NYC birding

As is usual, there's been a lull before and after a birding trip - in this case a combination grouse and Colima Warbler trip - but I did a little birding on Sunday morning to get a locally unusu...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2014/04/yellow-throated-warbler-nj.html

Almost literally mid-March, on March 15th, saw me in Central Park to look for some unusual birds that had been around.  Foremost amongst those was a RED-NECKED GREBE hanging out on the Reservoir...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2014/03/unusually-productive-mid-march-in.html

Between social distractions and snow storms my year list has been barely ticking along, driven mainly by the birds visiting my feeder.  So finally on Sunday I decided to kick it into gear. Fir...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2014/01/catching-up-on-year-list-long-beach.html

A small start to the year list targeted two interesting species in Brooklyn's Green-wood Cemetery.  The first was Monk Parakeet, a species I'd made no effort to find in NY state or NYC, despite ...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-1st-green-wood-cemetery-brooklyn.html

My first time at Finderne Wetlands in Bridgewater NJ on a cool and sunny morning corresponded to a decent movement of sparrows, but the best birds of the day were two Merlins which were chasing ...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/10/finderne-wetlands-nj.html

Ask me how I managed to miss all the ex-Oporornis warblers in Central Park this year ?  Apart from bad luck (missing a Connecticut by 30 seconds) - it was that I did 7 birding trips.  Originall...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/10/yet-another-trans-continental-chase.html

I think the whole radar migration prediction thing is over-hyped as a useful tool for local birding, so I tend to use the standard method of wind direction and temperature.  So after arriving ba...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/09/central-park-sept-14th-and-15th-total.html

The California trip - arranged at the last minute - was the last "scheduled" one of six trips in 2013 designed to push my USA list toward 700.  The other five were: TX, AZ, FL, NC, AZ and netted...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/09/california-pelagics.html

With Jamaica Bay being uninspiring I've been spending some time at Forsythe/Brigantine NWR although even here the shorebird diversity is starting to drop.  Semipalmated Sandpipers dominated the ...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/09/brigantineforsythe-nwr-september-1st.html

On what has turned out to be my only trip to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge this year, I did a circumnavigation of the East Pond (northbound up the shoreline, southbound down the trail) which turned...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/09/jamaica-bay-august-19th.html

My birding had gone through a lull after the 5 trips in the first half of 2013, so I was a little behind the curve on shorebirds when I went out to Brigantine on Saturday.  I had hopes of gettin...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/08/forsythe-nwr-brigantine-august-10th.html

One of the better ways to spend a morning on a sultry July 4th was getting good looks at a rare Asiatic/Alaskan vagrant shorebird - a RED-NECKED STINT.  Red-necked breed in far eastern Asia and ...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/07/cupsogue-red-necked-stint-on-july-4th.html

The fifth trip of a projected six for 2013 was an AZ early summer trip, best discussed at length in a separate trip report .  The five trips were: TX, AZ (winter), FL, NC, AZ (summer) with the w...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/06/az-trip-may-30th-june-8th.html

After a 500 mile drive back from Hatteras NC the previous day, I lacked a little enthusiasm for another 90+ minute drive pre-dawn to Stirling Forest and elected to bird locally at Baldpate Mounta...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/baldpate-mtn-mercer-co-nj-may-26th.html

Black-capped Petrel in Gulf Stream off Hatteras I originally scheduled two pelagic trips out of Hatteras NC for May 23rd and 25th with Brian Patteson.  Storms canceled the first one, I to...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/getting-sea-sick-in-gulf-stream.html

With migration now moving along quickly I made what is likely to be my last spring migration CPK trip of 2013 as a Friday to Sunday triple.  Thursday was in fact the biggest migration day, but w...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/central-park-fri-sat-sun-17th-19th-21.html

When delayed, spring migration has a predictable way to reassert itself.  In this case the even more compressed migration timeframe saw a noticeable transition in species mix on successive days,...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/central-park-satsun-11th12th-21-warbler.html

After an unprecedented contrarian weather system substantially shut down migration for the best part of the last two weeks, the trend reversed itself and Friday saw good numbers in the park.  No...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/migration-finally-18-warbler-species.html

In what was the quietest May 4th/5th in many years, I visited Bull's Island (NJ, Delaware River) to look for the Prothonotary Warbler and other summer breeding birds.   There were no Cliff Swall...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/weekend-delayed-migration-and-brigantine.html

Princeton, Wednesday was slow but with two first-of-year birds for me (the vireos) and most of the species were singing: House Wren Yellow-throated Vireo Warbling Vireo Blue-gray Gnatcatcher...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/slow-slower-slowest.html

Saturday was slow going with low numbers but a significant uptick in diversity compared to Thursday, the larger volume day.  Notable were first-of-year (for me) Black-throated Green Warbler and ...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/04/central-park-april-27th28th.html

In what felt like a "right on time" migration day I managed to pick the weather right and chose the cooler of the two days to visit the park based on wind direction (Weds was 75 degrees but the p...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/04/425-central-park-11-warbler-species.html

On Saturday 20th I was in Central Park, although not too many migrants were there along with me.  Lingering Northern Shovelers on the Lake, plus three species of swallows (Barn, Northern Rough-w...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/04/spring-migration-april-20th21st.html

Rarely do I go into Central Park on a workday morning in April, much less on April NINTH, but the forecast for today was for a second day of unseasonable heat - into the high 70's and perhaps 80'...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/04/strong-migration-for-early-april.html

A morning's visit to Central Park on Saturday did not turn up much of note, although some early spring migrants did put in an appearance: several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a couple of Eastern P...

http://nycbirding.blogspot.com/2013/04/central-park-and-south-amboy-april-6th.html