June Recap and July Predictions

Sorry I've gone so long without posting. It's just that there aren't many birds around to see. Anyway, in June I added to the year list 4 great species: Common Raven, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, Common Tern, and Killdeer. With these difficult to find birds checked off the list, there are only 3 known possibilities for the rest of July.

Possible
Laughing Gull (Many sites)
Snowy Egret (Flyovers)
Spotted Sandpiper (Early migrants)

I think Laughing Gull is the easiest of the three, being seen often in the harbor and at the Central Park Reservoir. Snowy Egrets nest in the city and often flyover sites such as Randall's Island and Central Park. Spotted Sandpipers are early migrants, but become more common later in summer. I hope to see something good this month!

Governor's Island Birds

On Friday, I ended my last day of school at noon. I then ate lunch and went to meet my friend, Ryan at the ferry terminal. We were going to look for birds that can be found at Governor's Island, but not in Manhattan. When we got there, we ran into another birder on the island. He told us of a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron nest on the island and offered to show it to us. At the same time, we started seeing Fish Crows, a species we may have seen up to 30 of today. When we got to the nest, we saw two adult herons and got amazing looks at them. We then went to search for a Killdeer he saw earlier at a place he called the nesting field, because of the Herring and Great Black-Backed Gulls that nest there. As we headed to the spot, we spotted a Common Tern, Peregrine Falcon, a pair of American Black Ducks fly by, and a Red-Winged Blackbird attacking a Fish Crow. When we got there, it took a bit of scanning, but eventually we found the Killdeer very camouflaged. After that, we went to the Yankee Pier tern colony to check out the nesting Common Terns. We were able to see 15-20 birds from our viewing platform, as well as the American Black Ducks, which flew down to the water. 22 species and 3 new year birds bring my total to 137 species seen this year. Which means I have officially beaten last years total of 135!

My new aditions:

135. Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
136. Common Tern
137. Killdeer

Species seen/heard:

American Black Duck
Mallard
Double-Crested Cormorant
Peregrine Falcon
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
KILLDEER
Herring Gull
Great Black-Backed Gull
Common Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker (heard)
Chimney Swift
Barn Swallow (many)
Cedar Waxwing (heard)
European Starling
Fish Crow
American Robin
Song Sparrow (heard)
Common Grackle
Red-Winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

Ravin' for Ravens!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts. There just aren't many birds of interest around during the summer doldrums (early June-late July). One of these few birds is the Common Raven. This large corvid has only recently began to (re)colonize the city. Earlier this month, a pair was confirmed to have fledged 3 young in the Chelsea neighborliness of Manhattan. But there haven't been any sightings within the last few days. I went there yesterday to try and find the ravens. I went to a spot my friend told me about, which is at 23rd street and 9th avenue. I alternated, spending time at the spot and wandering nearby. After a while, I grew anxious. Then, as I was wandering nearby, I saw a corvid fly across 24th street. I rushed to 23rd after not seeing the bird on the building at 24th. I knew the bird couldn't have flown away that quickly, so it must have been out of view on the building. After several minutes of waiting, I saw two birds flying just above the building. One bird was a crow, but the other was much bigger. A raven! The crow was trying to chase the raven away, trying to get it out of the neighborhood. I heard the raven call once, soon after which the crow chased the raven out of sight, perched on the building and then flew away. Common Raven boosts my year list to 134.

June Target List

In May I added 40 new species to my year list, bringing my total to 133 species. I saw 98 species in that month. I only need 2 birds to break my record of 135. And there is still nearly 7 months left. Maybe my new goal should be 150? I've been ahead of last year the whole year (except for Jan. 1 and neck and neck a brief period in April), so why not? Anyway, here is my target list for June. Nearly all of the possibilities have come through, so there's hardly anything to chase.

Possible
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo (first half migrants?)
Black-Billed Cuckoo (first half migrants?)
Laughing Gull (in the river)
Common Tern (in the bay)
Willow/Alder Flycatcher (first half migrants?)

Longshots
Any coastal birds that somehow made it inland

2015 Spring Migration has Ended

On Sunday in Central Park, nearly all of the migrants had left the area. The only warblers to be found were a few Blackpoll Warblers and American Redstarts. The most (and only) numerous migrants were the Cedar Waxwings, which also nest in the park. Speaking of which, I saw quite a few nesting birds on the walk that day. In one Willow Tree at Turtle Pond, there were the nests of Common Grackle (2), Eastern Kingbird, Baltimore Oriole, and a very hidden Orchard Oriole nest (I saw no Orchard Orioles). A few potential nesters were around, such as Great Crested Flycatchers. We saw 2 together by The Gill, and they followed us to the rock behind the Summer House. Meanwhile, the Warbling Vireo pair at Maintenance Meadow is tending to the nest a lot, swapping places sometimes, which means they probably have eggs. I think this day officially marks the end of migration season and the begining of nesting season. As for the warblers, I'll see many again this August. Still, today was productive for the year, as Great Crested Flycatcher was a new addition which I had missed at least once this year. The last time I saw one of these birds in the city was of a family in the Bronx in July 2012, although I did see one at camp last summer trying to blend in with Eastern Kingbirds. Good Birding!

Still Some Migrants Coming Through

On Sunday, I went birding before the walk and didn't really see much in The Ramble. On the walk, we started with some glimpses of Orchard Orioles at the Turtle Pond dock along with several warbler species. Throughout The Ramble, warblers were seen in small numbers, except for American Redstarts, which were common, as well as Common Yellowthroats. At an arch there, I saw a flycatcher feeding in a open bush, not in the open like they usually do. Even though there was a shadow, I was able to see that it was a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher. Other than that, there were still many of the later migrants coming through, such as Eastern Wood-Pewees and Cedar Waxwings. I saw 8 species of warblers today and heard 2 more. Good Birding!

Migration Starting to Slow Down

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Birds are becoming less numerous, therefore reducing the number of interesting sightings greatly. I seem to be always below 10 species per day. Still,  First off, the SUMMER TANAGER was a new year bird on Wednesday. I was looking at warblers and orioles in a Tulip Poplar tree near The point with several others when one teenager (not me) spotted a young male Summer Tanager. I got a quick glimpse of it before it flew off. More interesting sightings came on Friday. Throughout the week, I went to The Gill to search for Gray-Cheeked Thrushes among the Swainson's. For some reason, likely related to habitat, I see more thrushes here than anywhere else, but only in the evenings or late afternoon. I struggled to tell them apart, so I was lucky today to run into a few birders who were also after these birds. After a bit, we were able to find a few definite Gray-Cheeked Thrushes, which were a new year bird. When we were done, I was about to leave when I spotted a yellow warbler bathing in The Gill. I initially blurted out Wilson's Warbler, but I noticed that the tail and face looked a bit odd. That's when the other birders chimed in. Hooded Warbler! We watched as the female bathed in the stream and went up into the trees until it disappeared. At the time, my year list was boosted to 130. I added 2 more today, but I'll talk about that in another post. Good Birding!