October 17 - Central Park - Orange-crowned Warbler

A lovely, crisp morning for the Friday morning AMNH Central Park bird walk group. There were not large numbers of birds around, but nevertheless we did well. Easily the star of the morning was an Orange-crowned Warbler seen well by everyone, first on the east side of the Evodia Field, north of the feeders and then working its way westward towards the source of the Gill above the Azalea Pond. It spent a fair amount of time evidently picking insects out of some curled dead leaves still clinging to some bushes. I alerted Junko Suzuki, who we ran into near the feeders and she quickly got the word out on the text alert system. The other good bird of the morning was Purple Finch with four seen in the tree over the steps by the Belvedere Castle. The complete list follows.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse (numbers in all this week)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (east of the Maintenance Building, near the east park drive; present all week)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1, Evodia Field and vicinity; see above)
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Purple Finch (4, Belvedere)
House Finch
House Sparrow