Hurricane Sandy did not drop any shearwaters in my back yard but it was remarkable how determined the local birds were to keep feeding even during the strengthening storm on Monday. Sparrows mainly had their heads down (a few Juncos, one White-throated, one Chipping) but the Chickadees and Titmice were at the feeder all day, so much so that I switched to the larger one and zip-tied it to the feeder stand to stop it from swaying wildly when the winds started to gust >35 mph. By the time the eye passed to the south the wind had been gusting to 60mph but the feeder stayed intact.
I also finally had Pine Siskins, being apparently the last feeder in the whole of NJ to get them. On Sunday I had a short visit from a flock of ~5 of them, aggressively defending perches on the seed and thistle feeder. On Monday I had a single individual.
Now we'll see if the hurricane eye deposits anything unusual on the local water spots as it blasts through the area overnight.
Postscript: nothing new on the passerine front after the storm, save one Red-breasted Nuthatch on the Wednesday and a roving flock of Pine Siskins on Thursday - I'd been getting one Pine Siskin but this flock was 10+ birds. The birds seem to have survived, at least based on feeder activity, although very enthusiastically using the seed feeder perhaps to make up for all that lost energy (or lost food sources?).
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
More sparrows
Tuesday and Wednesday morning's have seen pretty strong sparrow movements through my yard in central NJ. On Tuesday it was mainly Chipping Sparrows - I rarely see one during the coldest months to these are headed straight through. On Wednesday it was Dark-eyed Junco's, which may be moving past or settling in since I get a fair number each winter along with the White-throated (some of which have already been hanging around).
At nearby Rosedale Park I got a look at the Le Conte's Sparrow found the day before, although I had to head into work and couldn't spend much time there. Not altogether too many sparrows at this location, just Song, one Field and a possible Swamp with a Ruby-crowned Kinglet or two and Yellow-rumped Warblers. This was my first Le Conte's east of Texas (the only ones I've seen are in TX and ND).
At nearby Rosedale Park I got a look at the Le Conte's Sparrow found the day before, although I had to head into work and couldn't spend much time there. Not altogether too many sparrows at this location, just Song, one Field and a possible Swamp with a Ruby-crowned Kinglet or two and Yellow-rumped Warblers. This was my first Le Conte's east of Texas (the only ones I've seen are in TX and ND).
Pole Farm (Sat), Randall's Island (Sun)
While spending a weekend coming down with something flu-like, I went out locally on Saturday morning to "Pole Farm", which has been renamed as Mercer Meadows from the old name of Mercer County Park North West. Mercer Co are doing some work there - questionably they are laying in an asphalt path that runs adjacent (or right through) good Bobolink/Meadowlark territory. However on the flip side of that they are actively going to be managing some of the lower fields just below the Federal City Road access road as native grasslands. If they pull that off that'll mitigate things somewhat.
Turned out to be quite a decent quick visit to Pole Farm, with one American Kestrel and two Northern Harriers, one of which was aggressively harassing a Red-tailed Hawk. Eastern Meadowlarks were singing in the mown field and sparrows put on a decent show. Song Sparrows are resident here but on this morning I added Savannah Sparrow (2) and White-crowned Sparrow (3) to my Mercer Co list. Formerly I used to go to Griggstown Preserve for those sort of species but Franklin Twp have taken to over-mowing that site. Had I been feeling stronger I think a longer walk through Pole Farm would have netted a lot more sparrows.
Pine Siskins continued their epic invasion year, with a few heard flying by and one being chased by the over-optimistic Kestrel. I might have heard Purple Finch and American Pipit (both likely under the circumstances) but they were a little too far away to be certain. Finally I had a 30-strong flock of Killdeer flying over from a nearby farm field.
