Date: 3/24/25 4:53 pm From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Manhattan, N.Y. City - to Mon., 3/24 - Bl.-h. Gulls, L. Bl.-b. Gull, Iceland Gull, & other recent birds
Manhattan, N.Y. City - thru Monday, March 24th -
Two Black-headed Gulls have continued to make visits to the Central Park reservoir over many recent days, with at least one to Monday, 3-24. Also in rarer gulls there, have been at least one Iceland Gull in 2nd-year-type plumage, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull in non-breeding plumage, with the Lesser Black-backed showing on all 3 most-recent days, while the Iceland put in perhaps its best appearance only on Saturday, all these sightings at the reservoir in Central. Many gulls, of whatever species, show at that reservoir and can be there for from less than one minute, to multiple full days in a row, and that is part of the usual cycling of gulls, at any season, in Central Park and specifically at the reservoir. Some gulls are day-roosting there, some simply come by and some may not even land in the reservoir, but fly on to other locations, in or out of the park - and in or out of Manhattan or even the same county - this is happening all the time in all years, and is part of the reason all the most-regular species of- gulls are not-constantly present at that site or in that park, there is a LOT of regular daily movement in-out and sometimes comings-and-goings more than just once in one day. Rare gulls also follow this --pattern-- at and around Central Park.
2 Canvasbacks - 1 female and 1 male plumaged - were ongoing at the area north of Harlem Piers Park north of West 125th St., in the Hudson River off Manhattans west side, the access for some observers being from the western end of W. 125th, walking a short way north to the area in the vicinity of the south wall and bulkheads of Riverbank State Park, which lies above, and with some facilities of associated wastewater treatment in the area of the river there as well.
Sightings from many-multiple observers on Sunday at Central Park, in Manhattan included Great Egret, fairly-early -photographed- Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and again, one of two Black-headed Gulls seen by those checking the Central Park reservoir closely and carefully. Very modest influxes of a small number of other species have been noted, including more Yellow-shafted Flickers than had wintered thru, as well as some new arrivals of Field, Swamp, and more Song Sparrows, the latter in particular. Field Sparrow was present in Central Park for multiple days this past week, and were previously reported in areas where they had not wintered. Red Fox Sparrows have persisted although some shuffling-around of that species may have occurred. There are also recent migratory flights as well as shuffling-about of Dark-eyed Juncos in and thru Manhattan.
All of the Central Park sightings of Black-headed Gull that have been reported in non-x alerts or in eBird are from independent -but multiple per day- observers with no sightings listed on any days for any guided-walk groups. On some days, it has been easier to spot one or the other of the 2 Black-headed Gulls - and not necessarily the individual which is in near-breeding-type plumage, as that -or the other, which is not in high-plumage yet- can be sleeping and-or simply have head tucked, and either gull also can and often have been tucked in near other gulls all of which are larger species, even the moderately-delicate Ring-billed Gulls which are usually the most numerous of all in that reservoir and can be numerous anywhere in the area.
Most consistent of the Great Egrets in recent days has still been that which is seen off Inwood Hill Park, at Manhattans northern end, and more egrets are certainly expected as spring flows on, while Great Egret was also seen in Central. From just-east of Manhattan, have been some American Oystercatchers returned for spring and photographed, these sightings as with others of the past made from Randalls Island, a scope being highly recommended. Scope also not a bad idea for gull-seeking on the Central Park reservoir, with a few regular observers having done just that lately- using commonsense and courtesy in use of scopes or tripods at the reservoir-running-track and vicinity.
A listing of the species present in Manhattan for the past 3 days, with any -also- seen thru the weekend in Central Park also designated below with -C.P.-
Canada Goose -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Mute Swan - seen off Manhattans upper-east-side, in the East River.
Wood Duck -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Northern Shoveler -C.P.-
Gadwall -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Mallard -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Black Duck -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Mallard x American Black Duck - hybrids - -C.P.- and mostly-elsewhere in and around Manhattan.
Green-winged Teal -C.P.- seen by hundreds and hundreds of observers over many many months, at the Central Park Pool.
Canvasback - two continuing for many days off the west side of Manhattan, north of the Harlem Piers Park, north of W. 125th St.
Bufflehead -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Hooded Merganser -mainly in C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Red-breasted Merganser -C.P.- continuing for some days by now, at the Central Park reservoir, and elsewhere just off Manhattan, in fairly good numbers in the brackish waters.
Ruddy Duck -C.P.- and elsewhere off Manhattan, esp. on the East River.
Pied-billed Grebe -C.P.- ongoing recently - in the Central Park reservoir.
feral Rock Pigeon -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Mourning Dove -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Coot -C.P.-
Killdeer - -C.P.- again, and at least as-of Monday, 4-24 and mainly over many many weeks also elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Woodcock -C.P.- again, with the species seen on multiple days this month, and on both Sunday and Monday at Central, as well as in Bryant Park in mid-Manhattan.
