Sunday, December 28, 2014

December 27/28 - two more year birds and a beaver tree.

Ann and I went upstate a little way on this last weekend of the year to try to add a couple more birds to my 2014 NY year list. After going to our local farmer's market Saturday morning - which not too surprisingly was a bit sparse this post-holiday weekend - we headed up to Ulster County. Specifically, we went to the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge near Wallkill. This old army airfield, near the scenic "Gunks" was formerly called Galeville and is close to the Blue Chip Farms horse breeding farms. As the days left in the year are dwindling to just a few, so are the possible additions to my year's bird list. However, I knew I had an excellent chance to pick up two species here - Rough-legged Hawk and Short-eared Owl. We arrived a few minutes after 2:00 pm. All the blinds we could see scattered around the grasslands seemed to have long lenses sticking out of them. Ann and I settled ourselves in the main parking area on one of the old runways and watched and waited. Northern Harriers were hunting all around the fields. A birder/photographer who was set up in the parking area said he had seen Rough-legged Hawk earlier, but no Short-eared Owls yet. We enjoyed the harriers while we continued to watch. Finally, I spotted a dark phase Rough-legged Hawk perched in a tree quite a distance away. Even with the spotting scope it wasn't much more than a large dark lump of a buteo. Then local birder Ken McDermott arrived. I knew from eBird reports Ken had seen both of my target species there the day before. Ken told us the Short-ears had become active at 4:05 the previous afternoon,so we figured we still had a bit of a wait. However, the owls decided to start hunting earlier today, because at 3:05 I spotted one coming in from the north, the direction Ken said to watch. Soon there was another Short-eared, and another, and another. I am not sure how many were hunting over the fields, we estimated at least a half-dozen, but it was hard to be sure of an accurate total since birds were constantly dropping out of view on to the ground or behind rises in the terrain as they hunted. Certainly, at one point we had five in view at once over one small portion of the grasslands. While enjoying the show, I spotted a large bird in a distant tree, which through the spotting scope was a nice light phase Rough-legged Hawk. Though distant, it was a nicer view than the earlier bird. As sunset approached we drove over to Blue Chip Farm, where Ken told us there were three Snow Geese on the fields with the Canada Geese - two adults and an immature. The Snows stood out and were easy to spot.

On Sunday, following a suggestion from Sean Sime, we drove to Stissing Mountain near Pine Plains in Ulster County on the east side of the Hudson. We were hoping to find one of the Golden Eagles that regularly winter in this area. We had no luck with the eagle - it was overcast and not very good flying weather for big raptors - but we did have a very nice walk in the Nature Conservancy's Thompson Pond preserve. We have been here before, but not for a few years. When I got home this evening, I checked my records. I knew my life Golden Eagle had been at Stissing Mountain years ago with the late Tom Davis, my birding mentor. My records show Tom and I saw two there on December 28, 1974 - forty years ago to the day. It would have been fun to celebrate that anniversary with another sighting!

Ann and I did have one fun sighting of a non-avian nature on the walk. Near the shore of Thompson Pond, not far from the trail Ann spotted a large tree that had been almost felled by a beaver. We didn't see the beaver, but its chewing on the tree was unmistakable.

Beaver gnawed tree, Thompson Pond.                                                       © Joseph DiCostanzo
Close-up of beaver workings.                                                                                     © Joe DiCostanzo
Ann and I had a fun weekend in the field. The Rough-legged Hawk and Short-eared Owl put my year list for New York State at 307, my best one year total in New York since birding with Tome Davis forty years ago when Tom was the first birder to break 300 in a year in New York. It was a much harder task in those days when there were many fewer birders in the field finding birds and it was decades before the Internet and cellphones made discoveries on rarities almost instantly available to everyone. I have three days left to add to my total and Sean and I are planning one more hunt around Long Island, so I may still pick up some before midnight Wednesday.

