UES Birders All Atwitter As 2 Rare Birds Settle In Neighborhood

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The appearance of not one, but two rare birds around the East Side of Manhattan in recent days has set birdwatchers' hearts aflutter.

The first arrival was the western tanager, a yellow-colored songbird that has been spotted at Catbird Playground in Carl Schurz Park nearly every day since Dec. 11, according to the park conservancy.

Western tanagers are only spotted in New York City once or twice a decade, according to David Barrett, a birder who runs the popular Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account. The Upper East Side tanager's appearance is all the more remarkable given that a second tanager has taken up residence in Chelsea since around Dec. 6.

They are native to the Rocky Mountains and typically migrate to Mexico each winter, meaning they only come this far east when they are pushed here by strong winds.

"Incredibly unusual. It's never happened before," Barrett said of the two Manhattan western tanagers.

Western Tanager
Still around
Seen near Catbird playground this afternoon
Carl Schurz Park #birdcp pic.twitter.com/fDR4pvvsRi
— gigpalileo (@gigpalileo) December 20, 2020

The birds stand a decent chance of surviving the winter, but only if the weather stays relatively warm and their food supply of berries and bugs remains constant, he said. Plus, there are predators.

"They could be eaten by hawks or falcons, too," Barrett said.

Goose makes first-ever Manhattan appearance

On Monday afternoon, Barrett got wind of yet another surprising sighting: a greater white-fronted goose had been spotted on a Randall's Island ballfield.

He left his Upper East Side home to see for himself. After about an hour of searching, on the northeastern corner of the island, he found it: amid a large flock of Canada geese stood the distinctive white-fronted goose — the first ever documented in Manhattan in more than a century of birding reports.

It was a thrill to see Manhattan's first-ever GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE foraging on the northeast ball fields of @randallsisland this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/u1xwY7DYEa
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) December 21, 2020

The white-fronted geese typically seen in the Northeastern U.S. are a subspecies that fly here all the way from Greenland, where they breed, Barrett said. Typically they fly to Ireland or Scotland for the winter, but some decide to head westward instead — usually to Canada, before moving slowly down the coast.

After arriving in New York, to make sense of its unfamiliar new home, the white-fronted goose likely sought out the Canada flock for protection and to be guided to their feeding spot, Barrett said. When Barrett visited on Monday, the other geese were tolerating the visitor, but still seemed wary.

"They know it’s different," he said. "At least one of them tried to 'goose' the greater white-fronted goose — nip at it from behind."

To see the goose for yourself, Barrett recommends taking the M35 bus from Harlem, whose first stop on Randall's Island is right near the northeastern ballfields — where the goose was spotted as recently as Tuesday morning.

But a cellphone camera likely won't work if you're trying to get a shot of the goose, Barrett said. He recommends a more powerful lens, allowing birders to keep their distance and avoid frightening the flighty birds.

"Approach cautiously and slowly, and don’t try to get too close," he said.

Related bird coverage from Patch:

• Bird Watchers Flock To Manhattan To Spot Rare Western Tanager
• See It: 2nd Barred Owl Steals The Show In NYC Park
• Owl Rescued From Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree