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

Migration, finally - 18 warbler species + Summer Tanager

After an unprecedented contrarian weather system substantially shut down migration for the best part of the last two weeks, the trend reversed itself and Friday saw good numbers in the park.  Not legendary numbers, but the sort of migration that was in start contrast to all the previous days in May.

I saw, in the first 25 yards in Strawberry Fields, more warblers than I had seen in total during the last two weeks (i.e. since the last significant migration in late April).  While there were some underrepresented species (thrushes, flycatchers) it was strong day for FOY birds: Nashville, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Canada, Magnolia Warblers; Summer Tanager (a nice male); Red-eyed Vireo; Wood Thrush; (Swainson's Thrush also heard).  Other good birds included multiple Scarlet Tanagers, Worm-eating Warbler, two Cape May Warblers.  I conspired to miss any Blackburnian Warblers but there were significant numbers of most of the commoner warblers in the park for May.

There's also signs of delayed migration effects: multiple singing (i.e. male) Blue-headed Vireos - and while May 10th is certainly not my late date for them, the ratio of Blue-headed to Red-eyed was anomalous.  The absence of Veeries was conspicuous.  Still, with continuing favorable winds tomorrow (Saturday) may yet change the species mix.


Double-crested Cormorant
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-capped Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
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
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
American Goldfinch

Weekend: Delayed migration and Brigantine

In what was the quietest May 4th/5th in many years, I visited Bull's Island (NJ, Delaware River) to look for the Prothonotary Warbler and other summer breeding birds.   There were no Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridge, perhaps because of construction work there, although there were a number of Northern Rough-winged Swallows along the river.

The northern camping area of the island is closed currently, and you can't even walk in, so I was restricted to my preferred birding spots on the southern half of the island.  Activity seemed much lower than I usually associate with this place - not all the migrants had arrived and there was a single singing Ovenbird, two Northern Parulas and a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  I also heard a Prairie and a Great Crested Flycatcher.  No Acadian Flycatchers.  Of course the main reason for going there was a male Prothonotary Warbler which was singing nearly non-stop and periodically offering up decent views.  Not a regular breeder here, not least of all because this is a riverside location not a dense southern swamp.

On Sunday I went into Central Park, and got what I expected - almost nothing.  Best bird was a singing male Prairie Warbler.  The rest of the migrant count included: two Warbling Vireos, two Yellow Warblers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one or two Baltimore Orioles.

So in the late afternoon I went down to Brigantine NWR to try my luck on the Bar-tailed Godwit.  This had apparently made a permanent departure that morning (I'd seen them in AK last summer) but still present were flocks of shorebirds and in particularly at least one hundred Whimbrels.  Tern numbers were low with just a few Forster's, but the Ospreys were already starting to nest.  As expected the saltwater surge from Hurricane Sandy had devastated the freshwater vegetation in the pool, but I saw some signs of sprouting.  The brackish pool fared better, but much vegetation has been removed from the wildlife drive where multiple breaches were repaired and the drive re-graded.  Some of the lower elevation woodland had been killed but much of it remained intact.  What was noticeable was the apparent lowering of the saltmarsh, in that there was much more high tide flooding than I remembered.  Part of this could be the easterly wind pushing water into the bay, but it's probably also a hurricane-induced effect that may mitigate over time.  How this changes the Forster's Tern population (a saltmarsh breeder vs the Common Tern's beach breeding habits) remains to be seen.

List from Forsythe/Brigantine NWR:


Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Brant
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Whimbrel
Sandpiper sp. including probable Semipalmated and Least
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Forster's Tern
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Common Yellowthroat

Slow, slower, slowest

Princeton, Wednesday was slow but with two first-of-year birds for me (the vireos) and most of the species were singing:

House Wren
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Parula
Common Yellowthroat
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Princeton, Thursday was quieter but with more wandering around I actually did a little better than Wednesday, finding another two grosbeaks and a singing male Scarlet Tanager.

Wood Thrush (heard)

House Wren
Warbling Vireo
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Ovenbird (heard)
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Central Park, Friday, was glacially slow, just as it was reported to be on Thursday:

Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat (probable)
Eastern Towhee

and in fact the short species list above by no means gives an accurate picture of just how eerily silent the whole experience was, standing in the Ramble and not being able to hear a single warbler for much of the time.  ON MAY THIRD.

While much of the blame goes to the persistent weather system delivering easterlies to the NYC/NJ area, I was still assuming that at least some species would move out of sheer necessity and also because the weather remains reasonably warm.  Possibly the birds are moving past in the interior.

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

Spring migration April 20th/21st

On Saturday 20th I was in Central Park, although not too many migrants were there along with me.  Lingering Northern Shovelers on the Lake, plus three species of swallows (Barn, Northern Rough-winged, Tree) and later on joined by a Great Egret.  A single Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was overshadowed by the continuing pair of Hairy Woodpeckers (common elsewhere, very uncommon in the park) where the female is rather buffy in ways reminiscent of western Hairy subspecies.  They are quite vocal and one has to think that the prospects of nesting are fairly high.


There were a couple of first-of-year-for-park birds, with Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Northern Waterthrush, but the actual New World warbler count was only up to 3: Yellow-rumped (1) and Palm Warbler (2) adding to the list.  The Gnatcatcher is an Old World warbler.  The limited migration was rather expected from the colder temperatures and northern-trending winds, however.

On Sunday morning the overwintering female Red-breasted Nuthatch showed up at my feeders again, apparently also unimpressed with spring migration weather.   The previous day's Wilson's Phalarope did not "stick" at Negri-Nepote Preserve (Franklin Twp, Central NJ) so I was left with ~8 Greater Yellowlegs and single Killdeer.  The morning was redeemed by the ongoing American Bittern in the pond at Princeton's Institute Woods and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

On the 24th the overnight northerly winds nevertheless allowed some migration, judging from the appearance of a slightly early Gray Catbird on the suet in my back yard.  The overwintering sparrows seem to have left (Juncos first, then White-throated) being replaced by incoming Chipping Sparrows.

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

Central Park and South Amboy, April 6th

A morning's visit to Central Park on Saturday did not turn up much of note, although some early spring migrants did put in an appearance: several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a couple of Eastern Phoebes and a Hermit Thrush.  A pair of Wood Ducks were hanging out on the Lake near the Point.

In the afternoon, on the South Amboy waterfront at Raritan Bay I was in search of "exotic" gulls.  The Little Gull from earlier in the week was not to be found, neither were the (increasingly common) Lesser Black-backed and the truly exotic Nelson's Gull (Glaucous x Herring).  However the immature Black-headed Gull was present, spending time with the Bonaparte's Flock.  Other birds in the bay included at least 50 Horned Grebes in a range of plumages from basic through full alternate, one breeding plumage Common Loon, several adult Gannets.

Black-headed Gull immature

Bonaparte's Gull immature (for comparison)