September 30 - Central Park - overcast with a Dickcissel

When I went to bed Tuesday night the forecast for Wednesday morning was fairly miserable - rain and fog. It did, indeed, rain overnight, but this morning the weather radar showed that most of the rain was no past the city. Four brave birders decided to ignore the overnight forecasts and join me for my Wednesday morning AMNH bird walk in the Ramble. They were rewarded with only a few birds, but one of them was a really good one. We had a few minutes of light drizzle when we were by the Belvedere Castle, but this passed by the time we were on the road by the south side of Turtle Pond. We had a frustrating few minutes trying to identify a few warblers high in a tree. The light was bad and the birds were mostly silhouettes. One may have been a Blackpoll, another was certainly a Northern Parula. We headed around to the Maintenance Meadow where many birders had seen a Dickcissel on Tuesday. I checked the weedy area on the northeast corner of the meadow where the bird was reported yesterday, but there was no sign of it. A check of s group of House Sparrows west of the Maintenance Building also turned up nothing. As we headed out into the meadow itself, I saw a group of House Sparrows feeding in the middle of the meadow. Raising my binoculars, I spotted the Dickcissel with them! It was a very nice reward to the four brave birders who came on the walk. The full morning's list follows.

Canada Goose (on the Lake)
Mallard (the Lake and Turtle Pond)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (1, Turtle Pond)
American Coot (1, Turtle Pond - about two weeks now)
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift (a few overhead)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1, feeding on the large Jewelweed patch at the Oven)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
White-breasted Nuthatch (1, heard)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher (2, Evodia Field and south of Azalea Pond)
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Eastern Towhee
White-throated Sparrow (10, various places)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (1, near Belvedere)
Dickcissel (1, see account above; first I have ever add in Central Park)
House Sparrow