Friday, December 26, 2014

December 26 - Merry, MERRY, Christmas!! - Couch's Kingbird in NYC

I was having Christmas dinner with my family in Brooklyn yesterday evening when my cellphone rang with a call from Sean Sime. I thought this must be something strange for Sean to call me during Christmas dinner - I knew he was also having Christmas dinner with family in New Jersey. He was calling to tell me about a report of a possible Couch's/Tropical Kingbird in the West Village in lower Manhattan. The bird had apparently been present for weeks, but had not been seen by any serious birders until a photo was sent to Gabriel Willow with a question about it possibly being a Western Kingbird. Gabriel recognized that it was either a Couch's or a Tropical Kingbird, only safely identifiable by voice. Word was now circulating about the bird. I told Sean I would certainly try for the bird this morning and would keep him informed. (Sean did not know if he could get in from New Jersey today.)

Ann and I got home from Brooklyn late last night so I was not up as early this morning as I had planned, but I figured, if the bird has been around for weeks, and it apparently was most regularly seen in the late-morning, I did not need to get there at sun-up. I had just finished breakfast when Sean called to say the bird had been refound a few blocks from its original location (Washington St. between Jane and Horatio) and that it had been heard calling and was definitely a Couch's Kingbird. I told Sean I would be hoping on the A subway train. (Sean said he had permission to temporarily abandon his family in New Jersey and race in for the bird.) On my way to the subway, I called a few friends to make sure they knew about the bird. John Walsh, hadn't heard but as I was going into the subway he checked his email and told me it had just been posted as being seen back at its original location on Washington St. The ride downtown was frustrating because of delays on the A train, but I finally made it to 14th Street and 8th Ave. Coming out of the station, I received a text from Sean that he had gotten in to the city, seen the bird, and was already headed back to New Jersey to rejoin his family. As I arrived at the corner of Jane and Washington I met other birders who told me the kingbird had flown off about five minutes earlier! This started a frustrating wait of over an hour watching for the bird with an ever increasing number of birders arriving all the time. Finally, the bird reappeared and for the next 45 minutes or so put on a fabulous performance hawking insects from the bare trees, mostly in the center of the block on the west side of Washington St. The bird then flew up to a taller perch closer to Horatio before disappearing onto the roof of 99 Jane St. At that point I called it quits andf headed for the office.

Couch's Kingbird, New York City, December 26, 2014                                                              © Joe DiCostanzo
This was # 305 for my New York year list and # 414 for my New York State list. Incredibly it was my 11th new bird for the state this year! I am normally happy to get one new bird for the state in any given year.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

December 25 - Merry Christmas!

No birds or natural history notes today - at least not yet - just a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Ann and me.

Right now, here in Inwood, about an hour after sun-up the rains of the last two days have finally stopped and the skies are clearing in the west. With a predicted high temperature approaching 60, it looks like it is going to be a lovely day! (Slipped in some natural history after-all.)

[UPDATE: Just before 10:00 am spotted from our apartment window, two Bald Eagles soaring over Spuyten Duyvil.]

[UPDATE 2: Visited my family in Park Slope, Brooklyn in the afternoon. While putting packages in the trunk of the car to move on to one of my sister's home for Christmas dinner, heard and saw Monk Parakeets and a Common Raven calling and flying over. The raven was new for my Kings County list - number 275. When I used to live there years ago, I never would have dreamt of the possibility of a raven in Brooklyn!]

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

December 23 - early Christmas presents

Just over three weeks ago, on November 30, I picked up three year birds to get to 301 for the year in New York State. Though I have down some birding since then, I hadn't picked up any more year birds until Tuesday, December 23. My friend Sean had to do an errand on eastern Long Island that wasn't far from St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale. Barnacle and Greater White-fronted geese have both been seen there recently and Sean and I both needed these species for the year. It seemed a good way to perhaps pick up a coupe of more year birds, so I went along. The trip was a success and we were lucky enough to get both geese fairly quickly at the cemetery with a large flock of Canada Geese. We were pleasantly surprised to find four Greater White-fronted Geese before they flew off.

Barnacle Goose (2nd from left), St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale                                                                    © Sean Sime
Greater White-fronted Geese, St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale                                                      © Sean Sime
One additional bonus for the day was a Northern Saw-whet Owl that Sean knew about at an undisclosed location. He had previously seen the owl, but it was new for my year list, so with the geese I picked up three year birds for the day and raised my total to 304 for the year in New York.

