More Rare Birds- Varied Thrush in Central Park

Today Benjamin Van Doren and I decided to chase the Varied Thrush that was found earlier this week in Central Park. It had been hanging around the area in the ramble known as "maintenance meadow," so we headed there after arriving in the park. The first bird we saw at the spot, however, was a young Cooper's Hawk, which was keeping the thrush in hiding. After a bit of searching in the thicket were it had been last seen, I happened to glance across the road and saw a distant bird high in a tree. Figuring it was a robin, I raised my binoculars, and was surprised to realize that it was the Varied Thrush! It then flew down and closer, foraging in its usual spot for a few minutes before disappearing again.

Next we wandered (or rambled, I guess) around the ramble, seeing a Fox Sparrow along with the usual suspects. There was a Bufflehead on Turtle Pond, but despite the good winds it was too late in the season for us to see any hawks. A stop back at the thrush spot yielded no more views, so we went to the Boathouse, where a Yellow-breasted Chat had been seen yesterday. No one had seen it yet today, so we were happy to find that it was still there, and it gave very good looks, especially for a normally skulking bird. The chat, belying its reputation, then flew into a dumpster, before joining a flock of House Sparrows foraging on the sidewalk right next to the entrance to the boathouse. So much for secretive and hard-to-see.

I got 2 lifers, the chat and the thrush, and extended my streak of both lifers and rarities to 3 weekends. Now about that Hermit Warbler...

Great Manhattan Birding- Central Park and the Empire State Building at Night

New York City at night.

Last night and this morning I went on the New York State Young Birders' Club (NYSYBC) trip to New York City- first to check out the nocturnal migration from the top of the Empire State Building, and then birding Central Park in the morning.

On a fall night, the 86th floor of the Empire State Building is a great spot to witness the spectacle of nocturnal songbird migration. There are spotlights at the top of the building, which illuminate the birds as they fly by- last night the lights were yellow, making all of the birds look unmarked gold in color. The experience was almost surreal- watching glowing gold warblers fly by while 1,200 feet over downtown New York City- and incredible. In the hour and a half that we were there, we counted 815 migrant birds. Unfortunately, identification is virtually impossible for most of the birds, but we did I.D. a few flickers and Downy Woodpeckers, a Great Egret and Great Blue Heron, a flock of geese,  a couple of catbirds and grosbeaks, and 5-7 cuckoos. The rest were vireo-type, warbler-type, thrush-type, and the very vague "bird sp."

As if that wasn't enough, a Peregrine Falcon added to the excitement by diving at many of the birds flying by, catching 3-5 of them, including an unlucky Black-and-White Warbler.

Here is a (very) brief, and really bad clip of a dendroica warbler flying by. I would recommend viewing full screen and pausing it so as to actually see the bird:

I highly recommend an Empire State Building trip. Go on a night with Northwest winds, go to the northwest corner of the building, get there early, and, perhaps most importantly, buy your ticket online ahead of time.

This morning we went to Central Park for more migrants. We did not see as many birds as the previous night might have suggested, but there were a lot of species, and the birding was quite good. Highlights were Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Gray-cheeked Thrush, 13 Warbler species,  Common Nighthawk, Winter Wren, and Purple Finch. Other migrants included lots of sapsuckers, both kinglets, creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, tanagers, thrashers, all three falcons, osprey, and Wood and Swainson's Thrushes. The species total for the day was 71, which is one of the best totals for a NYSYBC trip.

Overall it was an extremely fun weekend of birding, with the unorthodox skyscraper birding, as well as the always rewarding central park.

Next weekend I'm off to Cape May- Migration is awesome!

Warbler Neck at Central Park

On Sunday I joined the Bronx River-Sound Shore Audubon's trip to Central Park in Manhattan. The weather was terrible- either raining, drizzling, or wet the whole time, but it was a good morning of birding, and I actually saw 5 life birds. The day's total for me was 58 species in 4 hours or so. The highlights included a few rose-breasted grosbeaks (a lifer), an indigo bunting, chimney swifts, rough-winged swallow, spotted sandpiper, warbling and blue-head vireos, hermit and wood thrushes, white-crowned sparrow, and eastern towhee.

The best birds were the warblers. We saw 14 species of wood-warblers, including magnolia, black-throated blue, black-throated green, parula, yellow, nashville (a lifer), ovenbird, black-and-white, redstart (lifer), northern waterthrush (another lifer) and yellowthroat. 

None of these, however, was the best bird of the trip. We were walking back from "the point," part of the wooded section of the park (the ramble), when another birder stopped us. " Sorry, but I just have to tell someone about this," she said, "I just saw a Blackburnian Warbler right here." We, of course, all immediately stoppped. The blackburnian is one of, if not the most beautiful warbler (Other contenders include Magnolia and Cerulean. Not having seen Cerulean, I can't comment on that, but I would say that this bird is more amazing that magnolia. Rarer too.)

Sure enough, there was an adult male blackburnian warbler right there. It was low in the trees, and we were on higher ground, so it was at about eye level and only ten feet away. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. It throat was amazingly brilliant orange, and its black back and wings with white wing panels were striking as well. It stayed in one spot for a minute, posing for pictures. Of course, this would have been a perfect time to take a great photo, if I had had my camera with me. But then, according to the universal laws of birding, we wouldn't have seen the bird. It was one of the five lifers, and it made the already good birding morning. 

If you are ever in the NYC area, central park is a great spot for birding, and you should stop there, if only briefly, especially during migration.

Good Birding, 

Corbett