It was a marathon weekend in Prospect Park for a few of us. Beginning
at 6am on Saturday, Michael Brams, Paige Linden, Heydi Lopes and I
spent most of the day in the park. On Sunday, minus Michael, we spent
about 11 hours scouring the park. It was, without question, the most
birdy two days Prospect Park has experienced this Spring. Our total
for the two days was 93 species, which included 22 species of warbler.
The warbler highlight was finding 3 Mourning Warblers in the park. I
told Heydi that people might scoff at that claim, but here goes:
The first one was observed at around 7am at the North end of the park
in the Vale of Cashmere. This individual had been present for 3 days.
The second was found a few hours later in the Lullwater; we would have
overlooked this one had it not sang briefly. Finally, at around
2:30pm, one flew across the path in front of Heydi and I several yards
north of Rick's Place. It is a little over a 1/4 mile to Rick's Place
from either location, so certainly it is possible that the third bird
was the one from the Lullwater, having moved north through the park,
or the one from the Vale, having moved south. But why not three?
The most exciting and unexpected highlight came on Lookout Hill. What
appeared to be a Gray-cheeked Thrush with very rufous primaries and
tail, turned out to be, without question, a Bicknell's Thrush. The
very tame bird was feeding along the edges of the path, and allowed
very close observation. Then, from atop the trunk of a downed tree,
actually sang and called. Paige was able to capture it on video. I'll
post a link to the photos and video later tonight.
One noteworthy difference between the two days was the presence of a
few more flycatchers on Sunday. In addition to two calling Olive-sided
Flycatchers, we tallied Acadian and Yellow-bellied - both of which
were also vocalizing. A calling phoebe near the Binnen Bridge appears
to be nesting (or attempting to) in the same location as last year.
We also had a very good sparrow list for Sunday, adding towhee,
savannah and white-crowned to the previous day's tally.
Below is a summary from my eBirds lists.
Good birding,
Rob
Date Range: May 15, 2010 - May 21, 2010
Locations: Prospect Park
Total Number of Species: 93
Total Number of Checklists: 2
Species Name 15-May 16-May
Canada Goose X X
Mute Swan X X
Wood Duck 2 --
Mallard X X
Common Loon -- 1
Great Egret 1 --
Green Heron 1 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4 2
Spotted Sandpiper 2 2
Laughing Gull X --
Herring Gull X X
Rock Pigeon X X
Mourning Dove X X
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO -- 1
Chimney Swift X X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird -- 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker X X
Downy Woodpecker X X
Hairy Woodpecker 1 --
Northern Flicker X X
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER -- 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2 1
YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER -- 1
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER -- 1
Least Flycatcher 1 --
Empidonax sp. 2 --
Eastern Phoebe -- 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 2
Eastern Kingbird 2 2
White-eyed Vireo 1 --
Blue-headed Vireo 1 --
Warbling Vireo 6 6
Red-eyed Vireo 4 4
Blue Jay 2 X
American Crow 1 X
Barn Swallow 8 X
Black-capped Chickadee 2 --
Tufted Titmouse X 2
White-breasted Nuthatch -- 1
Carolina Wren 2 1
House Wren 4 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 --
Veery 3 5
Gray-cheeked Thrush 2 3
BICKNELL'S THRUSH -- 1
Swainson's Thrush 10 8
Wood Thrush 2 2
American Robin X X
Gray Catbird 15 20
Northern Mockingbird 1 --
European Starling X X
Cedar Waxwing 2 5
Tennessee Warbler 2 3
Nashville Warbler 3 2
Northern Parula 8 10
Yellow Warbler 1 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 4 5
Magnolia Warbler 12 25
Cape May Warbler -- 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 8 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3 4
Black-throated Green Warbler 3 2
Blackburnian Warbler 6 4
Prairie Warbler 1 --
Bay-breasted Warbler 4 5
Blackpoll Warbler 12 12
Black-and-white Warbler 8 10
American Redstart 15 15
Ovenbird 8 12
Northern Waterthrush 6 6
MOURNING WARBLER -- 3
Common Yellowthroat 8 10
Wilson's Warbler 3 4
Canada Warbler 10 12
Scarlet Tanager 5 10
Eastern Towhee -- 1
Chipping Sparrow X 1
Savannah Sparrow -- 2
Song Sparrow 1 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 3 3
Swamp Sparrow 1 1
White-throated Sparrow X 5
White-crowned Sparrow -- 1
Northern Cardinal X X
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3 5
Indigo Bunting 2 9
Red-winged Blackbird X X
Common Grackle X X
Brown-headed Cowbird X X
Orchard Oriole 1 1
Baltimore Oriole 12 8
American Goldfinch X X
House Sparrow X X
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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
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
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