A final birding present for the day was adding a bird to my life list. It was what I call a "bureaucratic life bird". I received an email from an eBirds moderator telling me I needed to update one of my old bird lists. It seems that the "Blue-crowned Motmot" I saw in Trinidad over thirty years ago has been reclassified as an endemic species - the Trinidad Motmot - different from the motmot on mainland South America. Since I had also seen the bird in Brazil, this netted me an additional species on my world lifelist.

Monday, December 15, 2014

December 14 - Inwood Hill Park - Thayer's Gull

Yesterday on the Inwood Hill Park part of the Lower Hudson CBC, Alan Messer found and photographed an immature gull on the pier at the end of Dyckman Street on the Hudson River.. The bird intrigued Alan and after consulting some references last night he sent me some photos wondering about it being a Thayer’s Gull. I have circulated them to a few people and the consensus is that it looks good for a Thayer’s. Alan saw the bird yesterday morning around 9:45 am.

possible immature Thayer's Gull (left)                                                                        © Alan Messer
possible immature Thayer's Gull                                                                         © Alan Messer

possible immature Thayer's Gull                                                                           © Alan Messer
Opinions? If anyone refinds the bird, please get the word out. I will be looking for it probably tomorrow morning.

[UPDATE: So far I have heard from about half a dozen birders, most with experience with the species, and all have said the bird looks like a Thayer's Gull, so I have taken the word "possible" out of the title of this post.]

December 14 - Inwood Hill Park - Christmas Bird Count

Every December Adele Gotlib organizes the northern Manhattan portion of the Lower Hudson Christmas Bird Count. On Sunday, December 14 the group met at Dyckman Street and the Hudson River at 7:30 - 7:45 am. From the end of the pier there James Knox spotted, and I managed to miss (!), what was easily the best bird of the day - a Purple Sandpiper on the rocks below the La Marina restaurant just south of the pier. This is possibly a first record for the species here in northern Manhattan. To be fair to myself, nearly everyone in the group missed the bird. James spotted it and only a couple of others saw it before it disappeared around the south side of the rocks. Everyone headed down the new bike trail to try for the bird, but it was not found again.

After the frustrating miss at the pier we broke into groups to cover different areas. Seven birders and I headed up into the woods in Inwood Hill Park, while Adele led a group along the Hudson north through the ball fields. James took others to Swindler's Cove and Highbridge Park and others headed down to Fort Tryon Park. The eight of us in the woods further divided into two groups of four to scour the woods along the ridge in Inwood. And it did need to be a scour. I have been doing the bird count in Inwood for about twenty years now and this was probably about the quietest I have ever found the woods. A few titmice, even fewer chickadees, White-throated Sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied woodpeckers, a couple of Red-tailed Hawks were about all we found. The best species I saw from the ridge was two Red-breasted Mergansers flying over and out to the river. The most activity was in the Clove where people put out bird seed. Late-morning most of the Inwood counters rendezvoused at Muscota Marsh at the 218th Street entrance to the park, where a number of us warmed ourselves with takeout hot chocolates from the Indian Road Cafe. We did pick up a few more birds here with a Cooper's Hawk sitting in a tree across the small bay and an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron flying in to join a second immature roosting in the trees on the edge of the point. James called me on my cell at that point to ask how things were going and when people would be meeting again down on Dyckman where Adele had arranged for the NYC Parks Department building by the playground to be open for the group. James had done better than the rest of us with a Baltimore Oriole and a Black-throated Blue Warbler down by Swindler's Cove.

The group broke up at Muscota Marsh with some heading home and Adele and some heading back to Dyckman. Ann (who had joined us at Muscota) and I in to our apartment for lunch with a guest we had staying with us. After lunch I went back down to the pier at Dyckman to try another search for the Purple Sandpiper. I was unsuccessful, but did run intro Adele and some of the others again. A few of us decided to walk down the bike path along the river to its end in case the sandpiper was along the rocks somewhere. I spotted a raven flying over the Palisades across the Hudson, which I first thought wouldn't count for the day since it was in New Jersey, but then remembered, of course it did since this was the Lower Hudson Count and was not restricted to New York. On t5he way down the bike path we ran into James coming back. He had seen a Bald Eagle soaring over - another nice addition to the day's list. We continued to the turnaround at the end of the bike path and as we headed back north Adele spotted a Bald Eagle overhead. It was a subadult in an interesting plumage. It had a full white head and tail, but still had considerable white underneath the wings and on the underside of the body. I called James to ask him what plumage his eagle had been in. He told me his had been a young, all dark bird, so this was a second Bald Eagle for the day. Further up the bike path Adele spotted a western race Palm Warbler ahead of us for another nice addition to the day's list. The afternoon's birding proved to be more interesting than the morning's mostly empty walk through the woods!

