In the Loch at the waterfall near the rustic bridge, in Central Park, there was a Yellow-breasted Chat.  While we waited a young Red-tailed Hawk made an appearance. 

I made my last trip to Governors Island for the season on October 28th.  A Red-tailed Hawk was on a speaker pole at Fort Jay, and then made a hunting pass, before taking a drink from a rain gutter.  Photographers have been seeing two or three different adult Red-tailed Hawks this fall.  Let's hope two of them build a nest over the winter.

After the ran stopped on Sunday, I took more photographs of the Union Square Saltmarsh Sparrow.  It was still there today, Tuesday.  If you go looking for it be aware that is hides anywhere from 30-60 minutes and then forages on the southeastern most lawn for about 10-30 minutes.  Hopefully it will continue for a few more days.

Alex Tey found a Saltmarsh Sparrow in Union Square Park today.  Rare for Manhattan, it was totally unexpected to be seen in Union Square.  Thanks to the great network New York City Birders have, at least 50 birders got to see this wonderful sparrow.  It was a life bird for me.  This October, I've gotten to see three new sparrows, Grasshopper, Lark and now Saltmarsh.

An afternoon trip to Governors Island had the highlight of this Red-tailed Hawk perched on a weather vane.  I think this is the second-year hawk, I've seen earlier in the year on the island.

My 201st bird for Central Park was a Lark Sparrow today.  It had been found yesterday afternoon, and was seen again this morning.  It was then refound by Kellie Quinones in the afternoon.  Rare on the east coast, and especially rare for Central Park, it was a fantastic bird to see as it ate grass seeds by a soccer goal.  It was hanging out with two Dark-eyed Juncos.  The fun was interrupted by an American Kestrel on the hunt.  Luckily, none of the birds we were watching became a meal.

On Saturday, a very cooperative Tennessee Warbler was easily photographed in the Wildflower Meadow in the North End of Central Park.  What a stunning warbler!  (The video is at half speed to make it easier to watch the warbler.)

A Grasshopper Sparrow was at the Oven in Central Park's Ramble today.  It is a bird normally found in grasslands, and rarely seen in the park.  It either gave birders great looks or was very difficult to see.  I was lucky to get some great views of the bird.

Fall has arrived and we're seeing Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Cooper's Hawks in the park in good numbers now.  This juvenile was seen along with four other hawks in the northern portion of Central Park last Saturday.

I'm finally catching up with processing images I took last weekend.  Here is a Clay-colored Sparrow south of the Great Hill in Central Park.

Monarch Butterfly migration seems to be in full swing with over 100 seen in Central Park's Butterfly Garden on Tuesday. I visited today and enjoyed the show.  One of the butterflies had been tagged, and I reported it to monarchwatch.org

Madison Square Park had a Sora this afternoon.  Lots of rare birds are showing up in small city parks this week!

A Virginia Rail was found by Roy Tsao on Saturday in Abington Square Park at 12th Street and Eighth Avenue in New York City.  It alternated between being totally hidden to roaming the park looking for worms.  In the video, you see two earthworms being consumed.  This is a rare bird for Manhattan and to have it in a very small pocket park was highly unusual.  These little parks continue to amaze us with what they can attract during migration.

Pale Male was perched east of the Maintenance Building in the Ramble for most of the afternoon in Central Park on Saturday before going off to roost via a tree on Cedar Hill.  He's been hunting rodents, where he was perched, on earlier days this month.

A very cooperative American Bittern was in the fenced in area of the Tupelo Meadow in Central Park's Ramble today.  For the most part it perched on a rock and stayed still.  But for about ten minutes, after a Cooper's Hawk flew into the Tupelo Tree the American Bittern took a defensive posture, and for a brief time looked radically different almost doubling in size.  The Cooper's Hawk soon forgot about the Bittern and after about twenty minutes caught a Northern Flicker.

The Jewelweed is in full bloom and is attracting two birds, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  The huge patch in Strawberry Fields is gone, but large patches are in The Oven (an area of the Ramble off The Lake) and in the Loch of the North Woods.  With some patience you will find both species of birds this time of year, if you find the Jewelweed patches.

Octavia, the female of the 927 Fifth Avenue nest was on the "Woody" building one block north of the nest late on Friday afternoon.  (Woody Alan no longer lives in the Woody building, by the way.)  Octavia was in to rush to leave, but eventually left and perched on a window railing at 70th and Fifth Avenue, which faces north and overlooks The Frick Collection's garden.

I caught up with a Black-crowned Night Heron preening on The Pond, in the SW corner of Central Park on Thursday.

Pale Male was on the "Linda Building" at 73rd and then his nest on Sunday afternoon.  This year was unusual in that Pale Male and Octavia weren't seen copulating in the spring by any of the regular hawk watchers.  Their nest failed this year, too.  It will be interesting to see what happens next year.

The Pond in the southeastern corner of Central Park had a Green Heron on Sunday.  It was fishing for minnows when I found it on the far shore of the southwest corner of the pond.  Fall migration has begun slowly in the park.  Number are still very low, but we're getting interesting birds.  The highlights of the day for me were a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Canada Warbler, two Northern Waterthrushs, American Redstart, Belted Kingfisher, Great Egret and Baltimore Oriole.