This morning I birded Alley Pond followed by Oakland Lake. Good number of passerines but low diversity. Many black-and-white and yellow-rumped warblers, a northern waterthrush (along the edge of the pond -where else!), a few ovenbirds and black-throated blue warblers, one veery and wood thrush, and a male rose-breasted grosbeak,in the woods above the pond giving its "sneaker-on-a-basketball-court" call.
Oakland Lake was quiet with a few Baltimore Orioles, Warbling Vireo, and a few black-and-white warblers. A sight that I had which I would appreciate feedback on is an immature Common Grackle that was associating with two adult grackles on the north side of Oakland Lake. It matched perfectly the illustration in Sibley's Guide - overall dark brown plumage with a dark eye. It stayed with the two adult birds for the several minutes I watched it before all three flew to the east. I couldn't relocate them. May 8th seems very early for a fully grown immature bird and Sibley indicates in brackets June through September as being the expected period for seeing birds in this immature plumage stage. Any ideas to explain this? John Turner Alula Birding & Natural History Tours -- 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/ --
