Date: 5/7/26 12:02 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] N.Y. County, NYC - to May 6 - more Blue Grosbeak, more migration-notes
New York County, including the 4 larger islands of Manhattan, Roosevelt, Randalls, and Governors Islands, plus the adjacent waters, and skies above -
thru Wed., May 6 -
Yet another Blue Grosbeak was found and photographed on Roosevelt Island on May 6, quite the recent run of this species for this county. That island has plenty of potential for almost any sort of birds to appear. And a re-find of a male Summer Tanager was reported for the n. end of Central Park again, on May 6.
Newly arrived were at least a few Acadian Flycatchers in Manhattan, making for up to 6 species of flycatchers on the day, for May 6. Least has been the other Empidonax-genus flycatcher already moving thru… Acadian is a potential breeder, and is a breeder within N.Y. City each summer. All of the other flycatcher species seen so far in this county this month are breeders as well as passage migrants - E. Wood-Pewee, E. Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, and E. Phoebe, the latter the scarcer of these 4 species as a breeder in this county. The first 3 of these flycatchers breed, or attempt to, annually in Central Park and in multiple other of the wooded parks or greenspaces of the county.
As more tern movement occurs, further sightings of Common Terns have occurred with at least a few at the Manhattan shoreline by May 6. More are also arriving at Governors Island, which has experienced a good, if not exceptional, influx of migrants and various returning breeders or visitant birds. Much the same can be found on Randalls Island, although at least a very few species are still hoped-for there, at least as visitors, such as Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, and with luck, some of the saltmarshy sparrows.
Unless and until proven otherwise by photo-documentation, the only species of Night-Heron that has occurred in New York County, including in Manhattan and including in Central Park, in -this year- thus far, has been Black-crowned, of which some may have been mistakenly misidentified as the other, much scarcer species of night-heron of our region.
As a representative sample for the county as a whole, Central Park birders on May 6 came up with at least 26 species of warblers, perhaps no longer including a Kentucky which had been rather obliging over its extended stay in one area in Central Park, where it was viewed by many hundreds in multiple days of observations. There is a fair chance we might have had a peak few days of highest warbler-species diversity, but far more migration is yet to occur thru the region. Many birds by now however are able to migrate onwards straight thru, towards or to their breeding areas, including those reaching much of eastern Canada.
