I only got 9 new species since I started this list. But I still have time, since not much will change in February, other than American Woodcocks that might be seen. So most of the species from January that were missed are still up for grabs. I hope to get 5-10, and then crank things up in March.
Year List To Date: 2014:46 < 2015: 51
Top birds of the month: Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, American Tree Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Red-Breasted Merganser
Probable
Carolina Wren (a few winter in the Ramble)*
Possible
Common Merganser (a few each year)
Red-Breasted Merganser (annual)
Common Loon (annual)
Pied-Billed Grebe (sometimes on the Reservoir)*
Double-Crested Cormorant (small numbers of wintering birds in the city)*
Great Blue Heron (occasional winterer.)
Sharp-Shinned Hawk (some winter)*
American Kestrel (many resident)*
American Woodcock (a few start to migrate early)
Any kind of owl (annual)
Winter Wren (scarce winterer)*
Kinglets (scarce winterers. Ruby-Crowned more likely)*
Gray Catbird (scarce winterer)*
Northern Mockingbird (some winter)*
Brown Thrasher (scarce winterer)*
Cedar Waxwing (a flock can wander into the area)*
Eastern Towhee (scarce winterer)*
American Tree Sparrow (annual)
Swamp Sparrow (some winter)*
Red-Winged Blackbird (some winter)*
Brown Headed Cowbird (scarce winterer)*
Rusty Blackbird (one may wander from Queens)
Longshots
Northern Pintail (annual)
Bald Eagle (a few reports)*
Red-Shouldered Hawk (a few winter around the city)
Merlin (some wander into the park)
Iceland Gull (wintered at the park for the past few years. Will it show again?)
Red-Headed Woodpecker (Can appear in winter)
Eastern Phoebe (occasional winterer, or maybe an early mirgant)*
Common Raven (flyovers have been reported)
Pine Warbler (early migrant? We had one in late february last year, which I saw in early march)
Yellow-Rumped Warbler (one might wander)*
White-Crowned Sparrow (sometimes seen in winter)*
Purple Finch (one may have lingered)*
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Top 10 birds of 2014! Throwback Thursday #6
Today I will be doing a throwback of 2014. These are the top 10 birds of the year for me in Manhattan. Some are rarities, and some were regular birds that I wanted to include. Lifers are in bold.
10. Baltimore Oriole
While it is common, last winter we had 2 wintering birds in Central park. I liked watching them at the feeders, often together. We saw them from December through at least April, because that's when orioles normally come through.
9. Long-Eared Owl
Last winter there were 2 pairs of birds in the park at different times. We found whitewash and once a pellet, but we never really got good views of them. Both pairs were in different stands of hemlock not far from the Boathouse
8. Rusty Blackbird
One day on a March birdwalk I was following a male Rusty Blackbird through the park, and accidentialy flushed it onto a small frozen pond, where it stayed for quite a while. It was close enough to get pictures and video from my iPhone and it even sang when calls were played.
7. Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
In the middle of May on a birdwalk in the park, we stumbled upon a bunch of people looking at the bird. It was perched high up in a tree and not very mobile, providing great views.
6. Red-Necked Grebe
I searched for this bird on the reservoir in March, and I ran into a guy who found it. The bird was sleeping and far away, which is why it is not higher up on the list.
5. Summer Tanager
This bird was reported on the birdwalk I got the night heron on. We were not far from the bird, which was right near Belvedere castle. The sub-adult bird provided great views feeding.
4. Indigo Bunting
You may wonder what a regular migrant is doing so high up on the list. Well in early May, I saw a young male feeding in a field in the park with about 30 people huddled around it in a semi circle. Later, I saw another bird, an adult male feeding in another field. So many people were focused on that bird, that I was the one to spot the Field Sparrow right next to it!
3. Tennessee Warbler
Possibly one of the hardest warblers to get, not because of rarity, but because it looks very similar to several other warbler species. I saw one and possibly 2 birds in Strawberry Fields in early October and it took about an hour to confirm the identity.
2. Yellow-Billed and Black-Billed Cuckoo
These birds seemed best put together as a set. On that same day as the tanager and night heron, we found a reported YB cuckoo feeding very low on a caterpillar nest. While trying to call it in, we attracted a second YB cuckoo! What are the odds of that? And to top it all off, we tried to bring in a reported BB cuckoo at Azalea Pond and it worked, though the views weren't that great. This means the top spot goes to...
1. Couch's Kingbird
What other bird to put here besides this? After two failed attempts, I finally managed to track down this first state record in the West Village on the last day of the year. It gave me and all the other birders great views as it flycatched on fire escapes. The bird flew all over the village, and I managed to keep up with it for two hours, until I needed to catch myself a meal too. There is simply nothing like seeing something that has never been seen here before.
