Year List 2018 - The Final total

Well, what a year 2018 was! I managed to get away three times this year (Iceland in March (see here), Majorca in July/August (see here) and New York in December 2018 (see here). As a result, my "year list" is my highest ever with an amazing total of... 230 species.

Of the 230 species seen this year, I had 171 species in Britain and Iceland, 29 species in Mallorca and 30 species in American.

17 species were "lifers", 2 in Iceland, 1 in Mallorca and 14 in New York.

It's very difficult to say which the highlights were, but obviously the "self found" Harlequin Ducks have to be one, as were all the amazing birds in New York. Hopefully, 2019 will be just as exciting!!

New York!!

I have just returned from a few days with my family in New York. We were last there in May 2014 (see here) and when we left, we said we'd return in the winter to see the city in a different light. Suffice to say, we weren't disappointed, with all the Christmas lights, but, more importantly for this blog, the wildlife. I saw 38 species of birds whilst there, which included 13 "lifers", as well as a few old favourites (American Robin, for example!)

American Robin

Most of the bird species were seen in and around Central Park. The first species we saw was White-throated Sparrow. They turned out to be pretty common around the park, feeding in the flower beds, and were seen on all visits.

Whit-throated Sparrow

Another common winter visitor that was seen daily in good numbers, was the Tufted Titmouse (the first lifer of the trip), a beautiful bird.

Tufted Titmouse

We visited The Pond in the southern section the park because there had been reports of a male Mandarin Duck there. Although it was an escapee (complete with plastic ring), we decided to look for it whilst there. It was present on the pond with a couple of Wood Ducks, dozens of Mallards, Shovelers, 2 American Coots (lifer) and the first Cardinal of the trip.

Whilst there, Jayne and I went for a guided walk with Birding Bob (see here). We spent two hours walking around The Ramble and Turtle Pond area, were we saw 30+ species, including 3 species of owl (Barred, Great Horned and Northern Saw-Whet - all lifers), 2 species of hawk (Cooper's and Red-tailed - Cooper's was a lifer), American Black Duck (lifer), Bufflehead, American Crow (lifer), Red and White-breasted Nuthatches (both lifers), Blue Jays (everywhere), Black-capped Chickadees, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Great Blue Heron (1), Mourning Dove (11), Common Grackle, Eurasian Starling, House Sparrows and American Goldfinch (lifer)!!

Northern Saw-Whet Owl

On the same day I also visited the Reservoir in Central Park, where, along with another 13 Buffleheads, I also recorded 112 Ruddy Ducks, c.200 Canada Geese, 17 Mallards, 4 American Coots, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 10+ American Herring Gulls, 50+ Ring-billed Gulls, 1 Pied-billed Grebe and 4 female  Hooded Mergansers (lifer).

Ring-billed Gull

The final site we visited was The Highline. Not a birding site, but definitely worth a visit, and we managed to see a few nice birds (Ring-billed and American Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Eurasian Starling, White-throated Sparrow, American Crows, a Mourning Dove, and my last lifer of the trip (and year), Northern Mockingbird (2 seen).

Northern Mockingbird

UPDATE: Whilst going through my photos with my nephew, we noticed one bird that I'd originally identified as a Downy Woodpecker. A closer look, and some conformation from America, revealed it to be a juvenile/1st winter Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - my 14th lifer of the trip!!!

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Central Park Birding 2

On Tuesday, our second day in New York, we spent 3 hours walking around Central Park on a guided birding walk with Birding Bob. Over the course of the walk, we managed to see and hear 42 species of bird, including 35 "lifers".

The walk started at the Turtle Pond, a small pond surrounded by reeds. Whilst here, we saw our first of  10 species of warbler. I tried to get shots of the warblers, and managed a few distant ones. The best were of the American Redstart, which were common, and seen throughout the walk.

American Redstart

 

We carried on around the park, into an area called The Ramble, where we spotted, amongst others, a nest-building Baltimore Oriole, our first of many Grey Catbirds, and a superb little Downy Woodpecker.

 

Baltimore Oriole (male)

 

Grey Catbird

 

Downy Woodpecker

 

The last bird to mention was my first ever species of hummingbird; a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. We saw one on the walk, and Bob mentioned that, although it is a regular passage bird, no evidence has yet been found of this species breeding in the park. We only had brief views of the bird, but when I went back to another area of the park later, I spotted another bird that was in the process of nest building! I got in touch with Bob, who confirmed that this was the first ever record of breeding by this species in the park and in Manhattan!! Bob agreed to keep an eye on the nest, and let me know how the breeding attempt gets on. Meanwhile, here's a heavily cropped photo I managed of the bird on the nest.

 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Central Park Birding - Part 1

I've never left Europe before, but last week I spent five days in New York with my wife and daughter. The main reason for visiting America was to celebrate my wife's birthday, but, as always, I managed to get a bit of birding done between visiting all the traditional tourist sites and a few art galleries.

The main focus of my birding efforts was, of course, Central Park. This large park, set in the middle of Manhattan (see here for details), was a short 10 minute walk from our hotel on West 57th Street, and whilst there, I managed four visits.  Our first visit, a short evening walk on the first night, brought our first sighting of the very common American Robin.

American Robin

 

These birds aren't Robins at all, and actually belong to the thrush family. They take the place of our Blackbird, and were seen throughout the park on every visit. They breed in the park, and, on one morning, I spotted several recently fledged birds being fed by their parents.

 

Adult and chick

 

The other black bird of the park is the Red-winged Blackbird. This much less common, and I only managed a couple of views during my visits. Luckily, one of these sightings was of a male bird at a feeding station, so I managed to get a reasonable shot, showing the red wing.

 

Red-winged Blackbird

 

Another very common bird around the park is the Common Grackle. Again, this bird is seen throughout the site, and was seen on every visit. This bird came to see us in the café!

 

Common Grackle

 

One final bird for today is the stunning Cardinal. This was the second American bird we saw in the park, and one that we saw on every visit. This bird is the male, and was very tame, especially when it spotted the peanuts coming out.

 

Cardinal

 

Over the course of the five days we saw a total of 48 species (37 of which were lifers!), and included a new breeding bird for Central Park, but more about that later.