E., Rt. 27/Sunrise Highway).  But the problem with Montauk - and the reason I rarely go there any more - is that the next 35 miles are a tortuous wind through Southampton, Bridgehampton, Easthampton, Amagansett and other picturesque towns with very low speed limits.  There's a couple of fantasy 55mph zones near Montauk but most of the time you're closer to 35mph, which is about half the speed you were doing to for the last hour+.

Nevertheless, I made it out the east side of Montauk and to Deep Hollow Ranch (aka Theodore Roosevelt County Park) and found the Northern Lapwings without a problem.  This location is where I saw both Barnacle and Pink-footed Geese in 2007. Here's where it got both surreal and mundane.  I've seen thousands of Lapwings in Britain where they are relatively common on arable land, but it was a species I'd never really anticipated seeing in the United States, much less two of them hanging out together.  I had spent the preceding morning (Saturday) looking for the Lapwing that had been reported near Allentown NJ on Thursday with no success.  Lapwings look quite exotic to American birders, with the irridescence, crest and face pattern, but less so to Brits like me.  However Lapwings as a family are often quite spectacular in plumage.

Much of the time these Lapwings were distant and somewhat wary, being flushed by a passing Red-tailed Hawk (which looks pretty similar to the Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo if you're a prey species) or people on horseback.  So I did see them in flight and their relaxed flight style on broad wings belies the fact that these birds are long-distance migrants in Europe.  Which explains how they made it this far in the first place - something like a Greenfinch would splash down in the Atlantic from exhaustion.

The ABA blog for Hurricane Sandy also speculates that this amazing Lapwing event is correlated with a high pressure system that was present over the north Atlantic Ocean.  It's stretching the correlation to beyond breaking point to suggest that the Lapwings were related to Hurricane Sandy - but if their simulations are right one of the weather systems that led Sandy to turn westward and make landfall in NJ are the same weather systems that made quite a few Lapwings make landfall in the USA.  It just wasn't Sandy that did it.

Update: as of December 8th the one Lapwing on mainland MA and the two on Nantucket Island are still present, the two Montauk birds have long since left, and there was a fleeting report of one in Virginia.  Likely all of them are still on the east coast, but there's a lot of farm land out there.

Central Park, Fri/Sat/Sun, Oct 12-14th

The best migration day was the Saturday, by far, but there was useful birding on the day before and the day after the large migrant movement.   On Saturday there was a huge influx of late fall birds like Yellow-rumped Warblers (abundant) and Hermit Thrushes (numerous) as well as fairly good numbers of other late fall birds like Winter Wren, Eastern Phoebe, both kinglets, Song Sparrow.  On all three days the number of other warblers were somewhat low - Palm Warblers put in a decent showing but other species were in ones and twos.

All three days had the ongoing Red-breasted Nuthatch invasion with a couple of them found repeatedly in the hemlocks near Belvedere Castle and others turning up all over the Ramble.   Pine Siskins put in an appearance on Sat and Sun with one perching on a camera lens right next to me on Saturday, and a flock of 15 alighting briefly in Strawberry Fields on Sunday.  I saw or heard multiple Purple Finches on all three days.

Friday: low-ish numbers with the best bird being a cooperative Lincoln's Sparrow - no longer a rare bird in the park but still never numerous and the first one I'd seen all year.  Tanner's Spring was the most active on this the least voluminous day with Swainson's Thrush and Gray-cheeked Thrush seen there.  Warblers: Yellow-rumped, Palm, Blackpoll, Magnolia, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat.

Saturday: amongst the Yellow-rumped, which were literally everywhere, the best bird was a Mourning Warbler (immature, likely female) which was near the Tupelo tree.  This unfortunate bird turned out to have only one leg with no trace of a second leg - either a birth defect or an injury that happened a very early in life and completely healed.  It seemed to feed OK, albeit awkwardly, and otherwise was in good feather condition.  My first Mourning of the year.  Another unfortunate bird was an American Woodcock which was handed to the Parks Dept - it did not seem inclined/capable of flying so the attempted release near the MOWA location was abandoned and the bird picked up again.  Woodcocks suffer a fair amount of attrition through building collisions on migration. Warblers: ubiquitous Yellow-rumped, Palm, Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Mourning.  Perversely I found some species to be less numerous: Eastern Towhee and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Sunday: a lot of residual birds from the previous day's big migration, held in place by the southerly wind direction.  The Mourning Warbler was still present, many Yellow-rumped Warblers persisted and it was really a scaled-down version of the previous day.  Warblers: Yellow-rumped, Palm, Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Mourning.  An adult Cooper's Hawk was vocalizing at an immature Red-tailed Hawk that was sitting in the low canopy in the Ramble - I wasn't sure if this was one of the two rehab Red-tailed that were released nearby on Saturday, but clearly the Cooper's was not at all happy that the Red-tailed was working the same territory.

