A Birding Expedition to Governor's Island

 

Eastern Meadowlark

The big excitement was when my friend Sara spotted a few Eastern Meadowlarks in the field by Fort Jay, soon after we got off the ferry. Although these birds are generally quite common in the eastern US, they are not often seen in downtown Manhattan, due to a lack of suitable meadows. 

There were also some smaller Palm Warblers doing their distinctive tail bobbing in the grass near the meadowlarks. One of them landed on the edge of the wall around Fort Jay to give us a better look. 

Palm Warbler

Sara also loves to look for rare sparrows in the fall, but I am not great at distinguishing them. 

I am pretty clear about the White-throated Sparrows that arrive in flocks in the fall and stay for the winter. Especially if they are the type with bright white and yellow above their eyes. There is another type has beige lines there instead. 

White-throated Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrows can be found all year in city parks, but I rarely see them in downtown Manhattan.  As their name indicates, they sing loudly in the spring to attract mates and mark territory. 

Visually, I find the Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows difficult to tell apart from a distance. 
Swamp Sparrows breed in marshy areas. and some of them stay around all year, while others that you see in the spring and fall are just passing through.  

 

A Red-tailed Hawk soared overhead.  Last year there was a nest on Governors Island but apparently not this year. 

A Cooper's Hawk flew by lower down. 

Cooper's Hawk

The Cooper's Hawk might have been interested in the flock of Mourning Doves hanging out on the roof of a building inside Fort Jay.

Mourning Doves

At 2pm, Loyan Beausoleil came to lead the Saturday bird walk sponsored by NYC Bird Alliance, and after a while by the meadow she led us into a more wooded area. We found lots of tiny, late-migrating kinglets flitting around in the trees. 

Loyan said the Ruby-crowned Kinglets sometimes looked like cartoon characters, with their big white-lined eyes. Like in the photo below photo. One of them got agitated when another kinglet came too close, and we saw it flash the red patch on top of its head in anger. It was too fast for me to get a picture though. They rarely sit still.  

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

A Golden-crowned Kinglet was even jumpier, hard to focus on as it moved around a leafy tree. I spent quite a while trying to track it before I caught it out in the open.  

Golden-crowned Kinglet

A Brown Creeper made its way up and around a tree trunk looking for insects in the bark, then dropped and started making its way up again. Their backs look so much like the bark, you can hardly see them except when they are along the edge of the tree.    

Brown Creeper

A calm, perched Northern Mockingbird was way easier to see.

Northern Mockingbird

But my favorite was a shy Blue-headed Vireo that I spotted lurking in some reeds over near the shoreline. 

Blue-headed Vireo

October Yellow Bellies, Eyebrows, Throats, Rumps and More in Downtown Manhattan

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at The Battery

In October, small flocks of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers arrive in city parks. Some will stay on for the winter, then head north in the spring for breeding season. 

These birds are woodpeckers and responsible for the horizontal rows of small holes on the trunks of many trees. They use their strong, pointed bills to drill the holes while holding onto the bark with their claws and bracing themselves with their stiff tails. They drink the sweet sap, and also eat the insects that are attracted to the sap holes. Other birds also come by and drink from the sap wells. 

The sapsuckers that stay for the winter months need to find other food sources when the sap isn't flowing - they will eat small fruits, insects in the bark, and bits of the inner bark on the trunks where trees store sugars and proteins.     

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in City Hall Park

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at The Battery

White-throated Sparrows, too, have arrived in flocks and many of them will stay over in the city for the winter. Some have bright yellow and white markings above their eyes, while others have beige stripes and less yellow. Interestingly,  they usually mate with a partner from the other type. Both male and female white/yellow-eyebrow ones are more aggressive, while the beige birds are better at nurturing the young.

White-throated Sparrow in City Hall Park

White-throated Sparrow in Battery Park City  

While most migratory warblers have already left the city for warmer wintering areas, I saw several Common Yellowthroats still around fattening up on insect snacks. The adult males have black 'bandit' masks, but the females have much plainer faces.  

Female Common Yellowthroat in City Hall Park

Male Common Yellowthroat in The Battery

Yellow-rumped Warblers are also late migrants through New York. They are not very exciting looking in the fall until you see the flash of yellow when they fly up. Some people call them 'butter butts'.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

A migrating Blue-headed Vireo doesn't have much yellow, just a bit on its flanks. But soft blue and green tones and classy white spectacles. It is classified as a songbird, not a warbler, with a blunter bill and simpler song. 

Blue-headed Vireo at The Battery

Finally, another migratory favorite - a Hermit Thrush with a spotted breast and distinctive rusty tail. Also a lovely song    

Hermit Thrush in an Atlas Cedar at the Battery labyrinth

Hermit Thrush in City Hall Park

Fall Trip to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

 

October 11 was a bit of a gloomy Saturday but we wanted to go on an outing before several days of predicted rain. The great egrets and other birds didn't mind the clouds, and we enjoyed looking back at Lower Manhattan  through the mist.  

There were still a couple of ospreys fishing around the bay, but the nest was empty and they will be going south soon. 

Osprey

The mallards will mostly stay around for the winter.

Mallard male

And so will the American black ducks. 

The Canada Geese might go south, or maybe stick around instead.

Over at the East Pond by the subway tracks, there were clusters of migrating egrets along the shoreline. 

Further north in the east pond there were packs of beautiful but invasive European mute swans. 

In the water, there were many groups of ducks in drab non-breeding plumage. In this group I believe the larger back one is a Northern shoveler, the middle two are blue-winged teals, and the front two are green-winged teals.  

Here is a pair of ruddy ducks. I didn't recognize them at first because I am used to seeing the male with a bright blue bill (as well as a big white cheek spot). 

All of a sudden a whole bunch of birds, many of them gulls, seemed to get spooked and decided to fly up. When I looked closely at the photo I wondered what the striped looking bird was on the upper left. 

I'm pretty sure it was an American Wigeon, which I found among a group in the water in another photo. 

On land, as we walked around the Wildlife Refuge path we didn't see many birds in the trees, until we suddenly came to a group of yellow-rumped warblers eating berries, bittersweet I think. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

The main bird activity was definitely by the water.