2025 Fall Bird Migration - Part 4

I'm really enjoying this fall bird migration season and hope it continues for a while longer. Below are some highlights from the last few days.

Scarlet Tanager: 

Eating crab apple berries.

This Yellow-Breasted Chat turned up in Times Square. The interesting thing is this is not the first time this bird has been sighted in this particular pocket park just off 42nd Street & 6th Avenue. Could it be the same individual who likes the flower planters there? Who knows...

I thought this was a cute scene of a male Wilson's Warbler and a female Black-Throated Blue Warbler sharing a bird bath.

The aptly named Yellow-Rumped Warbler:

Eastern Phoebe:

Common Yellowthroat:

Nashville Warbler:

I always have to post a photo of my favorite warbler, the Northern Parula:

Prairie Warblers win the award for being the most cooperative this season. I seem to have more photos of them than any other bird.

Eastern Wood-Pewees have also been out in force this fall. I think I've seen more this season than any time in the past. They're doing a good job eating all those little invisible bitey bugs.

The city should stop with the never-ending pesticide spraying and let these little flycatchers do their job!

 

 

2025 Fall Bird Migration - Part 3

The East Coast is in for a huge night of bird migration according to BirdCast. This means tomorrow could be a good day to go out looking for birds who may drop in to the city.

 

Here are a few more highlights of birds I've seen in the last few days.

 

Red-Eyed Vireo:

 

American Goldfinch:

Blue-Headed Vireo:

Savannah Sparrow:

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (female):

Prairie Warbler:

Black and White Warbler:

Brown Thrasher:

Dickcissel:

Eastern Wood-Pewee:

I took a lot of photos this last weekend, and I'm planning for more, so I expect there will be more migratory bird pics to come.

 

2025 Fall Bird Migration - Part 2

Following Fall Bird Migration - Part 1 last week, it's time for the next segment. The birds below were all seen around the city over the last several days.

I have to start with my favorite warbler, the Northern Parula: 

They're so colorful, I like to call them little rainbow birds.

This attractive Red-Eyed Vireo was feasting on the berries of a small tree (I will have to figure out the tree species).

 

Update: the tree is a Sweetbay Magnolia.

The bird hung on to the seed pods with its feet and sliced open the sections to dig out the fruit.

A few steps away, this female Black-Throated Blue Warbler picked off tiny insects in this cluster of berries.

This Black-Throated Green Warbler was busy gleaning insects off the undersides of leaves.

This Magnolia Warbler used a different method, perching at the ends of branches and snapping tiny flies out of the air.

The Eastern Phoebe is an expert flycatcher.

I observed a Phoebe doing something I'd never seen before (and was unable to capture with the camera). It perched low in a tree overhanging water and dove down to the water to scoop up insects on the surface. Although it didn't dive all the way into the water, it got its head down in there and splashed around with its wings. The bird did this several times, but was too fast for me.

I've seen more Veerys in the last couple of weeks than ever before, which has been nice.

This is my first Lincoln's Sparrow for the fall season.

As I was walking along a path, this Connecticut Warbler just casually walked out of the grass and strolled around like it owned the place. These guys usually hide in the shadows and can be hard to find, so this encounter made my day.