Not a bad three days, mostly in terms of volume rather than diversity, which is showing the usual drop-off for late fall.  Commuting into Manhattan via the more-inept-than-usual NJ Transit had its upsides on Friday and Saturday since attendees of Comic-Con trekking through Penn Station were sometimes dressed in superhero outfits - memorably including one woman I was following who was dressed up as the John Candy character in Spaceballs (the Wookie parody) complete with tail.  See: short NYTimes video on the convention.  On Sunday I only saw a single person dressed up as part of the Borg, almost a let-down.

Central Park Oct 6th

My first Purple Finches of the year - last winter was not an invasion year - were in Strawberry Fields, although I missed the Pine Siskins by 15 minutes.  Both were female-type but at least one was probably immature male since it started singing.  There were also my first Golden-crowned Kinglets in fall migration.

Despite a somewhat northerly wind the warbler numbers were unexceptional all day.  There was a hint of a raptor flight, with two Cooper's Hawks, a Merlin and an ambiguous falcon (Merlin/Peregrine) over the Maintenance Field.  But otherwise the day's biggest migrant numbers were unquestionably Cedar Waxwings.  Flocks of mainly juveniles (many molting into a facsimile of adult plumage) were all over the park all day feeding on pokeweed and crab apples.

My best bird turned out to be an immature Black-billed Cuckoo, which popped up in the Upper Lobe while I was listening to another Purple Finch making the 'pik' call on the other side of the water.  This was followed by a Gray-cheeked Thrush - one of my rather more unlikely misses this year since they are regular in the park.  This particular Gray-cheeked gave no hint of candidate Bicknell's and had a nice cold olive-brown tone to it.

Otherwise birding was not high volume.  In the afternoon I ventured out to Duke Farms (Somerset area in NJ) in the mid afternoon and found the parking lot brimming with walkers and cyclists.  Between overcast and a fairly strong breeze the bird activity was relatively low, but I did have a Peregrine (likely a migrant headed down-river after coming off the Watchung Ridge), a family of American Kestrels, Palm Warblers and Savannah Sparrow.  This looks not a bad bet for early winter birding because much of the weedy field habitat is intact - over in Griggstown Preserve they've mowed 90% of the habitat down to the stubble in another example of how not to manage habitat for fall migrants, so there's little reason to revisit it.

Cooper's Hawk                          
Black-billed Cuckoo                    
Chimney Swift                          
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker               
Northern Flicker                       
Merlin                                 
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe                         
Black-capped Chickadee                 
Red-breasted Nuthatch                  
White-breasted Nuthatch                
Golden-crowned Kinglet                 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                   
Gray-cheeked Thrush                    
Hermit Thrush                          
Gray Catbird                           
Brown Thrasher                         
Cedar Waxwing                          
Common Yellowthroat                    
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Swamp Sparrow                          
White-throated Sparrow                 
Dark-eyed Junco
Scarlet Tanager                       
Northern Cardinal                      
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 
Purple Finch                           
American Goldfinch                     

Central Park Sept 29th and 30th

As the month drew to a close a north wind lured me into the park for both days on the weekend.  It's not a bad point to take stock of what appears to be a slightly later fall migration - in particular I've seen very few Ruby-crowned Kinglets so far and no Golden-crowned despite the date and it has been a month with no really cool days to push birds south.  There has been a switch over to a mix with later species: Blue-headed Vireo being seen on Sat and Eastern Phoebe's being around for a while.  There were quite a few Palm Warblers on Saturday, Eastern Towhees have become easier to find, and there was clearly some sparrow movement on Saturday - many of them had moved on by Sunday.  A few Black-capped Chickadees were seen early on Sunday - you would think this was a species that would do rather better in the park than it actually does, and sightings of them get pretty sparse before the population gets filled out during the invasion years.  Tufted Titmice seemed more numerous than usual, which made me suspect they'd been migrating as well.

