Are all yellow-rumped warblers Yellow-rumped Warblers?

So many yellow-rumped warblers!

A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle, the common subspecies
in Eastern North America), colloquially called "butterbutts" 

Yes, Yellow-rumped Warblers are abundant migrants during spring migration where I live. However, the "butterbutts," as many call Yellow-rumped Warblers, are not alone in being yellow-rumped.

Butterbutt? Nope, but it does have a yellow rump... read on.

Marvelous May Migrants at NYBG

Prairie Warbler, NYBG, 5/3/2018

It's spring migration! I get to see birds that I have not seen since 2017 and hear their songs, many of which I have not heard live since spring 2017. I have been looking and listening mainly at New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), especially in its forest along the Bronx River. Spring migration won't last long, however, and in just a few weeks, I probably will not see these birds again until at least August. Enjoy them while they are here!

Walking in Audubon’s old neighborhood

John James Audubon and a Cerulean Warbler
(601 West 149th Street, New York, NY 10031)

In John James Audubon’s time of the 1840’s, when he was a New Yorker, he could go directly up to the Hudson River, where there would form “tidal ponds along the river, full of ducks and snipe.” In 1851 (the same year as Audubon’s death), the Hudson River rail line was built along the river; since then Riverside Drive West and the Henry Hudson Parkway have also been built, further separating the land from the water. One can walk along the river from upper Riverside Park to Fort Tryon on the greenway path.

Birding the Bronx River Corridor

Looking downstream along the Bronx River, 
at New York Botanical Garden in June 2017

A sign at the Bronx Zoo (at the World of Birds) depicts 
an American Redstart and notes the ecological importance of the 
Bronx River for migratory birds. 

I saw an American Redstart chasing insects in a tree about 
50 feet from the sign pictured above, at the Bronx Zoo.

Birding Crotona Park in the Bronx

Northern Waterthrush, Crotona Park, May 18, 2017

Previous to November 2016, there is no bird data on eBird for Crotona Park. Who knows what species were flitting among the treetops?

It came to my attention- and a couple of other birders- that this park has some interesting conditions that might make it a good place to bird watch.

The park has a variety of mature trees, especially oaks and black cherries, which support hordes of arthropods and might prove attractive to migrating birds  The current park staff have also planted many native trees, including many tuliptrees, which should bode well for the future of birds (and birding!) at this site.

A meadow in the northeast section of Crotona Park, Bronx, NY

As birds migrate along the Atlantic Flyway, they need spaces to stop. Central Park is a well-birded migrant trap; in Manhattan, the lack of space for birds to stop funnels them into concentrated areas like Central Park. Crotona Park is also a bright green spot in the lower half of the Bronx. The top half of the Bronx has much more green space in Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park, both of which are hotspots for birds, but the spaces are large and birds can be diffuse. The Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Garden are north of Crotona and are also great for birds. However, below 180th Street, there is not much green space overall. St. Mary's Park or Fanz Sigel Park might also host birds; Soundview Park, east of Hunt's Point, could also have favorable bird conditions in the lower half of the Bronx, as there are many cotttonwood trees, some grassland, and a small marsh there.

With the combination of large, flowering trees and a surrounding of concrete and asphalt, Crotona Park proved to be an excellent place to observe migrating birds.

Bay-breasted Warbler, Crotona Park, May 17, 2017

My Dead List: Birding the Zombie Apocalypse

When the end hits, I'll be out bird watching.

-------

Warblers did always crane the neck. This bird in particular, the Cerulean Warbler, makes its living high in the tree canopy, plucking tiny insects from the leaves. They weren't easy to see before it hit and I never had the luck of living that close to them. Now I’m thinking, if I'm going to get ripped apart and eaten anyway, I might as well start working on my dead list.

One of the benefits of tracking down birds is that you are paying attention to the sounds and movements- a twitch in the leaves to my left, a high pitched whistle from the branches above- and this has immediate benefits to staying alive. The downside is when you get a bird in your bins, especially a bird you're seeking, the trade off is alertness for enjoyment. It just take seconds to get bit or scratched and transform your world into a wrenching sickness followed by a fiendish search for human flesh. Sooner or later, I’m going down, but how many birds can I see before that unfortunate moment? That’s why I call it my dead list.