On Sunday I drove into NYC and Randall's Island - technically a part of New York County but not physically connected to Manhattan. The targets were two Ammodramus sparrow species - Nelson's and Saltmarsh - that had been reported from a small salt marsh on the north side of the island. Finding them is easiest at high tide and this was half way down and dropping - I had no luck with those species although ironically I've seen both in Central Park over the years (Nelson's once, Saltmarsh twice). I did have a nice run of luck with other sparrows - one Vesper with a very strong eye-ring in with numerous Savannah and Song, a few Swamp, a few White-crowned, a flock of Chipping Sparrows. This was my first ever Vesper in NYC (and perhaps NY State) although I haven't been looking hard for them. Nashville Warbler was good, Yellow-rumped Warbler numerous and there was also a single Common Yellowthroat. Again, Pine Siskins and Purple Finches were heard as fly-overs (and in one case actually seen). I'm not sure the 120+ mile round-trip did my flu symptoms any favors, but the Vesper Sparrow was a good find.
Turned out to be quite a decent quick visit to Pole Farm, with one American Kestrel and two Northern Harriers, one of which was aggressively harassing a Red-tailed Hawk. Eastern Meadowlarks were singing in the mown field and sparrows put on a decent show. Song Sparrows are resident here but on this morning I added Savannah Sparrow (2) and White-crowned Sparrow (3) to my Mercer Co list. Formerly I used to go to Griggstown Preserve for those sort of species but Franklin Twp have taken to over-mowing that site. Had I been feeling stronger I think a longer walk through Pole Farm would have netted a lot more sparrows.
Pine Siskins continued their epic invasion year, with a few heard flying by and one being chased by the over-optimistic Kestrel. I might have heard Purple Finch and American Pipit (both likely under the circumstances) but they were a little too far away to be certain. Finally I had a 30-strong flock of Killdeer flying over from a nearby farm field.
On Sunday I drove into NYC and Randall's Island - technically a part of New York County but not physically connected to Manhattan. The targets were two Ammodramus sparrow species - Nelson's and Saltmarsh - that had been reported from a small salt marsh on the north side of the island. Finding them is easiest at high tide and this was half way down and dropping - I had no luck with those species although ironically I've seen both in Central Park over the years (Nelson's once, Saltmarsh twice). I did have a nice run of luck with other sparrows - one Vesper with a very strong eye-ring in with numerous Savannah and Song, a few Swamp, a few White-crowned, a flock of Chipping Sparrows. This was my first ever Vesper in NYC (and perhaps NY State) although I haven't been looking hard for them. Nashville Warbler was good, Yellow-rumped Warbler numerous and there was also a single Common Yellowthroat. Again, Pine Siskins and Purple Finches were heard as fly-overs (and in one case actually seen). I'm not sure the 120+ mile round-trip did my flu symptoms any favors, but the Vesper Sparrow was a good find.
Monday, October 15, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Ewing, Oct 7th
A less-dire-than-forecast morning had me doing local birding. So local I had to travel all of 40 feet to a corner of my back yard to watch a mixed flock of chickadees, titmice and migrants feeding in my big oak and flitting into other neighboring trees. I netted:
Red-eyed Vireo
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-throated Green Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
with these heard nearby:
Red-breasted Nuthatch (still not on my yard list)
Eastern Towhee
Purple Finch
so not the world's largest migration but not at all bad for one's own backyard. In fact a brief visit to Princeton's Institute Woods netted less diversity (mainly Yellow-rumped, big flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, two Wood Ducks) than in my own back yard. However my back yard thistle feeder has yet to prove an irresistible lure to migrant Pine Siskins.
Red-eyed Vireo
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-throated Green Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
with these heard nearby:
Red-breasted Nuthatch (still not on my yard list)
Eastern Towhee
Purple Finch
so not the world's largest migration but not at all bad for one's own backyard. In fact a brief visit to Princeton's Institute Woods netted less diversity (mainly Yellow-rumped, big flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, two Wood Ducks) than in my own back yard. However my back yard thistle feeder has yet to prove an irresistible lure to migrant Pine Siskins.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
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
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
Monday, October 1, 2012
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
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
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