Swainson's Warbler in Central Park

Peak Migration around New York City - Week 1

Monday, April 25 - Central Park

So peak migration!  The best three weeks of the year in terms of birding in New York, and so I changed my patterns to grab little slots of time in Central Park before and after work.  Year birding gets me motivated so I'm going to add the New York State year bird numbers to the new birds I add in these posts ....

On Monday I met up with Chris Cooper and spent a very pleasant couple of hours before work in the Park.  I have a Spring rule to ration my birding time - I either bird for two hours, or until I have 5 year birds.  On Monday, the two came roughly at the same time, starting with House Wren (198) and Blue-winged Warbler (199) at Strawberry Fields.  Then we moved on to the Ramble proper where literally hundreds of Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers swarmed every tree around the Upper Lobe.  The 'Rumps' were so thick that we both gave up looking for movement and turned to just trying to bird by ear, straining for chip notes, or snippets of song suggesting other species.  Black-throated Green Warbler (200) managed to have itself be heard about the 'Rumps' as did a single Prairie Warbler (201), but it was Chris who heard and tracked down the season's first Black-Throated Blue Warbler (202).  A very birdy morning and a great start to the week.

Black-Throated Blue Warbler and Wood Thrush

Thursday, April 28 - Central Park

I was running a little late on Thursday, so skipped Strawberry Fields and went straight to the Ramble.  There weren't a lot of birders around, the weather was overcast and cold, and compared to Monday, there didn't seem to be a lot of birds.  I did check out the Ramble pretty thoroughly though, visiting each of the hotspots (and in Central Park every clearing, water feature or group of trees has a name) hoping for my five year birds.

While it was quiet, there were a few year birds to be had ... a Warbling Vireo (203) at the Maintenance Meadow and an Ovenbird (204) in Muggers Woods both joined the year list.  I also bumped into some photographers at The Oven who had a female Cape May Warbler (205) and picked up a Nashville Warbler (206) nearby.  That was four year birds so, in the hope of finding another, I headed over towards Bow Bridge, a good spot for an early Yellow Warbler maybe?  What I found there though was a group of about 25 birders with big goofy smiles on their faces, all chattering away.  At first I just drifted over to the edge of the group, trying to work out what they were looking at, but couldn't see any obvious target bird there, so I walked over the Chris Cooper and asked what was up.  The answer was quite a shock!

It turns out that the group had all just finished watching a SWAINSON'S WARBLER (207) over at Strawberry Fields.  The first Swanson's in the Park since 1990 and the first in the City (or New York State for that matter I think) since 2005.  This was a very rare bird .... and I hadn't heard about it.  Argh!

So, off to Strawberry Fields as fast as my dignity would allow .... I can move surprisingly quickly when I need to.  Rushing up to the 'Imagine Mosaic', a tribute to John Lennon, close to where he was shot and killed, I looked around for a group of birders and quickly found a bunch laying on the floor and crawling around the edge of some thorn bushes attempting to look underneath them.  As I walked up to them, I could tell I was in the right place and the warbler sang from the center of the bushes.  It was in there, just not visible from anywhere other than on the floor so, despite being dressed for work, on the floor I went and found myself staring at the target bird not eight feet in front of me.  Awesome bird!  What a start to the Spring.

Birders peering into a bush .... 'nothing to see here' .... Photo: Cindy Hwang Schulz (used with permission)
and the bird itself, captured in the open by expert Central Park photographer Deb Allen

And another shot from Brooklyn Bird Club President, Rob Bate ....

After the Brooklyn Painted Bunting, of course this bird also made it quickly to the mainstream press, and yes the word "chirp" was used again.  Here's the New York Post article and I'm sure there will be others.

Friday, April 29 - Central Park

Walked through the Park on the way home from work and added Yellow Warbler (208) and Rose-breasted Grosbeak (209) to the year list.

