Date: 2/27/25 4:00 pm From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Manhattan, NYC - to Thurs., 2/27 - H. Grebes, L.B.-b. Gull, waterfowl, wintering warblers, etc.
Manhattan, N.Y. City - thru Thursday, Feb. 27th -
Horned Grebes were again found, including one Tuesday to Thursday, 2/25-27, off Gansevoort St. at the pier, on Manhattans lower west, and in the Hudson River. Another Horned Grebe sighting was off Governors Island just south of Manhattan on the day after on Wednesday, and by Thursday 2-27 at least 2 Horned Grebes were present off the SE side of Governors Island.
Also having been found back on Feb. 23 -A. Evans- was a Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Tribeca Upland pier area - Hudson Waterfront Park in lower-west Manhattan, same area as for the recent Iceland Gull, on that same date.
A Snow Goose was still being seen into the recent milder weather, at Central Park. Some sightings have come from the C.P. reservoir and some from other waterbodies such as the Lake and the Meer, as well as from larger sports field - lawns such as the Great Lawn and the N. Meadow, all in Central Park. Ice and skim-ice on that parks, and on other parks, waterbodies was at-last melting partially by Monday and far more so by now, with ice nearly all vanished.
A Common Goldeneye was a nice find at Inwood Hill Parks lagoon on Wednesday, while other Common Goldeneyes continued off areas next to and near Manhattan, in the Hudson River as well as a bit east of the East River. Northern Pintail has reappeared at the lagoon off Inwood Hill Park lately, perhaps an individual that stays in that general area of northern Manhattans waters, over some of this winter.
Some further waterfowl in and around Manhattan waters has included ongoing Atlantic Brant, Green-winged Teal, N. Shovelers, all 3 expected Merganser species with Red-breasted in fairly good numbers again, Wood, Ruddy, and American Black Ducks, Buffleheads in numbers, Gadwall, and the usual motley Mallards and plenty of Canada Geese, plus a few Mute Swans typically in the E. River area east of Manhattan. There may well be some other duckage in the waters of the local to Manhattan area.
Pied-billed Grebe has been seen recently, and American Coots were ongoing in modest numbers as are Double-crested Cormorants, with Great Cormorant sometimes visible from Manhattan itself, and present still in nearby waters. Belted Kingfisher has been present in Manhattan lately, as has Great Blue Heron.
A brightly-plumaged Pine Warbler being seen -and ongoing- for many, many weeks at Central Parks Ramble is not a new or early arrival, it is a wintering bird, seen by many scores of observers and often-photographed. At least one or more additional Pine Warblers have been overwintering in this county, this winter and this also is not a totally new phenomenon, indeed other Pine Warblers have rarely but occasionally shown in mid-winter, and exactly at the Central Park Ramble bird feeders when and where suet is made available, as seen in multiple prior decades. It may however be that an increase of those, and a few other warbler species showing in winter has been noticed in recent years. Some of that increase could also be partly-due to vastly more observer-efforts at all times of recent years, these comments regarding solely birds of N.Y. County, even if any generalizations on wintering warblers were to be fathomed.
Orange-crowned Warblers also were ongoing-overwintering birds at Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan, as well as out on Randalls Island which latter location also had ongoing Pine and Myrtle-form-of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Randalls Island is just-east of south Harlem in Manhattan.
Arrivals in and across Manhattan, including passage migrants in this week included more of Common Grackles, some flocks into the many-hundreds - including flocks showing in Central Park by at-least Wednesday, as well as in or over other Manhattan parks, and also some Red-winged Blackbird movement, in addition to modest numbers of these seen singing recently.
There have been modest movements of waterfowl, some of that perhaps local re-shuffling but also some likely new arrivals. On the rivers around Manhattan, Horned Grebes out in the Hudson river in low numbers, some a bit outside the limits of the political-boundary lines of N.Y. County. There also were a very few Common Goldeneye in some parts of the Hudson not far from Manhattan over recent days - the latter observations made from - including - surveying all of the waters surrounding Manhattan. A very few Brown-headed Cowbirds, and A few Rusty Blackbirds have been ongoing in recent days in Manhattan.
A likely update to sightings for N.Y. County will be forthcoming after the first weekend of March. Thanks to many observers and photographers for some of the sightings and reports of this past week, offered via reports in non-x alerts, and as-always, thru eBird and the Macaulay Library for media.
Good birding to all.
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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