Runners up:
Eastern Bluebird ( once in April and once in May)
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (female who made the first Central Park nest ever, but lost its eggs to an oriole)
Ring-Necked Duck (3 in December on the Reservoir)
Pine Siskin (October)
Possibly a few others on here
Cassin's Kingbird was not in Manhattan, so it is not on the list. It would have been #2 though.
10. Baltimore Oriole
While it is common, last winter we had 2 wintering birds in Central park. I liked watching them at the feeders, often together. We saw them from December through at least April, because that's when orioles normally come through.
9. Long-Eared Owl
Last winter there were 2 pairs of birds in the park at different times. We found whitewash and once a pellet, but we never really got good views of them. Both pairs were in different stands of hemlock not far from the Boathouse
8. Rusty Blackbird
One day on a March birdwalk I was following a male Rusty Blackbird through the park, and accidentialy flushed it onto a small frozen pond, where it stayed for quite a while. It was close enough to get pictures and video from my iPhone and it even sang when calls were played.
7. Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
In the middle of May on a birdwalk in the park, we stumbled upon a bunch of people looking at the bird. It was perched high up in a tree and not very mobile, providing great views.
6. Red-Necked Grebe
I searched for this bird on the reservoir in March, and I ran into a guy who found it. The bird was sleeping and far away, which is why it is not higher up on the list.
5. Summer Tanager
This bird was reported on the birdwalk I got the night heron on. We were not far from the bird, which was right near Belvedere castle. The sub-adult bird provided great views feeding.
4. Indigo Bunting
You may wonder what a regular migrant is doing so high up on the list. Well in early May, I saw a young male feeding in a field in the park with about 30 people huddled around it in a semi circle. Later, I saw another bird, an adult male feeding in another field. So many people were focused on that bird, that I was the one to spot the Field Sparrow right next to it!
3. Tennessee Warbler
Possibly one of the hardest warblers to get, not because of rarity, but because it looks very similar to several other warbler species. I saw one and possibly 2 birds in Strawberry Fields in early October and it took about an hour to confirm the identity.
2. Yellow-Billed and Black-Billed Cuckoo
These birds seemed best put together as a set. On that same day as the tanager and night heron, we found a reported YB cuckoo feeding very low on a caterpillar nest. While trying to call it in, we attracted a second YB cuckoo! What are the odds of that? And to top it all off, we tried to bring in a reported BB cuckoo at Azalea Pond and it worked, though the views weren't that great. This means the top spot goes to...
1. Couch's Kingbird
What other bird to put here besides this? After two failed attempts, I finally managed to track down this first state record in the West Village on the last day of the year. It gave me and all the other birders great views as it flycatched on fire escapes. The bird flew all over the village, and I managed to keep up with it for two hours, until I needed to catch myself a meal too. There is simply nothing like seeing something that has never been seen here before.
Runners up:
Eastern Bluebird ( once in April and once in May)
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (female who made the first Central Park nest ever, but lost its eggs to an oriole)
Ring-Necked Duck (3 in December on the Reservoir)
Pine Siskin (October)
Possibly a few others on here
Cassin's Kingbird was not in Manhattan, so it is not on the list. It would have been #2 though.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Year Birding Schedule
Here is my thought out schedule. With this, I hope to get around 90 more species or higher, beating my total of 135 with about 140-160 species. There will certainly be unexpected birds along the way (Common Redpoll) and ones seen much earlier than anticipated (Pine Siskin, Red-Breasted Nuthatch). There may also be alterations to the schedule. For example, my total for April may be less than 15 new birds, then I get 40 new ones in May. Getting better every year, I think I will hit at least one of the April vagrant warblers (Yellow Throated, Cerulean, Prothonotary) as well as some of the missed-by-a-few-minutes birds (Lincolns Sparrow,Worm-Eating Warbler, etc.). I can't wait to see what suprises will happen along the way. I can bird pretty casually for the next month and a half, but once the flowers start to bloom, I'll have to spring into action!
February: 5-10
March: 10-15
April: 20-25
May: 20-25
June: up to 5
July: ?
August: up to 5
September: 5-10
October: up to 10
November: up to 5
December: up to 5
Nearly all of the birding will be done in Central Park. I might get a few species down at Battery Park, where I take classes and sometimes work, a few more if I go to Randall's Island, and an unknown number for those hard to find birds and vagrants that sometimes appear around Manhattan.