Heavy overcast made things a little tough going on Saturday, which was apparently the better migration day but still quite patchy - Sunday it appeared that most of the migrants had left.  Saturday was also accompanied by the sound-testing that preceded the mammoth free concert scheduled for the Great Lawn at 5pm and led me to exit the park sooner rather than later.  On Saturday interesting birds were reported from various locations: Summer Tanager, Grasshopper Sparrow and we had a Marsh Wren in the Maintenance Field.  Marsh Wren is probably about as rare in the park as Connecticut Warbler but has none of the cache of the latter since Marsh Wren breeds all over the place coastally.  It did play the Connecticut trick of vanishing after the initial sighting.  Sunday was sunnier but also quieter from the migration perspective but a female-type Hooded Warbler was a nice bonus.  The last two weeks of the month are fairly typical for Hooded Warbler migration but this is starting to get close to my latest-ever fall Hooded date (Oct 3rd 2000)

Sat:

Cooper's Hawk                          
Chimney Swift                          
Ruby-throated Hummingbird              
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker               
Hairy Woodpecker                       
Northern Flicker                       
Eastern Wood-Pewee                     
Eastern Phoebe                         
Blue-headed Vireo                      
Red-eyed Vireo                         
Blue Jay                               
Red-breasted Nuthatch                  
Marsh Wren                             
Swainson's Thrush                      
Wood Thrush                            
Gray Catbird                           
Brown Thrasher                         
Cedar Waxwing                          
Ovenbird                               
Black-and-white Warbler                
Common Yellowthroat                    
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Palm Warbler                           
Black-throated Green Warbler           
Eastern Towhee                         
Song Sparrow                           
Swamp Sparrow                          
White-throated Sparrow                 
Scarlet Tanager                        
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 
Indigo Bunting                         
Common Grackle                         
American Goldfinch                     

Sun:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird              
Belted Kingfisher                      
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker               
Downy Woodpecker                       
Northern Flicker                       
Eastern Wood-Pewee                     
Eastern Phoebe                         
Red-eyed Vireo                         
Black-capped Chickadee                 
Red-breasted Nuthatch                  
House Wren                             
Carolina Wren                          
Swainson's Thrush                      
Wood Thrush                            
American Robin                         
Gray Catbird                           
Brown Thrasher                         
Cedar Waxwing                          
Black-and-white Warbler                
Hooded Warbler                         
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Palm Warbler                           
Yellow-rumped Warbler                  
Eastern Towhee                         
White-throated Sparrow                 
Scarlet Tanager                       
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 

Central Park Sept 22nd and 23rd

Modest migration through the park on Sat and Sun provided some nice species although less than epic numbers.  Red-breasted Nuthatches continued to move, the first White-throated Sparrows cropped up in low numbers.  Hummingbirds seen both days but only a light raptor movement.  A male Hooded Warbler was seen both days but the star of the weekend was unquestionably an immature Connecticut Warbler that was seen around the Tupelo tree and provided elusive but repeated views as it walked quickly through the undergrowth.  Walking, of course, being one of the diagnostic things.  The eye ring was prominent but not huge and broken at the rear of the eye - not at all unusual for a first fall bird.  This was my first one for the year and not an easy bird to find initially - I'd also missed the previous sightings of Connecticut in what appears to have been a decent fall for them.


Sat:
Cooper's Hawk                          
Chimney Swift                          
Ruby-throated Hummingbird              
Belted Kingfisher                      
Northern Flicker                       
Eastern Wood-Pewee                     
Least Flycatcher                       
Eastern Phoebe                         
Red-eyed Vireo                         
Red-breasted Nuthatch                  
Veery                                  
Swainson's Thrush                      
Wood Thrush                            
American Robin                         
Gray Catbird                           
Brown Thrasher                         
Cedar Waxwing                          
Ovenbird                               
Black-and-white Warbler                
Nashville Warbler                      
Common Yellowthroat                    
Hooded Warbler                         
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
White-throated Sparrow                 
Scarlet Tanager                        
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 
Indigo Bunting                         
Baltimore Oriole                      

Sun:
Osprey                                 
Mourning Dove                          
Yellow-billed Cuckoo                   
Chimney Swift                          
Ruby-throated Hummingbird              
Northern Flicker                       
Eastern Wood-Pewee                     
Least Flycatcher                       
Great Crested Flycatcher               
Red-eyed Vireo                         
Red-breasted Nuthatch                  
White-breasted Nuthatch                
House Wren                             
Veery                                  
Swainson's Thrush                      
Gray Catbird                           
Brown Thrasher                         
Ovenbird                               
Black-and-white Warbler                
Connecticut Warbler                    
Common Yellowthroat                    
Hooded Warbler                         
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Palm Warbler                           
White-throated Sparrow                 
Scarlet Tanager                        
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 
Indigo Bunting                         
American Goldfinch                     