Friday, December 12, 2014

December 11 - Central Park - Ring-necked Ducks and Bald Eagle

On Thursday morning, on the way to work I decided to take a quick detour to the south end of the Reservoir in Central Park. There were the usual ducks for this time of year with good numbers of Ruddy Ducks in the southwest section and Northern Shovelers along the west side. I had entered the park from West 86th Street. Much of the track on the west side of the Reservoir above 86th Street is closed for construction so I walked along the south side to the pump house near the East 85th Street corner of the Reservoir. In this corner there were a few Hooded Mergansers and three male Ring-necked Ducks. However, the best sighting, though probably not as rare as the Ring-necks, was an adult Bald Eagle circling over the middle and southeast section of the Reservoir.

Monday, December 8, 2014

December 7 - western Long Island

After yesterday's rains it was clear and cool with strong northwest winds. Ed Eden and I went out to Point Lookout and Jones Beach to try for a few life birds for Ed. We started at Point Lookout. The first breakwater out from the parking lot was covered in Dunlin. I was sorry I had forgotten my camera in the car, since it would have made a nice picture. The breakwater had a carpet of several hundred Dunlin, fairly evenly distributed over it and all facing into the wind, which meant all facing us. Scanning through the birds the occasional nearly white spot of a Sanderling really jumped out of the dark Dunlins. Then Ed spotted an even darker bird on the outer edge of the rocks - a check through my scope confirmed it as a lone Purple Sandpiper, but unfortunately it dropped down into a crevice, out of sight, before Ed could get a good look at it. We walked east along the beach towards Jones Inlet. The next breakwater had 30 - 40 Common Eiders off it. At the inlet breakwater Ed spotted his main target bird of the day, a pair of Harlequin Ducks - a life bird for him. The birds were very cooperative and gave us excellent views, swimming past us and then flying westward to the middle breakwater. Satisfied here we headed back to the car. Offshore there were a few Common Loons and Horned Grebes. On the way out of the parking lot there was a small flock of Pine Siskins flying around, evidently put up by a roving Sharp-shinned Hawk.

At Jones Beach, we first stopped at the Coast Guard Station parking lot. We scanned the island across the way, hoping for the lingering Marbled Godwit that has been present for weeks, but there was no sign of it among the Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins, Sanderlings, and two American Oystercatchers. The hedgerow along the Coast Guard fence was quiet except for a Northern Mockingbird. We ran into a few other birders, including Sy Schiff. They told us there wasn't a lot around and no one had seen the godwit. With that negative reports Ed and I decided to head over to the West End 2 parking field. On entering the lot we immediately turned east and started driving along the north edge of the lot. In a short distance I told Ed to stop! On the pavement in front of us was the Common Ground-Dove that has been lingering here for more than a month now.

Common Ground-Dove, Jones Beach                                                                            © Joseph DiCostanzo
This was Ed's second life bird of the day. I called Sy on his cell to let him know about the dove. After a few rings he answered. When I told him where the dove was, he said: "I was photgraphing it and had to put down my camera when you called." I looked around and saw that unnoticed by me Sy had driven up in his car just a little to our right.

After a rest stop Ed and I checked out the "swale" in front of the buildings on the south side of the parking lot. We could see several flocks of landbirds swirling around the area. They were primarily Horned Larks and a good number of Snow Buntings mixed in. The birds kept picking up, flying around and then settling to feed for a minute or so before picking up again. Scanning through the birds on the ground, I quickly picked out a Lapland Longspur - Ed's third life bird before 11 am! I don't know exactly how many longspurs were there since we never saw more than one at a time, but everytime the birds landed it would it would take less than a minute to pick out a longspur. Talking to Tom Burke and others later they said they estimated six to seven longspurs were present. While walking the beach to the east side of Jones Inlet, I spotted another Longspur in a flock of Snow Buntings that landed on the edge of the dunes. At the inlet there was a good group of Common Eiders, perhaps the same birds we had seen earlier from the Point Lookout side. There were also a few Surf and Black scoters.