February: 5-10
March: 10-15
April: 20-25
May: 20-25
June: up to 5
July: ?
August: up to 5
September: 5-10
October: up to 10
November: up to 5
December: up to 5
Nearly all of the birding will be done in Central Park. I might get a few species down at Battery Park, where I take classes and sometimes work, a few more if I go to Randall's Island, and an unknown number for those hard to find birds and vagrants that sometimes appear around Manhattan.
Rare Bird of the Week #3! BOTW #15
This week's Bird of the Week is Common Redpoll!
Common Redpolls are the size of goldfinches, with streaked sides, brown backs and red caps. Males have pink chests unlike the females which don't. They have buzzy calls, similar to other finches. They feed on seeds and often gather in flocks. They can be found in semi coniferous forests
Common Redpolls breed over the northern half of Canada and Alaska. They winter over southern Canada and the northern U.S. They are an irruptive species, so they will sometimes winter as far south as Virginia. In New York City, these birds are usually only seen during irruption years. When these happen, flocks can be found in Staten Island, as well as scattered birds over the rest of the city. In Central Park, there is one currently visiting the bird feeders in the Ramble. It likes to hang out with the goldfinches.
Common Redpolls are the size of goldfinches, with streaked sides, brown backs and red caps. Males have pink chests unlike the females which don't. They have buzzy calls, similar to other finches. They feed on seeds and often gather in flocks. They can be found in semi coniferous forests
Common Redpolls breed over the northern half of Canada and Alaska. They winter over southern Canada and the northern U.S. They are an irruptive species, so they will sometimes winter as far south as Virginia. In New York City, these birds are usually only seen during irruption years. When these happen, flocks can be found in Staten Island, as well as scattered birds over the rest of the city. In Central Park, there is one currently visiting the bird feeders in the Ramble. It likes to hang out with the goldfinches.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Three Rare Winter Birds
The Central Park bird walk I was on started with a trip to the feeders to check for a Common Redpoll that has been sighted there yesterday and today. It only took us a few minutes to call it in. It was very beautiful among the goldfinches with its red cap and pink chest. As we wandered around slowly heading north, we saw many birds, including Brown Creeper, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, and Hairy Woodpecker. Then we went to Shakespeare Garden to look for sapsuckers, when someone in the group asked the guide to try to call in a Red-Breasted Nuthatch, a species they haven't seen for over a month. Shockingly, it worked! A Red-Breasted Nuthatch was feeding on pine cones directly in front of us! After that, we went back to the feeders to get more looks at the redpoll (we did) and see if the Chipping Sparrow was there. It took about 20 minutes until the Chipping Sparrow appeared, but it was worth it. With 3 new year birds in hand, this day was a real success!
#44. COMMON REDPOLL
#45. Brown Creeper
#46. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH
#44. COMMON REDPOLL
#45. Brown Creeper
#46. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH
Friday, January 23, 2015
Throwback Thursday #5: Storm Blown Birds
On Halloween, 2012, I went to Cal Shaurtz Park to look for storm blown birds. Hurricane Sandy had struck the east coast two days earlier, sending migrating warblers back up the coast a month after they started. On a hill, I spotted something in a small tree. A Black-Throated Blue Warbler! I also saw a waterthrush. Almost anything can get to New York City via storm, and those were just a few of the birds to do it.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Bird of the Week #14
Sorry for the long absence of these posts. Its just that winter is long and birds are scarce. Some weeks may just not have a bird. I'll try to post them weekly. Anyway, this week's bird of the week is American Coot!
The American Coot is a about the size of a Hooded Merganser. It is completely black with a white bill and green legs with partially webbed feet. Only coots have feet like this. It allows them to swim like ducks while most other rails (their family) don't. They mainly eat aquatic plants, insects, and crustaceans.
The American Coot breeds in Canada and the Northern U.S and winters on the east coast. It is also resident over much of the country, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In New York City, this bird is only found from October through April and can be found in bodies of freshwater. The best place to look for this bird is the Central Park Reservoir, where lone or paired coots can usually be found on the south side swimming near the shore.
The American Coot is a about the size of a Hooded Merganser. It is completely black with a white bill and green legs with partially webbed feet. Only coots have feet like this. It allows them to swim like ducks while most other rails (their family) don't. They mainly eat aquatic plants, insects, and crustaceans.
The American Coot breeds in Canada and the Northern U.S and winters on the east coast. It is also resident over much of the country, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In New York City, this bird is only found from October through April and can be found in bodies of freshwater. The best place to look for this bird is the Central Park Reservoir, where lone or paired coots can usually be found on the south side swimming near the shore.
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