Date: 3/19/26 3:25 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] N.Y. County, NYC - to 3/18
New York County -in N.Y. City- including Manhattan, Roosevelt, Randall’s, and Governors Islands, and the adjacent waters and surrounding skies -
thru March 18th -
A relatively slow past weekend for local observed migration in this county. Pine Warbler was found by somewhat more observers from Central Park, but the large arrival is very much still to come, even though eBird will not be auto-alerting, nor flagging individual reports on further sightings of those now.
The beginnings of Yellow-shafted Flicker movement was seen by at least Sunday, 15th with modest arrivals to some areas. Eastern Phoebes had very slight increases, but far more will eventually push in. Osprey were struggling to show much in this county and of course far more should be coming in by later this month thru April. Raptor movement generally had slowed again with the most recent winds and weather.
Savannah Sparrows had turned up by March 11 and 12 at a few locations in the county. One of the sites, Governors Island, had a good showing of Killdeer by that date as well. Red Fox Sparrows were increasing, with some passing thru in addition to those that overwintered. Dark-eyed Juncos have become more numerous again. Increases were also being noticed for Golden-crowned Kinglet and somewhat for Brown Creeper, even before last weekend. These will be increasing once we see a weather pattern encouraging to birds in more southerly states, and into the northeast.
Wood Ducks were seen in various locations, in fairly modest numbers relative to the big migratory flights earlier this month. Green-winged Teal were ongoing in Central Park, as was at least one Ring-necked Duck and a quartet of Common Mergansers there recently. Multiple observers had noted Red-breasted Merganser from last week at Central Park, while far greater numbers of the latter species were, as is usual, seen in the salt or brackish tidal waters of the county. Greater and Lesser Scaup were found again off both Randalls and Governors Islands, with fewer of the latter species by Sunday, overall as would be generally expected here. Some Common Goldeneyes were still being seen in the past week but had diminished as the weekend passed, and the same may be noted for Long-tailed Duck. American Woodcock were still around, with as is typical the most-often noticed, from Bryant Park in mid-Manhattan.
Horned Grebe was presumed a continuing bird around Randalls Island from last Friday into this past weekend. Some Common and Red-throated Loons continued to be seen in the waters of this county in the past week. The first modern-era non-speculative and massively documented Trumpeter Swan in N.Y. County was still being seen at times into this week from places in this county, although much or most of this one current swan duo -in company with a Mute Swan- movements have been far more visible from the Brooklyn -Kings County- side of the East River in N.Y. City, rather than from the Manhattan side. Some days after the sighting, a Purple Sandpiper was confirmed in an eBird report from an unusual location for the species, Randalls Island on March 11. A confirmation was also made for Savannah Sparrow at Central Park on that same date. A Wild Turkey was ongoing at Battery Park at the s. end of Manhattan this week, very long staying there over many many months.
At Central Park, Black-crowned Night Heron numbers already showed a slight uptick there by Sunday. Multiple independent birders and photographers at Central Park on Sunday had seen up to ten Red-breasted Mergansers, some from first-light, others much later in that day. At least 9 of that species were still present early-week at the C.P. reservoir. The waters of Manhattan annually see vastly greater numbers of that species in peak periods of the colder half of the year, and yet more are present in winter periods in the county, often into triple-digits.
Overall, by Sunday, Central Park alone was recording up to 62 or more species of wild birds, seen and reported reliably on the one day by birders and photographers individually or in not-for-profit guided bird walks, with alerts and reports to Discord birding app, and in eBird. Pine Warblers were among the many birds from Sunday at Central Park, and that species was again seen there into this week. Myrtle-form Yellow-rumped Warbler has again been reported in Central Park as well. Thus far in this month, just over 70 species of wild birds have occurred at Central Park. That number is a little less than two-thirds of all species for the county in the same time period.
Good birding, and happy end-of-winter at least by our calendars, as of this Friday morning- with the vernal equinox, bring on spring!
