Tweeting about birds

Twitter has made it a lot easier to find good birds in Manhattan. Birders are naturally helpful, but before the digital age, helping was done retailretail--telling one person at a time where the birds are. Things began to change in the 1990s with mailing lists, and in the last couple of years there's been an explosion of text alert systems and Twitter use. The #birdcp hashtag is widely used by Manhattan birders now.

Saturday, as I headed to the park, I saw a #birdcp tweet from Roy Tsao that a Blackburnian Warbler was singing in the elms near Cleopatra's Needle. I wanted to go visit the magic beech tree at nearby Greywacke Arch anyway, so I went there. Roy showed me the tree and described the bird's behavior before going on his way. It was about 25 minutes before the bird showed up--I heard a high tsip-a tsip-a song, and found him well up near the trunk. The photos will need some work, so let me show you one of my older Blackburnian photos instead.

That's what I'm talking about!

The Greywacke area was otherwise pretty quiet, as was Turtle Pond. I was able to show and tell a few people about where the Blackburnian was. When I saw another tweet, this time about a Common Nighthawk Eric O. had found roosting high up a tree near the High Meadow in the North Woods, off I went.

One problem was, I didn't know where the High Meadow is. I don't think it's called that on any map. But Karen Fung (who had tweeted the report) was able to give me directions on Twitter, and when I neared the area, another helpful birder pointed me to the right place to stand to see the Nighthawk.

Common Nighthawk, chillin'

The Common Nighthawk is my 159th species in New York County this year.

Slowdown

The last few days of migration have been much slower. Wednesday I was up in the north end of the park; a tree at the south end of Harlem Meer had nine species of warbler (Magnolia, Yellow, Wilson's, Chestnut-Sided, Black-Throated Blue, Black-Throated Green, Yellow-Rumped, and Blackpoll Warblers, and American Redstart), but that was the busiest spot of the week by a long way. Up at the compost area on the Mount the Solitary Sandpipers were gone, bit I had a nice view of a Lincoln's Sparrow up in a tree.

The find of the day was a female Mourning Warbler near the north end of the Loch. She came hopping out of the vegetation on the east side of the stream and came down to the water's edge, long enough for me to see the complete hood extending onto the breast, bright yellow underparts, and very thin eyering; and then as I tried to get my camera focused, a group of schoolkids came noisily along and the bird flushed to the west side of the stream, well back in the bushes, and I never picked it up again. Neither did anyone else, as far as I know.

A nice bird, but I found it very frustrating. I hate being the only person to see a good bird. I especially hate it when I don't even get a photo. I think I have a good reputation for being a reliable reporter, so when I report something that turns out unfindable and I don't have documentation, it eats at me. You know what they say: "oh, well".

Thursday, I went out a little too early and got rather damp. But there was a White-Crowned Sparrow right on the path at the north end of the meadow north of the King Jagiello ("Poland") monument at the east end of Turtle Pond. Best view of that bird I've ever had.

totally worth getting soaked for

My only new bird of the day was a Bay-Breasted Warbler, up in the big beech tree by Greywacke Arch (which is the underpass under the East Drive at the bottom of that same meadow). That's a fairly hard-to-get bird as well, but at least I have some crappy photos of it. The crappy photos were frankly needed to even ID the bird--it was a terrible view, high in the tree and backlit all to hell and back by the bright overcast sky after the rain stopped.

In the Ramble, an Indigo Bunting sang briefly at Evodia, and a Common Yellowthroat there gave a longer concert.

Common Yellowthroat, tearin' up the stage

and several warblers and a Lincoln's Sparrow were on the Point. One Chestnut-Sided Warbler was especially confiding:

why couldn't I get a shot like this of the Mourning Warbler?

Friday was very slow. I had expected a lot of birds to arrive ahead of the rain, but that didn't happen. We'll see whether good things happen after the storm.

Enough swallows to make a summer

sure, one isn't enough, but Randall's Island now has enough swallows to make a summer

I went to Randall's Island yesterday. Swallows have taken over the northeast shore. Everywhere you look, there are Barn Swallows. I counted a couple of dozen at least, all swooping around, too fast for me to photograph.

The Tree Swallows were fewer and more cooperative.

Tree Swallow singing to claim a nesting area

The Parks department has put up some nest boxes, and the Tree Swallows have moved in.

the happy homeowners

Of, course, if there's a nest, the birds must be getting ready to fill it.

Ah, Spring, Spring! Great is the Spring, and so forth! -Basho

The nest boxes are right out in the open in an area with unrestricted access (that is, no fences; you're meant to walk along the shoreline); one of them is about 25 feet from a picnic table. The swallows aren't especially shy birds, I don't think, but if you visit, do give them a little space.

There were a lot of other birds as well. A big shoal of Brant was in the East River, along with a few Laughing Gulls, and there were Killdeer and a Spotted Sandpiper on the shores of the Bronx Kill (the bit of riser that separates Randall's Island from the Bronx). And some remarkably sharp-looking Savannah Sparrows.

King of the world, Ma!

In the freshwater marsh neat Little Hell Gate Inlet, I found Red-Winged Blackbirds (of course), but also Common Yellowthroats, a Yellow Warbler, and a Warbling Vireo singing loudly (of course).

Warbling Vireo, just like it says on the label

A splendid day in a splendid Spring migration. The Spotted Sandpiper and the Laughing Gulls were my first of the year, bringing me to 155 species in the county. I didn't get to that number until September last year.

