Getting a taste of May in Manhattan
Central Park, NYC
Friday 19 May 2023
56 °F
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3:
LOTS OF CATCH UP TO DO!!! Hah!
To put it plainly, this migration has been slow and late…I would be disappointed right now if it weren’t for the fact that I haven’t been able to truly get out much and try (compared to other springs) due to the crazy school and performance schedule.
But today was a “dark day” of rest between the dress rehearsal and opening performance of the opera I’m in so I took advantage of the free morning to bird Central Park. Though it was still fairly slow today, I did manage to sniff out the one mixed migrant flock which today was associating in the trees near the Blockhouse in the North Woods. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS abounded:
As did BLUE-HEADED VIREOS:
Nice to get decent photos of my first OVENBIRD of the year!
Two SNOWY EGRETS flew over, a pretty good bird for Manhattan!
There were BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS a-plenty!
Male NORTHERN PARULA:
Two late DARK-EYED JUNCOS were still hanging out near the Blockhouse:
And just as I was wondering if I would have one of those rare migration days where I get both Hermit and Swainson’s Thrush in the same outing (they typically occupy different migratory timings), I spied them in a row. HERMIT with the reddish tail:
And SWAINSON’S with the buffy spectacles, my first of the year:
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:
F.O.Y. CHIMNEY SWIFTS!!
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER:
And always a really exciting F.O.Y. despite the typical treetop views: BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, yay!
Another bright Parula:
And another B.H. Vireo:
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH at “The Pool”
Along with this male GADWALL:
And my F.O.Y. SPOTTED SANDPIPER:
I texted the Manhattan Rare Bird Alert groupchat when I found this singing YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, a Manhattan rarity, in the Loch! It only afforded extremely distant, horrible canopy views but was singing its descending “sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet” song. I managed to get three other birders on it before it disappeared. 
And on the way back to school I had my F.O.Y. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK in Morningside Park:
Bird-of-the-day to the Yellow-throated Warbler with runner-up to a GREAT HORNED OWL I flushed in the North Woods but didn’t manage to photograph as it disappeared very quickly into the forest.
Happy Central Park birding!
Henry
World Life List: 1150 Species
