A survey from/of Hernshead, Strawberry Fields, Falconer Hill, Cherry Hill and Bethesda fountain proved quite productive. At Hernshead, he morning flight was decent, with many birds (mostly yellow-rumped and palm warblers, juncos, white-throated and chipping sparrows, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, american robins, eastern phoebes, northern flickers, yellow-breasted sapsuckers and Canada Geese) flying north, south (what appeared to be migrant blue jays consistently flew south only) and west. Interestingly enough, looking onto the lake, most birds were flying west, but when I observed the flight from strawberry fields with Joe Giunta's group, many birds were moving north. Either way, the highlight bird of the morning flight were 2 AMERICAN PIPITS mixed in with a small flock of westbound robins over the lake at about 7:30 am. Birding Strawberry fields with Joe Giunta's walk produced 2 PINE WARBLERS and a BLACKPOLL WARBLER as well as a BLUE-HEADED VIREO. Highlight sparrows were WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW at hernshead and LINCOLN'S and FIELD SPARROWS at Falconer Hill. Some raptor movement was apparent as well; I counted 4 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS and an OSPREY. The second highlight of the day was a COMMON RAVEN that flew high over Bethesda Fountain at about 10:15 am, moving west. Observed with Lila Fried, the bird exhibited definitive raven physique, with long fingered wings, long wedged tail and long head projection. The bird was solitary, flying quickly towards jersey. What's the status of the queens birds these days? Is it possible that this was a bird from there that was in transit somewhere else? (NJ?) Happy Birding, Jacob DruckerManhattan --
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/ --
