October 10 & 11 - Inwood Hill Park - migrating Brant and Blue Jays

I went birding in Inwood Hill Park on Saturday and Sunday mornings. On Saturday with Kathryn Long and Sunday with Ed Eden. On Saturday we also spent some time birding with Nadir Sourigi. Both mornings were beautiful with clear, blue skies. However, the winds were very different on the two mornings and that made for somewhat different birding. On Saturday the winds were from the northwest while on Sunday morning they were lighter and from the southwest. On both days the temperatures started out in the low 50s. Both days there were flocks of Blue Jays migrating south, especially over the Hudson. On Saturday there were also many flocks of Brant flying over and down the Hudson ranging in size from about half a dozen to 50 or 60 at a time. On Saturday there were groups of vultures over the Palisades across the Hudson, a lone Bald Eagle and small numbers of Osprey. On Sunday there were just a couple of Osprey. Now that we are well into October the numbers and variety of sparrows are building up. Over the two mornings I recorded 49 species.

Brant (Oct 10 only; see above)
Canada Goose (both days)
Mallard (both days)
Double-crested Cormorant (Oct 10)
Great Blue Heron (1, both days)
Great Egret (1, both days)
Black Vulture (Oct 10 only; see above)
Turkey Vulture (Oct 10 only; see above)
Osprey (both days)
Bald Eagle (Oct 10 only; see above)
Ring-billed Gull (both days)
Herring Gull (both days)
Great Black-backed Gull (both days)
Rock Pigeon (both days)
Mourning Dove (both days)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (both days)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1, Oct 11)
Downy Woodpecker (both days)
Northern Flicker (Oct 10)
Eastern Phoebe (both days)
Blue-headed Vireo (1, Oct 11)
Blue Jay (both days)
White-breasted Nuthatch (both days)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (1, Oct 11)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1, Oct 11)
American Robin (both days)
Gray Catbird (both days)
Northern Mockingbird (both days)
European Starling (both days)
Nashville Warbler (1, Oct 11)
Common Yellowthroat (1, Oct 10)
Northern Parula (1, Oct 10)
Magnolia Warbler (1, Oct 10)
Blackpoll Warbler (1, Oct 11)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (both days)
Black-throated Green Warbler (1, Oct 10)
Eastern Towhee (both days)
Chipping Sparrow (both days)
Field Sparrow (1, Oct 11)
Savannah Sparrow (1, Oct 10)
Song Sparrow (both days)
Swamp Sparrow (1, both days)
White-throated Sparrow (both days)
White-crowned Sparrow (2, Oct 10)
Northern Cardinal (both days)
Common Grackle (1, Oct 11)
House Finch (3, Oct 11)
American Goldfinch (1, Oct 10)
House Sparrow (both days)