During a marathon day of birding in Prospect Park that included the
very strange combination of Blackpoll Warbler and Pine Siskin, a group
of Brooklyn and Queens birders stumbled on a species that hadn't been
seen in the park for 15 years.
Paige Linden, Heydi Lopes and I began our day at 6am at the park's
Vale of Cashmere. We met Seth Ausable and Corey Finger there at around
6:30. At a large flowering cherry tree near the south end of the Vale
we had out first little wave of songbirds that included;
Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-
throated Green Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler,
Prothonotary Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Orchard Oriole and
Baltimore Oriole. Nearby were Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, White-
throated Sparrow and Scarlet Tanager.
A little later on, in the Midwood, we ran into Eric Miller, Jeffrey
Ritter, Bobby (?) and one other birder. We joined forces and headed
out of the Midwood towards Lookout Hill. Just outside the Midwood, on
Center Drive, we spotted a nice mixed flock of birds in a large oak
covered in catkins. It was here where we found the Blackpoll Warbler.
A short distance up the road, at the Nethermead Meadow, Eric quickly
spotted a male Bobolink, which had been reported earlier in the
morning. As good a morning as we were having, the best was yet to come.
We were slowly making our way up the curved roadway that ascents
Lookout Hill from Center Drive. Passing a boxelder tree, I reminded
Seth of the Townsend's Warbler he spotted there back on April 25,
2009. For whatever reason, our group stopped several yards up the road
from that point, at the ridge just north of the Maryland Monument
stairway. I don't know who, but someone shouted something about a
nightjar. I looked down the ridge and saw a robin chasing a very
large, rufous nightjar through the trees from left to right. The bird
circled around and came to rest briefly on a tree up and to our right.
Several of us got very good looks at a bird that was significantly
larger than the robins and nearly uniformly reddish-brown on its upper
body, head and wings. After a moment, it spooked again, flew back and
forth in front of us, then appeared to come down in the trees not far
from where we first observed it. At this point there were 10 of us
searching for where it came down. Unfortunately, we never relocated
it. Fast forward to this evening. Heydi and I decided to go back to
that spot at dusk, wait for the sun to go down then play a chuck call
to see if it would respond. At around 8:15pm, while standing
approximately where we first spotted it, we played the call and waited
a minute. Nothing. We played it again. This time the bird flew up off
the ridge and over Heydi's head. A couple of robins chased after it
(not sure why the robins feel threatened by this bird). It circled
around then headed in the direction of the Butterfly Meadow. We left
the park, very happy.
Below is our day list from 13 hours of birding in Prospect Park (we
actually took a short food break). Note that after most folks from the
group left, Heydi and I added four species; Osprey, Spotted Sandpiper,
Blackburnian Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Good birding,
Rob
Location name: Prospect Park
Observation date: 4/30/11
Number of species: 86
Wood Duck
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Chuck-will's-widow
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Bobolink
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Other common species seen (or heard):
Canada Goose, Mute Swan, American Black Duck, Mallard, Ring-billed
Gull, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied
Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted
Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin, European Starling,
Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow
The City Birder Weblog
http://citybirder.blogspot.com
--
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/
--