Central Park Sept 15th and 16th

The front passed too late in the night to make Saturday a good migration day and so birding was extremely patchy.  Strawberry Fields was extremely slow, the Ramble a little better, but excitement came in the form of an Eastern Whip-poor-will found in the Ramble.  This is the first one I've seen in CPK in quite a few years (spring 2004 was the last), and also the first one in fall.  Based on pointed tail feathers it appeared to be an immature bird.  While watching the nightjar other good birds of the day were Cape May Warblers (possible ad. female and imm. male) and a Least Flycatcher.  The final icing was the ongoing American Bittern at Turtle Pond - I almost missed it until it flew across the pond to the island just as I turned to leave.  This is only my second Bittern in the park (last: in April 2004).  Other migrants included Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager and only three other species of warbler (American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat).

As of Monday morning the Whip-poor-will reappeared in the same tree - I'm pretty confident that this is the first time anyone's refound a bird like that in the same roosting spot in the park.


On Sunday migrant volume was better, although still not spectacular and the initial stop at Strawberry Fields included my first Red-breasted Nuthatch for the year - a bird that had been tormenting me.  There was also a start of a change-over in warbler species: Black-throated Green, Blackpoll and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet being evidence of that.  Swainson's Thrushes were numerous but Cedar Waxwings were putting up the best migrant numbers in the park with multiple flocks moving through places like the Maintenance Field while I was there.  A decent raptor flight occurred in the morning with multiple Broad-winged Hawks and an Osprey.  I also had my first White-throated Sparrows of fall.  The American Bittern remained at Turtle Pond, this time giving good views while hunting on the north side of the island.  Despite its persistence here it's a pretty rare bird in Central Park, actually a rarer sighting than the Connecticut Warbler that evaded me in the Ramble later that morning.

9/11 in Central Park

Those of us that were birding Central Park on 9/11/01 are never going to forget that experience, nor what followed.  There's a tendency to mark the anniversary by doing the same thing again - looking for fall migrants in the Ramble.  However the motivation for birding today was more weather-driven than anniversary-driven.

9/11/01 was the "first good migration day of fall" with the wind out of the north, which blew the ash from the WTC site away from the park until the wind changed two days later.  That wind carried quite a decent number of migrants with it.  9/11/12 also had a north-west wind and cool overnight temperatures but the results were not as dramatic bird-wise or in any other way.

The biggest movement of migrants today were the multiple flocks of Cedar Waxwings moving around the park.  Actual warblers were a little more scarce and I came up with a mere handful of them: Northern Parula; Magnolia Warbler; Black-throated Blue Warbler; Black-and-white Warbler; American Redstart; Canada Warbler; Common Yellowthroat.  Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos were around, and the Warblings were still singing, as they have been over the last few trips to CPK.  The best birds that I saw today were Broad-winged Hawks - a heavily marked immature over the Lake, adults and lightly marked immatures over the Ramble and one pale immature sitting in plain view in the Ramble until it finally flew out mid-morning.  Most or all of these birds had clearly roosted in the park overnight because they were seen at low altitude.  I've never seen one actually roosting in the park before.  The hummingbird movement continued with at least one and probably more through the Maintenance Field - the Central Park Conservancy have numerous Cardinal Flower plantings within the Ramble which are often used as a food source by hummingbirds.  I continue to miss Red-breasted Nuthatches despite hearing them in two locations in the park - I might have seen the ones near Azalea Pond but they did not stick around and fell silent.

Nevertheless a slightly lackluster migration day given the north wind overnight.

What follows is the list from 9/11/01.  I keep my sightings stored in HTML format and this is part of my Sightings2001 file.

Northern Flicker
Red-eyed, Philadelphia Vireo   
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Veery, Swainson's, Wood Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Northern Parula
Nashville, Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush
Wilson's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park May 14th

An even slower day than Sunday, complete with overcast conditions, was enlivened by two things: large numbers of Cedar Waxwings, one or two of which were doing the berry-passing courtship ritual, and a female Summer Tanager which was between Belvedere Castle and Delacorte Theater.  Still very much an overshoot bird from its more southerly breeding territories, Summer Tanager is an annual but pretty scarce park visitor.  Also around the castle were continuing Tree Swallows, which surely must be thinking about nesting there (if they try they usually fail) and two Orchard Orioles, a female and immature male.