Lawrence's Warbler in Central Park

A hybrid bird, with genes from both Golden-winged Warbler 
and Blue-winged warbler. Photographed at the North End 
of Central Park, New York, NY on May 8, 2016.

Annie Di Gennaro, John Di Gennaro, and I were birding by the Loch in the North End of Central Park in New York, NY, at about 3:45PM. I heard a song that sounded like Blue-winged Warbler, but with only the second part of the Bee-Buzz song (just the Buzz). We looked for what we thought might be a Blue-winged for about fifteen minutes without turning one up. Then we spotted a warbler-sized bird we did not immediately recognize in an oak tree. The bird’s wings were grayish-blue with two clear white wing bars. Its underside was entirely yellow except the vent and under tail which were both white. We noted the bird’s head and face were also yellow, but it had a black throat patch and black eye mask. There were several birds in the same tree for close comparisons including Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Due to its similarities to both Blue-winged and Golden-winged, and given the buzz vocalization, the idea that it may be a hybrid came to mind. As Annie and John kept eyes on the bird, I checked a reference I found online (an article in Birding from May/June 2005). We verified the field marks and decided that we were seeing something worth sharing. We managed to get about ten birders on the bird. I borrowed a camera from a pair of birders that were present and took some pictures; they were kind enough to let me use the camera and then send me the pictures.

A hybrid bird, with genes from both Golden-winged Warbler 

and Blue-winged warbler. Photographed at the North End 

of Central Park, New York, NY on May 8, 2016.

After about 15 minutes we lost the bird, but a couple more birders showed up. We heard the bird only occasionally sing, and with effort, we were able to track it down, eventually finding it in the same oak tree. The bird was now higher up, but we still had clear views. Other birders showed up but as of 5:15PM the light was becoming less favorable at this spot, and we did not re-find the bird. I am not sure if it was found again after this time.

If anyone goes to try to look for it tomorrow, we had the bird just above the Loch walking path, where on the one side is an overlook of the “stream” and on the other side a wood chip path that leads to the wildflower meadow. While the bird was pretty much directly above the walking path, the best viewing seemed to be just up the path toward the wildflower meadow. It is not far from the rustic bridges, if that helps.

A hybrid bird, with genes from both Golden-winged Warbler 

and Blue-winged warbler. Photographed at the North End 

of Central Park, New York, NY on May 8, 2016.

Big thanks to the birders that allowed me to take the pictures! Such a fun day to be birding in Central Park!

This text was also shared on the NYSBirds-L list serve: http://digest.sialia.com/?rm=message;id=1183486.

A year in Central Park

December 15, 2013: View from the Great Hill on the 2013 Christmas Bird Count
in Central Park, looking south over the park toward lower Manhattan

I noticed a bird and quietly announced to a couple friends, the closest birders to me in the group, “There’s a titmouse.” This is not a particularly odd phrase, as Tufted Titmice are common North American birds, even in some urban parks. It didn’t even strike us as odd at the time, but it was the first individual titmouse of the day. We did think it a little strange that it was the only one we noted over a few hours at the end of our route. It became much more peculiar when all groups reporting at the round-up of the 114th annual Christmas Bird Count noted that it was in fact the only tufted titmouse that had been spotted or even heard during the event where over 100 people were scouring the park to document every bird species present.

The southern three-fourths of Central Park. The Lake is the water body
in the center of picture, with the Ramble just above it in the picture,
filling in the 90 degree angle. The Reservoir is the much larger water body
in the far left and it extends to around 97th St.

A migrant’s hello from Ecuador

Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)
near Santa Lucia Bosque Nublado, Ecuador

My favorite time of year in New York was always the first two weeks of May. Early mornings before work, afternoons after work, and pretty much every minute of the weekends were spent combing Central Park for migratory birds that were passing through on their way to their breeding grounds.

The rarest bird I've ever seen

Sometimes you just get lucky. That’s how I saw the long-billed tailorbird. As indistinct as it looks, I remember the exact moment the long-billed tailorbird became visible in a tangle of vines just a few meters above my head. I remember only catching its face briefly, but seeing its body much more clearly. There wasn’t much to see more than a small greyish upper-body, paler underside, and legs. It worked along the vines, disappearing for a few moments and then reappearing briefly. And then it was gone.