Black-headed Gull -C.P.- almost exclusively has been in Central Park, exception noted above, and on multiple days, two individuals of this species were present, with photos.
Ring-billed Gull -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Herring Gull - -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Iceland Gull -C.P.- possibly-only-briefly for Saturday, 3-22, at the C.P. reservoir.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - -C.P.- one present on several recent days, possibly ongoing or may be rather-transient.
Great Black-backed Gull -C.P.- and elsewhere for Manhattan.
Red-throated Loon - seen off Manhattan, in the harbor area and some elsewhere along the rivers.
Common Loon - comment as for above, a bit less numerous than above for now.
Great Cormorant - occasional sightings off Manhattan - most looking towards the east.
Double-crested Cormorant - multiple, increasing just a little in recent days, and present in -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Great Blue Heron -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Great Egret -C.P.- and as noted-above, rather regular off Inwood Hill Park in n. Manhattan.
Black-crowned Night-Heron -C.P.- and some in other locations - not that common for now.
Black Vulture -C.P.- a few sightings passing Central, also in other locations, and esp. seen from northern Manhattan.
Turkey Vulture -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Osprey -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Sharp-shinned Hawk -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Coopers Hawk -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Bald Eagle -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Red-tailed Hawk -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Belted Kingfisher -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan, esp. from the northern end.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Red-bellied Woodpecker -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Downy Woodpecker -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Hairy Woodpecker -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Yellow-shafted Flicker -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Kestrel -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Merlin -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Peregrine Falcon -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Eastern Phoebe -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan - in fair to good numbers, latterly especially from Central Park.
Blue Jay -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Crow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Fish Crow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Common Raven -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Black-capped Chickadee -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Tufted Titmouse -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow -C.P.- early-ish, at The Meer and at least briefly elsewhere in Central Park over the last 2 days.
Tree Swallow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan, with more of this species showing than the prior, so far.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. A minimum of 5 and probably more, of this species wintered successfully in Central Park alone.
Golden-crowned Kinglet -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. Some slight new influx may have occurred, but at least a few of this species seems to have wintered-thru.
Red-breasted Nuthatch -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
White-breasted Nuthatch -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Brown Creeper -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Winter Wren -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Carolina Wren -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
European or Common Starling -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
House Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Gray Catbird -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan - all seen now are birds that overwintered here successfully.
Brown Thrasher -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Northern Mockingbird -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Hermit Thrush -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Robin -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. Good flyover flights of this species on some mornings moving north past Manhattan, also many arriving here as well.
Cedar Waxwing -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan - in rather small numbers, as would be expected so early in spring.
House Finch -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Purple Finch -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
American Goldfinch -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Field Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Red Fox Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Slate-colored - Dark-eyed Junco -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
White-throated Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan - many have been singing as is so of many other songbirds recently.
Song Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. - Same comment as for above species, and here some of the Song Sparrows sing on breeding territory, unlike the White-throateds we have for many months of the colder parts of the year. Even a very-few White-throated Sparrows that linger here in Manhattan thru summer are not breeding.
Swamp Sparrow -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Eastern Towhee -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Red-winged Blackbird -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Brown-headed Cowbird -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Rusty Blackbird -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. Multiple Rustys are around Manhattan, and have been seen by many independent observers for months and months.
Common Grackle -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
Northern Cardinal -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan.
-
Pine Warbler -C.P.- and rather-few elsewhere in Manhattan, so far.
Myrtle form of Yellow-rumped Warbler -C.P.- and elsewhere in Manhattan. Many observations of this species from Central Park in the past 3 days.
And likely at least a few additional species over recent days in Manhattan, and some perhaps also in Central Park that were not-noted above. The listings above do not include the owls seen here.
- -
Recent insects sightings were many by Saturday with milder sunny weather, and included 1st sightings of Cabbage White butterflies as well as Mourning Cloak and E. Comma butterflies. Some of the Cabbage Whites seen were in Central Park. Many species of flies, bees, and some small day-flying moths, and various other families of insects have been present in their adult forms, many very-recently-emerged as-such.
Far more trees and shrubs were beginning to hint at greening or budding or flowering, with Willow trees in particular quite green by now. More of planted flowers in parks, gardens, greenspaces, etc. are showing blossoms or buds in recent days. In Central Park, some of the native -planted and cared-for- wildflowers have been in bud or in bloom lately, most having just come out in the past week, among those native to eastern N. America. More of the many cherry trees in Manhattan were showing a little color and some of the earliest varieties of those are in bloom, more so in just the last several days.
Thanks to the many keen, quiet, courteous observers and photographers for sightings and reports all via non-x alerts and as-always thru eBird with the Macaulay Library media archives.
Good ongoing-spring birding to all,
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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