Astonishing

The variety of birds passing through Central Park this weekend was astonishing.  Let's start with this guy:

Wilson's all over

Wilson's Warbler. I saw my first of the season on Thursday. Sunday I saw sixteen. Possibly more--I tried not to count more than one in an area unless I saw them all at the same time. That's a crazy number. You see one or two Wilson's a day, if you're in luck. Not sixteen.

Wilson's wasn't the only very abundant warbler. Sunday we saw eleven Magnolia Warblers,

That's a Magnolia, sugar

which is a lot, and nine Redstarts, which is not too few.

American Redstart disapproves of you

Friday I saw eleven Ovenbirds, but they seem to have mostly moved on (only three on Sunday), or maybe they were just less noticeable with all the other activity. Other warblers were frequent as well. I even got a Tennessee Warbler on Friday, my first of the year, and a couple of Blackpolls on Sunday (also FOY).

And then there were rarities. This fella showed up roosting in a tree near Azalea Pond:

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, a life bird for me, and I not something that shows up in Central Park often. If ever. And we (Elena and I and our friend Melissa) ran into a group of birders near the Weather Station who were looking at a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

OK, those come through every year. One or two, anyway--so you don't necessarily see them every year. I didn't get a Yellow-Billed last year, for instance.

A couple of other first-of-year birds for me his weekend were Olive-sided Flycatcher (at the northeast corner of Azalea Pond, favoring the bare branches at the top of a tall snag--I think the same bird visits there every migration) and Eastern Kingbird (at least one at Turtle Pond).

any question as to why they call him the King-Bird?

That all puts me at 153 species in New York County this year.

Some nice birds continue, as well. A Summer Tanager has been hanging around Turtle Pond the last few days.

Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanagers have been pretty frequent, as well.

any excuse is a good excuse to post a photo of a Scarlet Tanager

And, well, almost everything else. Really an astounding migration season.

No Bobolinks

Wednesday morning, there were reports of a singing Bobolink near the Loch in Central Park. Unfortunately, single Bobolinks don't hang around very long, and by the time I got up there, the bird was probably long gone.

But I had a pleasant wander through the North Woods--lots of Northern Waterthrushes and Wood Thrushes, and a really amazing number of Hermit Thrushes--they popped up everywhere I looked. Plus I watched a pair of male Black-Throated Blue Warblers fighting--they chased each other around the bushes and pecked at each other. I've never seen that before.

I ran into Kyu Lee and Tom Fiore, who told me there was a Solitary Sandpiper not far away at the compost area on the Mount, so I set off to find it.

I've written about the Mount before. It's where all the leaf litter and downed tree branches and so on get composted. Because of all the rain this spring, there's a bit of a pool between the heaps of mulch. When I arrived, there were four Mallard drakes hanging out on the edge of the water, and some Robins and Mourning Doves were poking around, but I couldn't see the Sandpiper.

I circled around the area looking for a vantage point where I could see the most north-eastern part of the puddle. It took some doing, but eventually I spotted something walking the water's edge and bobbing its head.

Solitary Sandpiper (and nearby American Robin) at the Central Park compost area

Every time I see a sandpiper in Central Park, I'm surprised by how small it is. For a moment I took it for a waterthrush. I watched for a long time. It seemed pretty happy wading in what I assume was pretty filthy water.

Solitary Sandpiper is an infrequent bird in Central Park (though there seem to be a few out on Randall's Island right now), and is my 146th species in Manhattan this year.

On the way out, I went by Harlem Meer and saw a Great Egret fly in and perch high in a tree. That always looks wrong.

Great Egret, Harlem Meer

A Magic Tree

Sometimes a tree becomes a "magic tree", filled with birds (especially warblers). Sometimes this is associated with a termite hatch-out nearby, or some other insect hatch-out, but often not.

Blackburnian Warbler in the magic tree

Today, a big oak tree on the south shore of Turtle Pond became magic for no visible reason. There were at least nine species of warbler in the tree at once, headed by Blackburnian and Cape May Warblers

Cape May Warbler in the magic tree

but also including Nashville, Black-Throated Green, Black-Throated Blue, Yellow, Prairie, Northern Parula, and Black-and-White Warblers.

The Cape May and Blackburnian Warblers (no, I don't know why it's called "Blackburnian" and not "Blackburne's") were new species for the year for me; I also saw my first Gray-Cheeked Thrush and Red-Eyed Vireo of the year, among 46 species for the day. I'm up to 145 on the year in the county; didn't get there until June last year.

I even got a good photo of the Summer Tanager (continuing at the Oven)

On the way out, I spotted a Winter Wren at Evodia, the first I've seen this year (though I heard one in the North Woods).

Cute little ball of feathers

At this point, there are too many birds in town to do a sensible rumors report. The warblers are there, go out and look up.

Yellow and Red

Migration slowed down a little the last couple of days. Sunday, Elena and I had a nice day out in Central Park, but I had no new species. We missed the big bird of the day, a Kentucky Warbler seen at Evodia north of the feeders about 5:30pm. Oh well, you can't get all the birds.

Monday afternoon, I went down to Madison Square Park to chase the Prothonotary Warbler that had been reported there for a few days. Got it!

Mister Yellow

Madison Square Park was amazingly birdy for such a small urban park. I saw several other warblers including my first-of-season Black-Throated Green Warbler there (141 species for the year in Manhattan now).

Earlier, I finally saw the Summer Tanager that has been seen for a few days in the Ramble.

Mister Red

Not a great shot, but hey, life bird.

In the morning, I had a great view of a Warbling Vireo singing and feeding in a flowering tree at Maintenance meadow. They are such secretive birds, normally you only hear their loud, cheerful song.

Mr. Elusive