Water rushes over rocks in this stream in Amani Nature Reserve,
providing a great soundtrack to a search for birds.

The long-billed tailorbird is only found on two places on planet earth, in and around the Amani rainforest in the East Usambaras and in an area in Northern Mozambique; the two populations are separated by 1000 km. Birdlife International lists this species as critically endangered with only up to 249 mature adult birds in the wild. Birdlife’s justification for this status, in addition to its small population and range, reads that, “Given that much of its habitat is being altered rapidly and is becoming increasingly fragmented, the species is likely to be undergoing a continuing decline, at least in some parts of its global range.” This is one of those birds you probably won’t hear about as it is not spectacular looking, but you may see its name grace a recently-extinct list in years to come.

Forests all over the world are being cut. The drive to the Amani rain forest
goes past several sawmills. Here the clearing goes right up to the
edge of the Amani Nature Reserve. 

Michele and I happened to be lucky enough to witness this bird for a few reasons. We were in its habitat, birding the Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambara Mountains of coastal Tanzania. Hiking through this forest on trails, sometimes in the rain, did not provide easy views of birds. As with many of the birds we saw at Amani, this bird was our guide’s find entirely, who is the other main reason we saw this bird. Our guide, Martin, actually does research on the very bird, Artisronis moreaui. We were birding on this guy’s home turf.

Look, it's a bird! Our guide, Martin, on the right, was a very sharp birder.
This was not the moment of the tailorbird, but taken shortly before.

We were ascending the peak of a mountain (really low as far as mountains go: the peak was 1050 meters above sea level while Mt Kilimanjaro is 5,985 meters above sea level) and trying not to slip in the mud when all of the sudden, Martin says, “I hear it. He’s here.” Our guide was a pretty chill guy, but here he started to appear excited. At this point it really hadn’t dawned on me that I was about to see the rarest bird I have ever seen. As the bird calls again, I ask, “What are we hearing?” Martin replies, “The long-billed tailorbird.”

To capture a picture of this bird would have required a lot more time,
audio recordings, and a serious camera (not my point-and-shoot). I am
relying heavily on my three field guides and the picture on Birdlife
International to draw this bird, but I did draw it free hand and tried to make
it my own (not simply copying the posture and impression that others did,
although this is not the posture as I saw it- it was much more horizontal
creeping along the vines). I am just getting into drawing and painting,
mainly because it is helping  focus on the details and topography of birds.
This is just my third piece- the real challenge will be drawing birds
in the field, not based on still images.

The bird is in the tangles on a tree to our right, then directly in front of us, above us and above the path. It was then that we saw it. Again, this is not a spectacular looking bird. As far as personality goes, it really didn’t stand out in my mind as great either. It was there gleaning insects, I suppose, and then it was gone. But what is crazy about this bird, is that out of the 2000+ species in Africa, there is only one other bird in its genus (the Eastern Arc Mountains endemic African tailorbird, which we saw numerous times in the West Usambaras) (Remember, genus is the level of classification above species, Domain-Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species). The bird is thought to be more closely related to Asian tailorbirds than anything else in Africa. And again, with an estimated 50-249 mature individual birds in a very restricted range, this bird is very rare. Most people who have seen it get it with playback, which involves first recording the bird and then replaying its sounds to elicit a response and perhaps a clear showing. We did not use playback, which is a good way to miss a bird usually, but because of our particular location at that moment, the bird’s particular location at the moment, and the expertise of our guide, our paths collided.

Jared and Michele at the top of the 1050 meter mountain, post-tailorbird.
In the back is rainforest, with a clearing on the right (tea cultivation).
Photo by Martin, our guide.

We saw some great rare and endemic birds while traveling around Tanzania. There were dozens of other birds I was more excited to see beforehand, but this one surprised me. It was a gift of luck, a flash of feathers, and a glimpse of the great biodiversity filling the pockets of the planet.  And up to this point in my life, it is the rarest bird I have ever seen.

Works Cited

• BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Artisornis moreaui. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14/05/2011.

• Fanshawe, J. and Stevenson, T. Birds of East Africa. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2002.

• Pearson, D.J., Turner, A.T. and Zimmerman, D.A. Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania. Christopher Helm: London, 1999.

• Ryan, P. and Sinclair, I. Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. Struik Nature: Cape Town, 2003.