I had a great morning semi-birding on my very protracted way to work today. Highlights include: 5+ Purple Finch in the Great Hill's South Blowdown Meadow, 4 Fox Sparrows along the eastern edge of the G.H., at least one Rusty Blackbird, and probably a few more still, mixed in with a large flock of Common Grackles at the southeast corner of the Pool, a Northern Pintail was also in the Pool (I'm wondering if this is a lingering bird, the one first found/reported by Sandra Paci?), and finally, a juvenile Bald Eagle flying west and relatively low over The park at 104th street.
Of general interest, there was/is a large movement of icterids (300+), Cedar Waxwings (120+) and other diurnal migrants passing over and or dropping into the North End of C.P. today creating good conditions for other notable sightings. I would also be on the lookout for other large dark raptors, I'm thinking someone might bag a Golden today. Below is my complete eBird checklist from this morning. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15710295 Keep'em up! Nadir Souirgi -- 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/ --