Later in the morning Ed and I were treated to nice views of a very white Snowy Owl. In keeping with the usual informal rules on reporting owls, I will not mention precisely where we found it, but Snowys have been found around the New York area in the last couple of weeks, but not in the incredible numbers of last winter.

Snowy Owl                                                                                                 © Joseph DiCostanzo
The above picture was taken from a good distance away and is cropped and blown-up. We gave the bird lots of space. At one point it had a bunch of Snow Buntings running around it.

In the afternoon, Ed and I headed west to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn to try for the continuing Cassin's Kingbird still lingering there. This turned out to be our miss of the day. Another birder told us the kingbird had been spooked by a passing Cooper's Hawk about a half hour before we got there. As far as I know the kingbird was not seen again in the afternoon despite a number of birders looking for it.

I didn't add anything to my New York year list, but it was a great day's birding and any day you can get another birder some nice life birds is a good day.

[UPDATE: Ed sent me an email that when he checked his records he found he had seen Lapland Bunting (as it is known over there) in England in 2010. So he only had two life birds, plus a North American bird. Still, a very good day!]

December 6 - Inwood Hill Park

Went out for a brief walk Saturday morning before the rains started. The best, and only unusual, sighting was an immature Bald Eagle harassing a gull over the Hudson River, seen from the overlook up on the ridge.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 30 - Success!

I ended last weekend with 298 species on my New York State year list for 2014. Ann and I decided that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was a good time to try to find two more species to get me to 300. Initially, we discussed going upstate - we planned to visit our friend Loretta in Columbia County Friday to Sunday. There were several possible year birds in the vicinity or on the way. However, when we spoke to Loretta on Wednesday evening she told us the area had had about a foot of snow and she had no electricity, heat or running water and she did not know when her road and driveway would be plowed. Ann and I changed our plans for the weekend - now only Saturday and Sunday - to a trip out Long Island to Montauk and back. We drove out Saturday, stopping at a park/preserve near Stony Brook. We chose the Avalon Preserve because there were recent reports on eBirds of both Northern Bobwhite and Ring-necked Pheasant there and I still need these two species for the year. We had never been to this spot before and it proved to be a lovely little park area with a number of trails through woodland and old field habitat. We concentrated on the field areas as the most likely areas for my two target species. We hoped to at least hear the birds, even if we did not see them. We tried imitating bobwhite calls by whistling, but got no responses. Neither did we see or hear a pheasant. Finally, deciding we needed to move on we went back to our car. Ann was already sitting in the car and I had my door open when I happened to turn my head and glance back the way we had just come. I was stunned to see a lovely, male pheasant walking across the path we had just left!

Ring-necked Pheasant                                                                                 © Joseph DiCostanzo
# 299! Unfortunately, no bobwhite proved to be equally cooperative, but that really would have been too much to expect. We continued east from there. Approaching Montauk we drove the Napeague Meadow Road around and just after sunset, hoping for a hunting Short-eared Owl, but again struck out. From there we went onto the town of Montauk where we checked into the Daunt's Albatross Motel, where I have stayed on my visits to Montauk for over thirty-five years. We were checked in by James Daunt; we told James how we fondly remembered his late grandmother, Fran, who used to always greet us with a friendly hello when we stayed there. Ann and I had a nice dinner of roast duck (Long Island duck we hoped) at a nearby pub and went to bed.

Sunday morning Ann slept in and I took a taxi to the pavilion at Montauk Point State Park, getting there around sun-up. It was a lovely morning. I immediately spotted Northern Gannets flying off-shore. There were also thousands of scoters of all three species and probably about a thousand Common Eiders; also Common and Red-throated loons, Long-tailed Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers and a few other species. The ducks were doing what I call their "conveyor belt" routine. As you watch to the north from the pavilion the outgoing tide carries the ducks eastward. When they get to a certain point off the point they takeoff and fly back westward into the Sound. Thus watching from the shelter of the pavilion you have a constant stream of birds to scan through. I was hoping for a King Eider on the "conveyor". Most of the birds are fairly far out, but with a spotting scope an adult male King Eider is pretty distinctive. To my disappointment, none appeared. Then, much closer in I noticed a smaller looking female eider flying westward just a little way off-shore. It obligingly dropped in just west of the pavilion and enabled me to confirm it was a female King Eider, most easily identified by its bill shape - smaller and not as sloping in profile as a female Common Eider's. This was # 300 for the year! A few minutes later I spotted four Razorbills flying by further out. Any alcid is always a welcome sight anywhere from shore on Long Island, but these were not new for my year list since I had seen hundreds on an of-shore pelagic trip last winter. Later Ann joined me at the Point. By this time the "conveyor belt" had shut down - probably the tidal conditions had changed, but there were at least a thousand Common Eiders now sitting on the water just off the Point.

