Shai Mitra, Joan Quinlan and I arrived in the West Village at 10:46 a.m. in conditions that felt oppressive--21 degrees, overcast skies and constant light snow. At least it wasn't very windy. We found no kingbird and no watchers at Jane and Washington Streets, nor at the Bleeker Playground area. At W. 4th and 11th we found two birders, Eric and Rodney, on site but no sign of the kingbird. We spent some time walking adjacent blocks. At 11:40 the Couch's Kingbird appeared in the top of a tree at 11th and 4th calling repeatedly. It remained there for several minutes, long enough for a total of six birders (incuding us, Eric and Rodney) to assemble, before retreating to a roof top garden and then flying off to the northwest. We tried unsuccessfully to relocate the bird for another 30 minutes, then departed for Long Island.
A 50 minute search at Floyd Bennett Field failed to reveal the Cassin's Kingbird but we did find a Common Yellowthroat in the community gardens. A pot of mealworms was left in the picnic area for enjoyment by "Mr. Cassin's" by "Karen", thank you, Karen. Perhaps scattering some of these in the gardens would be a good idea too, something we probably should have done but didn't. Patricia Lindsay Bay Shore -- 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/ --
