The WETA Clan

The morning of the day before Thanksgiving, someone walking through City Hall Park heard an odd birdcall, and looked around to find a Western Tanager up in the trees. The Western Tanager (referred to in a lot of tweets and other online reports by its bird banding code, WETA) is not normally found east of Colorado; the last time one was seen in Manhattan was in the spring of 2008.

Western Tanager (WETA), looking down...

Word got out by early Wednesday afternoon, and, well, you know what happened next.

...at the WETA Clan birders looking up

OK, so, the crowd was smaller when I was looking for it after work on Wednesday. I failed, as did everyone else that afternoon as far as I know. On Thanksgiving Day itself, however, a steady stream of birders succeeded. I don't know how their families felt about it, but after all, the day is all about the bird.

Friday morning, I emerged from the subway at 8:10 in the morning and immediately spotted a fellow with binoculars outside the park. He put me on the bird and...well, about the easiest twitch I ever had.

too busy to pose!

More birders showed up shortly after. The Tanager was quite active and occasionally calling, but the light was horrid and the bird very hard to photograph.

Saturday, Elena came downtown with me, and we had views in somewhat better light. Still hard to get a good photo, though. The crowd was even larger than before.

what are they doing down there?

The Tanager is apparently still there today (Tuesday 11/29), so if you're among the dwindling number of New York City birders who hasn't seen it yet, there's still hope. It likes the tall trees in the northeast part of the park, along the path between the back of City Hall and the Tweed Courthouse.

Chat in a roundabout...

The WETA isn't the only good bird in the park. A second Yellow-Breasted Chat has been in the for several weeks, mostly in the traffic circle just to the south (which has a sign that says "Millennium Park", which is a good joke). Sometimes it ventures closer to City Hall.

I get around

Also a few other warblers are lingering: an Ovenbird is on that northern path just a bit west of the WETA area, and quite confiding.

Steppin' out

At least two Black-Throated Blue Warblers are also present. Mostly they stay way up in the same trees as the Western Tanager, but the male came down for a drink at a little birdbath nearby.

Black-Throated Blue at the birdbath

Usually, smaller birds are very wary of larger ones at a birdbath, even if they aren't actively chased away but this little guy wasn't taking any crap from the sparrows.

you are not the boss of me

There's also a couple of Common Yellowthroats around, one of which likes to assert it's presence.

Look at me! I'm also a pretty pretty bird!

The trees also hold more common birds including several Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers (the WETA and the Black-Throated Blues are taking advantage of the wells the Sapsuckers drill in the trees, which attract insects), Hermit Thrushes, and American Kestrels, all of which are nice to see. The lawns host the normal wintering sparrows--the suddenly-ubiquitous White-Throated Sparrows, Juncos, Song Sparrows, and Fox Sparrows.

winter Fox

Chat chat

Very bird, such urban

We've had a lot of Yellow-Breasted Chats in Manhattan this Fall. By "a lot", I mean three or four--they're never an abundant bird here.

There was one in Central Park at the end of October, that I mentioned in an earlier post, and then two appeared in lower Manhattan--one in a traffic roundabout just south of City Hall, and one in the yard of Trinity Church. I wasn't able to get downtown to look for either until last Friday.

Trinity Church is a rather unlikely birding spot. The churchyard is fairly small, there's not much ground cover, and there isn't a water source. Nevertheless, birds show up there--75 total species at last count--, which we know mostly through the diligent efforts of Ben Cacace.

Last Fall, a pair of Connecticut Warblers showed up there. Like the Chat this year, these normally reclusive birds put on quite a show for a throng of birders. Not by choice, certainly; as I said, not much ground cover.

a real cutie

The church was doing some work on the churchyard last year, which is mostly done (though the Chat did like hiding in the raining construction material in the northwest corner of the yard).

They've put up a lot of low wire fencing to separate the paths from the grave plots, which is good even for the birders. Last year there was a little problem with one or two photographers stalking the Connecticut around the graves, lumbering like Frankenstein's monster. Some people just don't know what they're doing. You've got a big long lens, you don't need to try to get within ten feet of the poor bird. Sheesh.

Anyway. No such problems this year, and the Chat was relatively little disturbed by the assembled bird paparazzi (there were a dozen or so when I was there, even though the Chat had been there over two weeks by that point).

There were a few other birds around as well--a very cooperative Winter Wren, and two or three Hermit Thrushes.

memento birdie

As of today (11/23), the Chat is still there--three weeks and counting.

a long engagement

More Fall migration photos

bold Redstart

Fall migration continues to be productive. Warblers are still coming through; I'm seeing mostly Common Yellowthroats and American Redstarts, like the charming little guy above.

There have also been some rarities, like this very cooperative Marsh Wren who spent a day at Maintenance Meadow in the Ramble.

confiding Marsh Wren

I'm going to rant a bit now. This bird was showing quite well, popping out of the bushes along the west edge of the meadow every few minutes, and giving some fine looks. Then, one of Central Park's famous bird guides came through with his group.

Locals will know who I'm talking about when I say that he played recordings of the wren's calls for a good twenty minutes to try to get a better (or faster) look for his group. As so often, that didn't work at all--the wren went and hid the whole time. One of the onlookers was a visiting birder from England, who was boggled by the entire business. When the group went away, the wren eventually returned, but was much more skittish and less cooperative. At least it wasn't scared entirely out of the area; I've seen that happen, too.

The whole practice is abusive to to birds and inconsiderate of everyone else in the area.

Anyway. If you're visiting and want to go on a Central Park bird walk with a group, there are walks organized by the Museum of Natural History, the Audubon Society =, and the Linnean Society, which are all very good and don't engage in this kind of nonsense. Try one of them.

Chat in a tree, for once

Returning to rarities--the Maintenance Meadow also hosted a Yellow-Breasted Chat for a couple of days. Unlike all other Chats I've seen on migration, this one liked being up in a tree instead of hiding out in the bushes.

Last weekend, a Whipoorwill roosted at the Loch in the northern part of Central Park--I'll have photos of that when I do my next post--and a Grasshopper Sparrow was seen on the Knoll (also in the north end of the Park).

More common migrants have also been showing well. I spotted this Wood Thrush, my first of the season, while taking a break from the bad birdwalk incursion (so that time wasn't a total loss).

first Wood Thrush of the Fall

Great Crested Flycatchers have been around and a couple were active much lower down than usual.

goodness gracious!

I haven't seen too many Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks this Fall, but one posed in the sun on a fence at Tupelo Meadow at the end of a line of House Sparrows.

just trying to blend in with the crowd

There have been a lot of Brown Thrashers around--you can hear them all over, and sometimes they come out for a look around and a nice berry.

Thrasher with tasty berry

Northern Flickers have been moving through in great numbers as well.

Flicker striking a noble pose

More coming soon.