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                     

Migrant yard birds Saturday 4/9

After a week away working at Brookhaven National Lab, I returned home to see that spring had progressed in my absence. On Saturday morning I was watching feeder birds and thought that the House Finches looked odd. On retrieving my binoculars the birds were still there and proved to be two male Purple Finches - a first for the feeders, and for my year list, although they've flown over the yard before. The finches stuck around throughout the morning. Another first-of-year was Chipping Sparrow, which had clearly had a major influx during the week from other NY/NJ reports. Dark-eyed Junco numbers seemed to be down, so possibly some have moved on.

Two FOY's before even leaving the house. Although I was still lethargic from the Brookhaven trip I did head out to a local birding spot. Plainsboro Preserve is an old gravel pit with surrounding woodland and farmland. The visitor center had held a good collection of US birding travel books but their selection was poor this time - they've clearly stopped stocking them. At the feeders were a predictable mix of molding American Goldfinch, Brown-headed Cowbird and Red-winged Blackbird. Tree Swallows have also moved in en masse this past week and several were staking out nest boxes. I also found Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush (FOY) and Eastern Phoebe but the preserve was relatively quiet, as is typical here. The lake can sometimes pick up Common Loon but all there was were a few Canada Geese and two Mallards.

Yard birding Oct 17, 18th

In the yard in Ewing on Sunday morning there was evidence of migration, with my Red Oak full of Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows in small flocks around the yard, and a fly-over Purple Finch. The other resident species were milling around, perhaps attracted by the flocks: White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker and Red-bellied Woodpecker.

On Sunday PM just one Yellow-rumped Warbler was still lurking around.

On Monday morning at least one Yellow-rumped was sounding off, and there was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet passing through.

Griggstown, Oct 17th

Despite Franklin Twps best attempts to degrade the habitat by mowing it to death, I went to check out Griggstown Preserve on Sunday morning. There was relatively low activity around the parking lot initially, nor in the sections of recently mown fields that used to be full of sparrows (Savannah mostly, but several species at this time of year). I did track down a Palm Warbler in the unmown section of the far south-west corner. A single American Kestrel was hunting the fields.

I checked out the maintenance section (I've nicknamed it the Trash Heap but it's cleaner now) at the southern end of the preserve and this was the best area for sparrows: Song, Swamp, Savannah, White-throated and an adult White-crowned. Several flocks of Purple Finches passed over while I was there, although only one or two were seen perched.

Back at the parking lot a group of Eastern Bluebird was hanging around the fence line, there was a small flock of House Finches and a single Chipping Sparrow. There wasn't much sign of a hawk flight although three Red-tailed Hawks passed overhead and an immature Bald Eagle was seen heading north at some distance to the east. A Sharp-shinned Hawk was hunting another corner, and this looked like an opportunistic migrant rather than a resident bird.

Friday - not quite

As a presage to a weekend that promises a decent migration on Sunday, Friday looked to have potential. Potential that wasn't quite borne out - there were migrants, mostly sparrows, but numbers were not especially high. Most were one or two of a species, with more numerous individuals being Yellow-rumped Warbler, Sapsucker, Flicker and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Purple Finch and White-crowned Sparrow again put in an appearance.

Northern Harrier
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Purple Finch

Sunday - slower

Although I'd hoped that the weekend's migration might peak on the 2nd day, it was not the case - it was markedly slower in Strawberry Fields and elsewhere in the park.  In contrast to the "5 Magnolia's in a tree" morning of Saturday I saw precisely NO Magnolias on Sunday.  The migrants had left on the strong northerly breeze.  But the Chickadee movement continued and there were new additions: White-crowned Sparrow and my first Purple Finch for the entire year.

Later in the day I went up to check out State Line hawk watch and found the flight winding down for the day, but nevertheless a few raptors came by (Cooper's and Sharp-shinned, Osprey, two Ravens, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawk, two Kestrels and multiple Turkey Vultures).

Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Chimney Swift
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Purple Finch