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.

2025 Fall Bird Migration - Part 1

Welcome to fall bird migration in NYC! The last couple of weeks have seen millions of birds pass through the area on their way south for the winter. You can check current migration conditions at BirdCast and use the dashboard to see real-time movement.

I've enjoyed getting out and finding many birds now that the summer heat seems to be over. Below are several of my favorites, as well as one surprise visitor.

Prairie Warbler: 

American Redstart (female):

Female Redstarts are one of my favorite birds. I see a lot of them and they are very accommodating for photos.

Black and White Warbler:

It's nice to catch one upright (above), but I usually see them pointed downwards as they glean insects and larvae from the undersides of branches and leaves.

Yellow Warbler:

Common Yellowthroat:

Swamp Sparrow:

This is the surprise visitor...a Saltmarsh Sparrow:

This sparrow is a rare sighting around here and this one was apparently the first ever recorded for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. It was first reported by a birding group on September 10th and I just happened to be in the cemetery that day and lucked out seeing it.

Saltmarsh Sparrows are considered a "Red Alert Tipping Point" species due to rapid decline in population. Partners in Flight rates the Saltmarsh Sparrow a 19 out of 20 on its Continental Concern Score, having lost 94% of its population. 

 

According to Cornell's All About Birds, "Saltmarsh Sparrow is in very real danger of extinction within the next few decades due to its small population size, declining trend, and the reality of rising sea levels." This is because the birds breed in coastal wetlands and rising water levels destroy their nests and habitat.

A second Saltmarsh Sparrow showed up in Tribeca this last week, which was highly unusual. One of the fun aspects of migration season is sometimes seeing the most unexpected things.

 

Late Edit: The Guardian has published a short film about efforts to save the Saltmarsh Sparrow.