This morning I spotted five swallow species (barn, tree, northern rough-wing, bank and cliff) at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. They were present in large numbers around Meadow Lake and in other parts of the park that I usually don't see them. They were perching on phragmites in such numbers that the reeds were bending to the breaking point.
On Tuesday I spotted an American Bittern, my first in over three years, in the phragmites next to Big John's Pond. I was walking quietly on my way to the East Pond, and I heard an unusual bird call coming from the reeds. After a few steps I saw some movement in the reeds, so I stopped and looked. I saw the bittern for a minute or two then it moved out of sight deeper into the phragmites. On Monday I birded the mountain bike paths at Cunningham Park. In the first ten minutes at the entrance on Francis Lewis Blvd. I saw four warblers species, orioles and 2 thrush species. I think Cunningham Park is an overlooked site for birding in Queens. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