Montauk lighthouse                                                                                 © Joseph DiCostanzo
In the late-morning we headed back to town, checked out of the motel and had a late breakfast at around noon. Sean called to tell me that a Black-headed Gull was being seen back in Westchester, but there were no reports on the bird-lines from eastern Long Island. (Other than mine that morning which I had had Sean post for me when I was at the Point.) After eating, Ann and I continued to bird the Montauk area, we picked up some more waterfowl species - Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck and a few other species, but nothing unusual. A few minutes after 1:00 pm, as we arrived at Culloden Point, west of Montauk Harbor, Sean called again. This time he had the amazing report of a Le Conte's Sparrow found by Heydi Lopes at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, not far from the continuing Cassin's Kingbird that had been part of last Saturday's spectacular day's birding. Like the Cassin's last week, the Le Conte's would not just be a year bird, but would be a new bird for my all-time New York State list. Ann and I were about as far as it was possible to be from the sparrow and still be on Long island, but we decided we had to try for it. All plans for birding other areas on eastern Long Island were scrapped as we dashed westward for Brooklyn. We knew that it was going to be a near thing getting to Floyd Bennett before sunset and that everything would depend on traffic. That it was Sunday of a holiday weekend made the trip that much more doubtful. Most of the way we were amazed with our luck and though traffic got heavy in some stretches, it continued to move well. Sean called again in the afternoon to tell me he had gotten to Floyd and seen the bird and had gotten some nice pictures (below).

Le Conte's Sparrow, Floyd Bennett Field, Nov 30, 2014                                                                           © Sean Sime
Not surprisingly, traffic got heavier the further west we got, but the really heavy traffic was on the last stretch once we got to the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. It was now past 3:30 pm and Ann and I knew time was running out. As we approached the Flatbush Avenue exit, I received a text from Sean that he was back home. I called him just as we exited the Belt. He agreed to stay on the phone with us and talk us into the spot at Floyd Bennett where the sparrow had been found. We pulled into Floyd a few minutes after 4:00 pm. With Sean on the phone we got to the correct parking area. Going around an old building I told Sean we must be in the right place because I could see birders gathered up ahead. He wished us luck and we headed for the birders. In my post last week about the Common Ground-Dove at Jones Beach I wrote that one of the best ways I know to locate a rare bird is to look for Tom Burke. To my delight, as Ann and I approached the group of birders I spotted Tom Burke and Gail Benson. Tom pointed to the bird in the grass and very kindly let Ann and me get nice views of it through his spotting scope. The Le Conte's was # 301 for the year! It was also my 10th state bird of the year, bringing my total New York State list to 413.

There is still one month left in 2014, but it has been a fabulous year and I am content.

At least for now.

Birders are after all, basically somewhat crazy.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

November 22 - The quest for 300.

As I mentioned a while ago I am trying to get to 300 species in New York State in 2014. This was not a goal at the beginning of the year - I was not really trying until my friend Sean Sime suggested it in, I think, September. Today, after doing our regular Saturday shopping at the Farmer's Market on Isham, Ann and I headed directly out to Jones Beach to look for the Common Ground-Dove that has been present in and around the West End 2 parking field for a couple of weeks now. Ann and I had been planning this for a couple of days, but it was good to get a phone call from Sean just as we were leaving for the market that the dove was seen this morning. We arrived at the West End 2 parking lot and immediately turned east along the north side of the lot - the dove has most often been seen around the easternmost exit from the lot. We spotted a car pulled over near the north edge and I told Ann to head for it. I thought I recognized the car as Tom Burke's. It was indeed Tom and Gail Benson. Sure enough as we got close Ann said; "There's the dove!". Many years ago I told Ann the best way to find a rare bird you are searching for is to look for Tom Burke. It has worked many times and here it was working again. The dove was # 296 for the year for me.

