May 4 - Central Park

Another beautiful morning in Central Park, this time for my Thursday AMNH bird walk group. This is the first week since the spring walks started at the beginning of April that both Wednesday and Thursday mornings had good weather. For the last month it has alternated between the two walks as to which one was the wet one. Though the weather was sunny with bright blue skies, it was a bit cooler than yesterday and with somewhat fewer birds. Nevertheless, we still had a good list of 42 species with some new ones not seen yesterday. The best was a female Orchard Oriole on Hernshead soon after we started. Another good find at Hernshead was a Least Flycatcher. I also got into the park again at lunchtime and picked up a few more species on my own (see below). The photos were taken on my lunchtime break.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret (1, The Lake)
Turkey Vulture (1, distant flyover seen from Turtle Pond)
Ring-billed Gull (flyover)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher (1, Hiernshead)
Blue-headed Vireo (1, heard by King of Poland statue)
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Veery
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (2, Tupelo Meadow)
Ovenbird (3)
Northern Waterthrush (8, they seemed to be everywhere, singing)
Black-and-white Warbler (4)

Black-and-white Warbler (female) 05/04/2017

Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler (1, heard singing south of "Humming Tombstone")
Black-throated Blue Warbler (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (still lots around)

Yellow-rumped Warbler 05/04/2017

Prairie Warbler (1, Hernshead)
Black-throated Green Warbler (2)
Eastern Towhee (1, heard)
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Orchard Oriole (1, female, Hernshead)
House Sparrow

On my lunchtime walk I added a few species to my personal day list in the park. Easily the best was the Red-headed Woodpecker that has been frequenting the feeders periodically over the last few days.

Red-headed Woodpecker and House Sparrow 05/04/2017

I will end with a picture of a Mayapple flower, many of which are in full bloom now in the Ramble.

Mayapple 05/04/2017