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.

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.

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

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.

These photos were taken on two days over the last week.  The Governors Island Common Tern colony is doing well, with many of the chicks getting quite large.  With so many youngsters running around, it’s amazing the parents find their own offspring to feed.  But they seem to figure it out without a problem.