Date: 5/14/26 2:31 am From: Thomas Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Manhattan, N.Y. City - Wed, May 13 - Bicknells Thrush, multi Blue Grosbeaks, Summer Tanagers, Mourning Warblers, & etc.
As expected, a sighting of Prothonotary Warbler at Inwood Hill Park on Monday late-day, May 11 has received a confirmation for eBird archive listing. At least the 3rd of this species to be noted from N.Y. County, in this month, possibly more than that number have occurred by now in May. Inwood Hill and multiple other parks and some greenspaces in northernmost Manhattan are seeing as great a May migration as in the rest of Manhattan, thanks to all who find birds in all of these many areas. Inwood Hill in particular gives the strongest sense of what a forested Manhattan had been like in long-ago times, in portions of its relatively old-growth woods. Other parks and a few greenspaces of north Manhattan also have venerable trees, and in some neighborhoods also a variety of very old buildings, by contrast with most newer structures of this city.
Manhattan, N.Y. City - into Wednesday, May 13 -
A preface - the similar-looking Gray-cheeked Thrush has been present and any number of these have been vocal at times in Central Park and elsewhere in the county recently, including on 5-13, and including in the proximity of the scarce Bicknells - of course other migrant Catharus-genus thrush species are also present in all areas now. Swainsons Thrush is particularly numerous throughout, over recent days, and numbers of those also have been vocal at times. With most of these migrant thrushes, songs or even calls given here are not as vigorous, sometimes not as full and complete as song or even calls given on these species breeding territories. The thrush of brown-backed type which we have here as an annual breeder, as well as a passage migrant, is Wood Thrush, with of course a markedly different appearance and vocalizations to the other, migrant-only Catharus-genus thrush species.
The find of a singing Bicknells Thrush is not too unexpected these years, in mid to late May in this county, and with a number of gray-cheeked types - most readers will know that these were all thought to be one species in the past, and Eugene Pintard Bicknell was one of the collectors which was in the long-ago days before optics were becoming more the tools of field workers in ornithology, who brought a specimen of thrush in to a museum collection, which was later recognized as a new species to science. NY state is home to the most-southerly breeding range of this threatened, limited-distribution thrush, known as Bicknells, and which is closely related to the vastly more-numerous in world-distribution Gray-cheeked Thrush, the latter a species that breeds across north-boreal Canada into Alaska and even to a bit of Siberian Russia, and which winters in entirely separate areas of the nootropics - Bicknells is a Caribbean wintering species, most being on Hispaniola, and mainly la Republica Dominicana in its main wintering home. One of the Bicknells singing into this Wed. eve was in the north end of Central Park, but other locations may be receiving these migrants as well. Please DO NOT play the songs or calls of the 2 gray-cheeked and bicknell types repeatedly - it will disturb these birds unnecessarily if at all overdone, and keep them from feeding and resting properly. Trying to make audio-video recordings will be far more useful, to learning and in case of sharing in bird lists or social media. Patience is key to learning with birds…. The Bicknells Thrush was seen and sometimes heard by multiple observers at various times of day on Wed, straight into May 13 dusk. In Central Park in particular with hundreds, often many-hundreds of birders out every day in all weather now in this month of May, one should never presume that others are not nearby at any location and at any hours, who are attentively trying to observe birds - by both ears and by eyes.
A Blue Grosbeak showed in the northern part of Riverside Park, at a so-called pollinator meadow which is at approximately W. 119-121 Street, n. of a tennis court, with dual paths coming in from near the south edge of the tennis courts, and not-from a feature in Riverside known as The Drip, as well as just-north of the Forever Wild sanctuary in Riverside, which was long known as the Ladies Grove, a space protected in various ways for many, many decades from being overly-developed or outright having had older trees cut. The areas to the north of that grove are now sometimes signed as the sanctuary as well, but were not quite a part of the first efforts to conserve the greenspace - although the total area of concern over a century ago was large, and included many sections of that park. The last meetings of the original conservation group dedicated to the northern parts of Riverside Park were in 1938, and the sanctuary as still called is still there. In summer 2005, a very old Red Oak —Quercus rubra- fell, and had been estimated to have reached well over 300 years of life, some estimates to 350 years old. There are still some old, great trees in the area and elsewhere in and next to Riverside Park, on the west edges of Manhattan, north of W. 72 Street and extending into west Harlem. Riverside Drive is all-along the eastern boundary of this venerable park, which incidentally has had a very strong influx of migrant and other birds in May this year. Some of the birders that go regularly are quite dedicated to this park.