Saturday, April 30 - Central Park

I spent all morning in the Park and worked really hard to get my 5 year-birds.  The first two were easy with Chestnut-sided Warbler (210) and Indigo Bunting (211) quickly joining the list.  I then joined up with Chris Cooper and rushed up to the North End of the Park following reports of Hooded Warbler and Orange-crowned Warbler.  We cheated and took a cab North but still managed to miss the Orange-crowned, although our luck was better with Hooded Warbler (212) and we got great looks at two of them.  Definitely one of my favorite warblers.  After a bonus Chimney Swift (213), I then spent the next three hours looking for year-bird number five, finally bumping into a Baltimore Oriole (214)  back in the Ramble in the early afternoon.  I worked hard for the fifth year bird!  Today felt like a bit of a slog at times, but we did get a bunch of good birds.  And on into May ... the best month of the year!

Hooded Warbler

Sunday, May 1 - Central Park

This day turned out to be interesting enough for its own blog post.

Spring Sparrows Out East

A few early Spring migrants in The Hamptons

Saturday, April 23 - 'Hamptons' Coastal Spots

Had the whole weekend Out East but was obliged to spend Friday mostly on work and house related things.  The weather was beautiful with clear blue skies, warm Spring temperatures and no wind - perfect birding weather.  I ended up crashing early on Friday night with a plan to get up early and spend the whole day birding.  So imagine my disappointment when Saturday morning dawned foggy, rainy, and cold.  Oh well ...

Still, a plan was a plan so I set off, a little later than anticipated, to cover a series of coastal spots in East Hampton and Southampton townships.  To keep it interesting, I gave myself a goal of finding ten (10) New York State year birds for the weekend, and headed out excited to see some migrants.

First stop was Georgica Cove, one of the priciest pieces of real estate in the county with mansions surrounding the pond on most sides, but also a decent birding spot with one remaining access spot where you can get views of the pond.  Today Georgica gave me some signs of Spring and some year birds to start the day off right with a Green Heron (1), and a good mix of swallows present, including Tree and Barn Swallows (2) and Purple Martin (3).

Next stop Mecox Inlet, where single Forsters and Caspian Terns (4) were mixed in with a more typical Winter bird selection.   Then I crossed over into Southampton and headed over to Dune Road to bird the salt mashes there.

Little Blue Heron

Dune Road was cold and I was of course under-dressed but I persevered and slowly started adding a good selection of things.  I stopped at Ponquogue, Triton Lane, Tiana Beach, and Dolphin Lane, and found a good few new Spring arrivals.  There were dozens of Great Egrets, mostly migrants, in the marshes along with a few Snow Egrets and a single Little Blue Heron, a good bird Out East.  I also added newly returned Eastern Willets (5), and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow (6) among the many Barn and Tree Swallows.  My main focus though was a search for Clapper Rail and the two local Ammodramus sparrows and while I failed to find the rail or a Seaside Sparrow, I did get to spend some quality time with a group of five, super cute, Saltmarsh Sparrows (7).

Saltmarsh Sparrow, rarely seen in the open like this.

On to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge where a Hooded Warbler had been reported the week before.  The East End of Long Island is really not a good place to see Spring warblers, they all seem to turn left at the Hudson or pass right over us.  I still need Hooded Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler and both Waterthrushes for my Suffolk county Life List, so this seemed like a good shot to at lest clean up one of these embarrassing county list gaps.  Alas, it was not to be, and after an hour at the refuge, shivering in cold, wet weather, I gave up and left the warblers for another day (in all probability for another year).

If warblers wouldn't cooperate, then back to sparrows and off to Gabreski Airport to look for the local breeding Vesper Sparrows (8) which quickly surrendered.  I also bumped into a Grasshopper Sparrow (9) there which was unexpected and I initially though was a notable sighting, but apparently others have seen them there recently and it looks like they are in fact breeding at this site.  Nice bird to see, and good to see another colony of this scarce grassland breeder Out East.

Vesper Sparrow in its natural habitat - fences

By now cold and, somehow thinking I had 10 year birds (when I really only had 9) I headed back to East Hampton and birded some of the local spots near my house in Northeast Harbor.  Least Terns had not returned to the local colony yet, although Piping Plovers have been hack for some time.  The woods around the house were also really quiet, just not a lot of migrants returned so far.