Peregrine Falcon                       
Chimney Swift                          
Eastern Wood-Pewee                     
Red-eyed Vireo                         
Tree Swallow                           
Veery                                  
Swainson's Thrush                      
Wood Thrush                            
Cedar Waxwing                          
Ovenbird                               
Northern Waterthrush                   
Black-and-white Warbler                
Common Yellowthroat                    
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackburnian Warbler                   
Yellow Warbler                         
Chestnut-sided Warbler                 
Blackpoll Warbler                      
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Yellow-rumped Warbler                  
Canada Warbler                         
Wilson's Warbler                       
Summer Tanager                         
Scarlet Tanager                        
Rose-breasted Grosbeak                 
Orchard Oriole                         

Central Park - May 12th

After not coming in during the week despite reasonable migration motion, Saturday was at least sunny so I took in more spring migration in Central Park.  I netted 19 species of warbler in a typical mix of species.  Most noteworthy was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that I saw fly out of Maintenance Field and somehow managed to track on two successive hops before making the ID.  Thankfully others also got on the bird.  A close second best were two Bay-breasted Warblers seen on the bridle path that parallels the south side of the Reservoir - a good place for Bay-breasted and Cape Mays in recent years.  Despite hearing one Cape May I could not catch sight of it.  Other new-for-year birds included common ones: Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Blackpoll Warbler.  I also saw 4-5 different Blackburnian Warblers, including a female - I rarely see these.  There was also an anomalous Great Blue Heron headed north at high altitude over the park - it's long past the point where these should be nesting.

Some signs of less than epic volume included a lack of Catharus thrushes - I saw a grand total of 3.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher 
Cedar Waxwing
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler  (heard)
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler  (several)
Prairie Warbler (heard)
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Eastern Towhee 
White-throated Sparrow  - a few remain
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Central Park, May 6th - the day of the Red Admirals

The final day of the early May quartet of Central Park visits had the lowest volume.  Falconer's Hill was quiet (no Indigo's, even) but there were a couple of patches on the west side of the Ramble, particularly the Upper Lobe, were warblers showed well including multiple singing Blackburnian Warblers.  I did have a singing Wilson's Warbler at Hernshead which was a first for the season (FOY was TX in January).  Actual first of year birds were Eastern Kingbird, Swainson's Thrush and finally snagging a look at an Orchard Oriole.  I did come up with 16 warbler species, but numbers were low and most birds were singles (Nashvilles and Blackburnians were the exception).

The most interesting observation of the day was the abundant Red Admirals that were milling around the park - I'd seen reports of masses of the on the move the previous day in NJ and PA, and they had come out in force in Central Park on Sunday.  I saw hundreds in my limited area of coverage, so I imagine there were tens of thousands in the park.  It was mainly Red Admirals with a few Commas and Painted Lady's mixed in.

Time to take a break from Central Park and hope to time the next migration wave.

American Kestrel                       
Chimney Swift                          
Eastern Kingbird                       
Blue-headed Vireo                      
Warbling Vireo                         
House Wren                             
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                  
Swainson's Thrush                      
Hermit Thrush                          
Wood Thrush                            
Ovenbird                               
Northern Waterthrush                   
Black-and-white Warbler                
Nashville Warbler                      
Common Yellowthroat                    
American Redstart                      
Northern Parula                        
Magnolia Warbler                       
Blackburnian Warbler                   
Yellow Warbler                         
Chestnut-sided Warbler                 
Black-throated Blue Warbler            
Yellow-rumped Warbler                  
Prairie Warbler                        
Black-throated Green Warbler           
Wilson's Warbler                       
Eastern Towhee                         
Chipping Sparrow                       
White-crowned Sparrow                  
Indigo Bunting                         
Orchard Oriole                         
Baltimore Oriole 
                     
On the way home from the train I visited Negri-Nepote Grasslands (Franklin Twp, NJ) to check out the pond.  Prairie Warblers, Indigo Buntings and Grasshopper Sparrows were singing - the burst of sunshine certainly helped.  On the pond were Solitary Sandpiper and Least Sandpipers, and this little patch of water continues to be a draw for migrating shorebirds.