Date: 5/26/26 12:55 am From: Tom Fiore <tomfi2...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] N.Y. County, NYC - thru Memorial Day Mon., 5/25 - shorebirds! (etc.)
New York County -in N.Y. City- including Governors, Randalls, Roosevelt, and Manhattan, the 4 larger islands of this county, plus adjacent waters and skies -
thru Memorial Day Monday, May 25th -
A number of shorebird species made it to or thru New York County by Monday, some species new to the year here, a county which is somewhat shorebird-depauperate as compared with all other surrounding counties, but can pull out some specials for this county every now and again, often via highly observant watchers - in good places at good times - which is often a useful ploy for much observation of nature, as is -consistency- or persistence, in all attempts at observing.
Among the less-regular but not unprecedented were Black-bellied Plovers, and other species included -regular, but not commonly reported each year here- Semipalmated Plovers, as well as more-frequently found and identified peeps, the usual and annual here two Calidris-genus species being Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper. There were some additional species as possible, or putative sightings, which are rare in this county by all past records. Other very-regular shorebirds that were ongoing in the county included Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, as well as Killdeer some of which attempt breeding in the county, with mixed success. Randalls Island, and n. Manhattan were two of the particular locations for some of the shorebirds, while Governors Island also has been getting some - and multiple flyover shorebirds have also occurred in a number of sites of this county.
Recent sightings of Glossy Ibis flying past, or close-by Governors Island have again been noted, with ten of those ibis photographed as recently as Friday, May 22. Some terns have been seen around the county, including a few Forsters Tern, with the far-more usual and breeding-in-county Common Terns in several locations, these latter being most-reported by now. If possible, all terns seen should be photod or videod, in the county, more-so if any species other than Common Tern is suspected.
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, as well as Cliff Swallow, continued to be seen in the only location where each is regular in our current era in this county - on or over Randalls Island. There have been NO Yellow-crowned Night-Herons this year in Central Park unless one has definite, confirmed photo-identified details. Many of the non-adult Black-crowned Night-Herons that are regular and can be common there, including overnight visitations to Central, are misidentified by some observers as-if Yellow-crowned when only Black-crowned are present.
On Sunday tallies of up to 21 warbler species were made, for all of the county, and also including that number of warbler spp for Central Park. Monday May 25th also provided fairly decent warblering for the rainy-morning weather and then clearing, with at least 20 warbler spp both for the entire county as well as just within Central Park. These high-ish warbler tallies of Central Park do NOT reflect that that park is the best, or better site for warbler-finding, but rather that the number of observers who continue to watch there is higher by usually an order of magnitude, than almost all of the rest of the county with its four separate larger islands including Manhattan. Some parks such as Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan, just as one good example, receive nearly all of the warbler species and often as many or more individual birds, as are found in Central Park on migration peak days, and that northern Manhattan park, as with many other parks in Manhattan, have less than ten-percent and often just one-percent of the number of observers as does Central. No jibe to Central Park, it is what it is - and offers birds in the migration months, and all year long. But, so do 101 other sites in Manhattan alone, not to mention the other islands of New York County.
Lots of birds including neotropical-wintering migrant species are now nesting, in this county and all over the region. Please do nothing at all that could jeopardize their success with nesting and having young birds fledge. A little space and some quiet while observing any nesting birds go a long way to those ideals. If a bird seems agitated by a close approach - please back off, and then watch.
Thanks to all of the many observers and photographers who are finding and reporting with bird-alerts in Discord, as well as via eBird, and such latter reports also including the Macaulay Library for auditory and visual media.
