I led a trip to Pelham Bay Park today with NYC Audubon, and we had a pretty great day. It was a lovely sunny fall day (clouding up as the afternoon progressed). Our first stop was by the landfill & a visit to the Granny Oak. We encountered a mixed flock of sparrows (mostly Song & White-throated) which included my FOS American Tree Sparrow and Fox Sparrow. There were also lots of American Goldfinches feeding on sweetgum seeds, and a Northern Harrier & pair of American Kestrels flying over the landfill. I think I heard some distant Pipit calls too, but they were very faint.
Over by Turtle Cove we encountered one of the stunning adult Red-headed Woodpeckersthat have been delighting birders in that area for weeks. We also had a lovely singleton Rusty Blackbird, another Fox Sparrow, several Eastern Towhees, a pair of Carolina Wrens, and lots more Song & White-throated Sparrows in the dense shrubbery by the chip path. The Cove Pond had a Great Blue Heron, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, several Black Ducks, and a bunch of Mallards. Off of Orchard Beach we had a Red-throated Loon (my FOS), a couple of Common Loons, a single female Black Scoter, dozens of Bufflehead (probably at least 60 actually), and 3 or 4 Horned Grebes. On a rock in the water off Two Trees Island, a Black Duck was accompanied by two Purple Sandpipers (also my FOS... a bunch of firsts today!). It's an exceptionally beautiful spot and we saw some great birds, I definitely need to get up there more often! On the drive back, we spotted a Common Raven flying just south of Coop City (presumably one of the birds that breeds there, or their young). Winter birding is coming, Gabriel Willow NYC Audubon -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
