At 7:45 AM today in Forest Park, I saw a medium-sized raptor that appeared initially like a large falcon, a peregrine. But then I saw its tail with many dark and white bands and a distinctly shorter first primary and thought hey wait a minute, that could be a Mississippi Kite! I saw it for a total of about 5 seconds, which to me personally is not enough time to ID that bird with 100% certainty, especially a bird that I've only seen twice in my life. So I was telling other birders later on that I had a possible sighting. I have since upgraded that to probable, in light of sightings yesterday and today reported from Prospect Park, Brooklyn, consulting other birding guides at home, and from seeing the "Kite Whisperer's" photo from yesterday.
Although the volume of birds and birdsong decreased somewhat from yesterday, there was still a nice variety of warblers, seeing and hearing 21 species. The highlights were Tennessee, Bay-breasted, Hooded, and multiple Nashvilles, Chestnut-sideds, and Wilson's. Karlo Mirth Forest Park, 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/ --