Date: 7/18/25 8:17 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Manhattan and N.Y. County, NYC - to 7/17 - some migrants, lingerers, etc.
New York County -in N.Y. City- somewhat emphasizing Manhattan island, also including in this report notes on Governors, Randalls, and Roosevelt Islands -
thru Thursday, July 17th -
The first, and not-early southbound Louisiana Waterthrush were moving through by at least July 12-14th in the county, barely detected as none seemed to hang around, at least in places birders lately continue to frequent.
A few male Bobolinks have been coming thru, with the most active area in the county to see any -as of Monday- being on Governors Island, although there were some passing in other areas as well. The first waves of early-moving icteridae species have been coming thru the region - as is expected for now - with a lot of that movement along outer coast sectors, but also some visible migrants coming on thru New York County, including some Red-winged Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird movement. This all of course not in the numbers of these that are seen later in the southbound-season, but still these can be fairly numerous in some cases in July-early Aug., even in this county. Bobolink movement is also expected to increase in the coming few weeks, as is much other movement. Shorebird southbound migration is already well underway in all of the region.
Some of the Yellow Warblers appearing lately include those which are already moving as migrants, while a fair number were here all thru June and the first half of July. An adult male Black-and-white Warbler showing this week at Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, a bird which could be an early-ish migrant, but may also have been floating about in the county, perhaps from Central Park where that species was into early summer. However, there are a modest number of warbler species already on the move by now. A definite lingerer at Bryant Park this summer is a Lincolns Sparrow, a bird that just had not made it on to the northern areas where that species ought to be for all of summer. Also summering, and much more regular each year, some White-throated Sparrows are ongoing in that and multiple other parks in Manhattan, including some in the larger parks such as Central, Inwood Hill, Riverside, Highbridge, and in other such wooded parks, along with the smaller greenspaces that a number of White-throated Sparrows also oddly summer-thru in here in the midst of the urban.
Some Spotted Sandpipers were again on the move here in the past week. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, at least a few of which had lingered for weeks in the county, mostly on Manhattan island into early summer, are now also showing as migrants moving thru, these earlier-moving birds mainly or all adult males, and some may begin to linger in any areas with enough appropriate flowers, whether in wooded parks or gardens or simply at plantings, in this county. It also is worth a note as a reminder that rarer, western-vagrant hummingbird species are known to show in the northeast at this season, and some of those may or may-not linger too. The most likely of the rarer visitors is Rufous, a widespread western breeding hummingbird, but summer occurrences of a variety of western or even very-rarely, Mexican or Caribbean-based species of hummers may occur to the Northeast and more generally, to much of N. America including within central and eastern Canada.
A -report- of a Veery for Central Park on July 10 is interesting, this would be modesty-early for that thrush species, and at that location, some of the young Wood Thrushes that have fledged - a species that breeds in this county annually - might be taken in casual looks for some other thrush species which migrate each spring and fall, such as Veery. Wood Thrush is the one and only brown-backed thrush nesting in the county, and in multiple parks, including several at the northern end of Manhattan, as well as others.
A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron appeared on Thursday at Inwood Hill Park, where rather unusual. Much more regular on Randalls Island, Yellow-crowned Night Herons there were seen again, while already less-dependable for viewing may be the Cliff Swallows that again bred and fledged out, as some of them may, like other hirundines, have moved on to feeding areas elsewhere or simply be away from the nest-sites far more as summer goes along. Randalls Island has dependably produced as many as 50 or more spp. of birds in some visits over early summer, which is one of the richer sites for diversity in the period just-before more migrants start to swell such destinations in the county as the wooded parks, or for the early-morning and determined, Governors Island and some other high-traffic areas of migratory activity in the county. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a species that uncommonly nests in this county, and the sightings from Randalls Island, and in other locations of the county lately, may be of birds that at least attempted or were breeding. Belted Kingfisher has been noted for a few locations in the county, including Randalls Island, but also on Manhattan, and less-regularly, from the other islands of the county so far this summer. We have less data on birds in general coming out of Roosevelt Island, bits of which could produce many migrants by some very-determined and regular observers.
Observations of Laughing Gull in many areas and specific sites in this county continue in higher-than-average numbers, a trend that could perhaps continue in future years. We might expect a wide variety of birds of which many species were formerly-expected to be regular in parts of the U.S. East Coast in summer from Florida up to about Baltimore and then more-recently regular to Cape May and counties northwards in New Jersey, and which by this decade are becoming annual or even frequent up to much of the southern New England coast and for some, also to Maine and beyond in coastal locations. This can also include some species of songbirds that can nest on coastal-plain or coastal hill country, and which were formerly restricted to the U.S. South and then mid-Atlantic coastal regions in summer. Most modern-era birders may not be aware that the Northern Cardinal, the Northern Mockingbird, or a bit more recently, the Red-bellied Woodpecker were once much-more southern species, and that these species as well as multiple other songbirds are steadily encroaching north, and some are now found either scantly or even regularly up into northern New England or even the Maritimes in Canada, and up some rivers that end at the north Atlantic. Birders out of N.Y. state have contributed much to the knowledge in recent times, including from those doing research or simply birding in New England, all the way thru Maine up into some of the Maritimes. And of course in NYS, on the coast from Richmond County out east to and thru the barrier islands and beyond Montauk Point, Long Island.
Among other birds starting to show in somewhat greater numbers again here are Ospreys, some of them likely to be moving on from breeding sites by now. More on migrations in a coming report...
Good birding to all,
Tom Fiore
manhattan
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