Good birding continues in Prospect Park, with the LARK SPARROW present for the third day in a row. I saw it in the fenced area of the Long Meadow just below the 9th Street divide early and late, joined at dusk by Rob Jett along with Shane Blodgett who came in to add one more to a 14 sparrow day around town. Overall volume was perhaps down a bit from the rainy weekend as more birds move on in the fair weather, but diversity was good, including ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, a late Baltimore Oriole, Red-shouldered Hawk and 7 wood warblers.
One noteworthy sighting yesterday at Calvert Vaux Park was a duck that might have gone unidentified as it drifted, tightly tucked, towards Gravesend Bay. Just before it passed out of view it lifted its head and shifted its wing to reveal white patches at the ear and inner wing that proved it to be a White-winged Scoter, a bird that doesn’t often make into the bay. Good birding, Alex Wilson Brooklyn, NY Highlights: Location: Prospect Park Observation date: 10/20/09 Number of species: 69 Wood Duck 25 Northern Shoveler 400 Ruddy Duck 15 Pied-billed Grebe 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 (Juvenile, flyover seen from Lullwater.) Red-tailed Hawk 3 Merlin 3 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Belted Kingfisher 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 40 Eastern Phoebe 30 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Brown Creeper 1 House Wren 1 Winter Wren 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet 15 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 50 Eastern Bluebird 2 (2 at once on the Long Meadow fences early, only one seemed to hang around.) Hermit Thrush 50 American Robin 75 Gray Catbird 5 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 (Upper Lullwater near the cove, in the little point area across from the rustic shelter, photographed.) Northern Parula 1 (Sparrow Bowl.) Magnolia Warbler 1 (Dull female, Lookout Hill.) Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 (Lullwater, with Orange-crowned.) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 100 Palm Warbler (Yellow) 25 Common Yellowthroat 10 Eastern Towhee 4 Chipping Sparrow 15 Field Sparrow 2 Lark Sparrow 1 (Seen at 8:30AM and 5:30PM in the fenced area just north of the Long Meadow ball fields.) Savannah Sparrow 10 Song Sparrow 50 Swamp Sparrow 30 White-throated Sparrow 100 White-crowned Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 20 Indigo Bunting 2 Red-winged Blackbird 30 Baltimore Oriole 1 (Female, Lookout summit meadow.) American Goldfinch 15 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
