I came across an Orange-crowned Warbler late this afternoon in the Alley (Douglaston) marsh section of Alley Pond Park, Queens. This was on the east side of Alley Creek. Lots of bird activity here, although I'd have to stoop down to the likes of Purple Finch and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker for the next rarest thing. But for a couple of seconds, I was thinking something else. I watched a bird rise out of a meadow that had me thinking Yellow-headed Blackbird. It was, in fact, a Phoebe carrying an Orange Sulphur. Not nice to do that me - or to the butterfly. Butterfly numbers have dipped a lot here since two weeks ago. Ordinarily, I'd just attribute that to the season. But now I'm wondering how much Phoebes are responsible.
Another odd moment - actually much longer than that - came courtesy of a Black-billed Cuckoo yesterday at Lighthouse Point in East Haven, CT. it didn't seem to know that its kind tends to be secretive and difficult to photograph. To meet my obligatory periodic web update, I've posted a picture at http://stevewalternature.com/ . Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- 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/ --