Yet another Blue Grosbeak sighting comes from not-far-off from the above location Morningside Park, at around 122-123rd Sts. on Manhattans - and Harlems western side, this park is a longish linear park with some steep slopes, but a network of paths and long steep stone steps provide a lot of maneuverability. This park, as with many in Manhattan of all sizes and locations, has its devoted observers and a lot of species have been noted here, especially in the past decade or so with increasing observation-efforts. Timing of the 2 reports make it seem a bit unlikely that the Riverside Park BG was the same individual as the grosbleu from Morningside, but given the proximity, it may be a possibility.
Summer Tanager continues its strong recent showings in Manhattan, the latest sighting being at the Chelsea waterside park north of West 23rd St., alongside the Hudson River, all west of the W. Side Highway and adjacent greenway trail. The Wednesday May 13th sighting at Chelsea-waterside was of a male molting into summer-breeding color, and had more than one observer. There are literally hundreds of larger and smaller greenspaces all around mid to lower Manhattan which are receiving migrant birds now, in May, with some sites having very dedicated observers per particular locations, local patches so to say. These include a number of public or partly-public gardens, as well as some churchyards open to the public at times, and a wide variety of other greenspaces.
The thirty-third warbler species of this spring for Manhattan (and, for all of New York County as well) has been noted, at last, the rather-expected by now Mourning Warbler, a species already present in multiple breeding areas of the northeast U.S. in the past week or longer, and having passed thru other areas within N.Y. City as well. Far more of this warbler species should be on the way thru in coming days and even to early June. Key, at least with males coming thru is that a lot will sing, as most warblers are inclined on passage here, and knowing that song, or in lieu of song, knowing calls quite well is helpful to locating, or even knowing of the presence of these sometimes-skulking lovers of moist tangles - but also these can be and are a bit arboreal at times, from lower perches as some will sing from, or forage a bit, while most of their time is likely to be within a meter or so of ground or substrate levels. In recent decades, the Mourning Warbler occasionally showed up here even in earliest days of May, but is much more-expected by around now - going into the third week of May soon. This species also helps to brings to over 175 species the tally of birds just in the month of May in N.Y. County - slightly less than that in Manhattan, or seen-from-Manhattan alone, in May, just ahead of the midpoint of this month.
A female E. Bluebird was noted by a group of observers at the n. end of Central Park on Wed., while a fairly late date here in this county for the species, it is not unprecedented including in mid-May at Central Park.
Monk Parakeet sightings have continued, with some in northern Manhattan where the species has been known to nest in recent years, and also from Central Park and other locations of mid-upper Manhattan, where the species has at least been occasional for decades. It is a regular, known breeding bird of each of the five counties of N.Y. City, but a bit better known in some colonies that continue in some of the other parts of the city. In N.Y. County, any nesters have not been successful in forming even modest colonies as far as known - and of course, this is a large, green, not all-that-quiet bird.
We also have a further report of Yellow-breasted Chat, at Fort Tryon Park, perhaps a lingerer there where one had been some days ago. It is a species which, on migration will sometimes linger in spring, and can disappear for days only to return to a general area again after not being noticed over some days. In fall to early winters here, this species has -rarely- stayed on for months, in locations where the individual had to have been feeding well. More typical in spring for this species here are briefer appearances. A Pine Siskin was still being reported at Central Park to Wednesday, and some Purple Finches have continued to pass thru Manhattan. A bit late for this county by now, Brown Creeper has been reported into this week, and not at all late are some sightings of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, even if the latter have peaked on their northbound passages and departures from here.
Many more migrants and breeding birds can be noted in an upcoming report. Thanks again to hundreds of very keen and often-energetic observers and photographers for great numbers of sightings, alerts in Discord, the app that virtually all birders now use for rapid alerting of birds seen as well as for other uses, and with very frequent hourly-updated alerts and reports in eBird, including the Macaulay Library archiving media in both visual and auditory forms. The many word-of-mouth bird reports and hints each day or night are also appreciated, the majority coming in-the-field, ie in real-time.