Sunday, April 24 - East Hampton / New York City

Saturday afternoon brought word that Gail Benson and Tom Burke has found a Wilson's Plover at Ponquogue - I'd been there ta the high tide, they at the low tide.  There was no point chasing that bird in the morning so, while I waited for the tide to drop I checked several local woodland and marshland spots.  Acabonac Harbor did have a mix of shorebirds and added Ruddy Turnstone (10) to the year list.  Sammy's Beach also gave me year bird when two, beautifully lit Glossy Ibis (11) flew in and started feeding behind a Great Egret.  Otherwise, the selection of birds was very much the same as the day before.  Also, a run along Dune Road looking for Plovers later that day, drew a blank.

Greater Yellowlegs at Napeague Marsh

So , leaving the cold Winter weather of the East End behind I headed back to the City ... where it was Spring!  The two hour drive felt like it had transported my forward a month in time.  A 20-degree temperature difference was great, but also Spring was just so much further along in the City.  Most of the trees in the City were in bud, and many were leafed out already, while the oaks Out East haven't even started to bud yet.  It really was a beautiful Spring afternoon in Manhattan, so I decided to do some more birding and went to Central Park.

Even though it was late in the day, and things were generally quite quiet, I was hoping for some more year birds and some warblers in particular, and I got what I wanted, adding Black-and-White Warbler (12), Northern Parula (13), Louisiana Waterthrush (14), Northern Waterthrush (15), and Wood Thrush (16) to the year list.

Louisiana Waterthrush (above) and Northern Waterthrush 

Some tough birding over the weekend - it really was too early for shorts and sandals - but overall quite a nice haul of year birds.  Looking forward to the next weekend, and the peak of migration.

Photospot: Pine Warbler on Long Island

A quick stop today to get the Yellow-throated Warbler at Connetquot State Park in Suffolk County.  The Yellow-throated was a Suffolk County bird for me - why have I never made time to see the ones present over the last few years?  Not sure .... but this bird showed well several times singing high in a tree.  Alas I didn't get any useable photos but I did spend some quality time with this Pine Warbler.  A common breeding bird on Long Island, they even been in my yard in East Hampton, but they are quite spiffy un-close ....

Pine Warbler (4 shots)

Not so Upland Sandpiper

A Strange Visitor to the Barrier Beaches ....

So earlier this week, I happened upon a Facebook message chain where a very frustrated Tim Healy was lamenting dipping an Upland Sandpiper.  Guessing that the bird might be local on Long Island I chipped in and found out that the bird was frequenting the median strip of the Ocean Parkway near Oak Beach in Suffolk County.  Needless to say, this is not exactly ideal Upland Sandpiper habitat!  The strip at this spot is no more that 50 feet wide, and the bird was feeding within feet of cars and trucks cruising by at 50-60 miles per hour.  This did not sound like a bird that might be around for long ....

Upland Sandpiper - Oak Beach (Photo: Taylor John Sturm, used with permission)

Upland Sandpipers are a declining species in New York, and in the Eastern US in general.  They are, of course, a grassland species, and most of our grasslands have been turned into housing, or handed over to intensive agriculture over the past 50 years.  The species had thus grown increasingly scarce and, although once a regular breeding bird on Long Island, I haven't seen one here in perhaps 20 years.

I really did not expect to see this bird.  One by one all the local Long Island birders reported seeing it but I really didn't think it would stick around all weekend (and thought, and yes, hoped) that it would resume it's journey North before too long.  I had work commitments all week and social commitments all weekend, so the earliest time that I could possibly get to Oak Beach was Sunday afternoon, and in my opinion there was no way that bird would stick around (and not be hit by a car) that long.  But on Sunday morning, the list serve reports told me that bird was still being seen, so I persuaded Kelvin to take a more 'scenic route' back to the City ... and ... I got to see the bird ....

iPhone record shot .... don't judge me ....

Hope this bird makes it (and doesn't end up as road-kill).  I love this species ... pocket curlews .... but unfortunately a good percentage of the world's curlews have gone extinct already (and even the Eurasian Curlew, so common in my Welsh childhood, I heard this week is now endangered).  Upland Sandpiper even has an evocative Latin name - Bartramia longicauda - named after John Bartram, a pioneering colonial era naturalist, best known as a botanist, but one of the first Europeans to see many of the species of the Eastern US.   I wish this one good luck on his/her journey North though .... hope it finds a good place for the Summer.