Common Ground-Dove, Jones Beach S. P.                                                          © Joseph DiCostanzo
While we were looking at the dove Sean called on my cell to tell me that Tom and Gail had just posted the dove was along the north edge of the parking lot. I told Sean we were sitting about 20 feet from Tom looking at the bird. Sean also said a Western Kingbird had been reported from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. In talking to Tom and Gail while we sat in our respective cars, Tom told us about some Lapland Longspurs they had seen in the swale on the south side of the lot. They also asked us if we had heard about the kingbird report. I said we had. Ann and I planned to spend a few minutes trying to photograph the dove before going to look for the longspurs. I already had the species on my year list, but they are always nice to see. Suddenly Sean was back on the phone to report that the kingbird at Floyd Bennett was not a Western, but was in fact the Cassin's Kingbird that had been seen and photographed by one observer last weekend, but which hadn't been seen since. I quickly told Ann to roll down her window and I yelled the news across to Gail. I heard from Sean later that after hanging up with me he had called Tom and Tom told him: "Joe's yelling the news to us right now."

All thought of the longspurs was forgotten as we left Jones and headed for Floyd Bennett. Not only was the Cassin's Kingbird a year bird, but it would be a New York State bird for me. There is only one previous record for the species in New York, out at Montauk in 2007, and I hadn't gotten out to see that bird. I called Sean from the road to get specific details about the location of the bird at Floyd - he was on his way there with his daughter. He had been in Prospect Park with her when he got the word about the kingbird. When Ann and I arrived, we heard the bird had been spooked by a Sharp-shinned Hawk and now good numbers of birders were hunting for it. While we looked in the area it had last been seen in, word went out among the hunters that it was back near the community gardens where it had first been seen. Ann and I (and a bunch of other birders) hurried back only to find the bird had disappeared again. Everyone spread out again. Ann and I had gotten separated during the hunt, but Ann called me on my cell to say she was heading back to our car to rest her knee while I continued searching. I happened to be standing in front of the car at that moment, facing the picnic area the bird had been frequenting. I told Ann I would call her if I found it. I had gone only about 15-20 feet forward when I spotted the bird through some trees flycatching from a low post. I instantly called Ann who turned out to already have me in sight, so she hurried over. I looked around for other birders to signal and then saw birders gathering off to my left. Clearly they had also spotted the bird. Finally, the kingbird was cooperative and many got to enjoy good views of it perching and sallying forth from perches on some short poles.

Cassin's Kingbird, Floyd Bennett Field.                                               © Joseph DiCostanzo
Cassin's Kingbird, Floyd Bennett Field                                                                  © Joseph DiCostanzo
I was able to get a few distant shots of the bird (above). Note the gray head and back and the yellow underparts. The pale terminal band on the end of the brown tail distinguishes Cassin's from the similar and much more to be expected Western Kingbird which has white edges on the sides of a black tail. The Cassin's was # 297 for the year for me and # 412 for my all time New York State list. It was my 9th state bird of the year, which is really quite incredible!

Our day, however, was not done. Ann and I headed over to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens to look for one more year bird for me. Last winter I had somehow managed to miss seeing Snow Goose, despite having seen many much rarer waterfowl. At Jamaica Bay, Ann decided to rest her knee while I walked out the West Pond trail. I went as far as the breach caused by Hurricane Sandy. The tide was in and there was some water in the currently defunct West Pond and thousands of Brant, but no Snow Geese. I headed back towards the headquarters, intending to check the East Pond when I heard calling Snow Geese approaching. Seven Snow Geese flew over coming from the direction of the East Pond - # 298! Back at the car in the parking lot, more than a hundred Snows flew over. There was also a flock of Boat-tailed Grackles perched along Cross Bay Boulevard, but these were not new for me for the year.

Three year birds in one day in late-November - one of them a new State bird!. A fabulous day! Only two to go - but Snow Goose was the last easy one. Now it really gets hard.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

November 20 - Inwood Hill Park - Cooper's Hawk, blackbirds & Muskrat

It was above freezing for the first time in a couple of days this morning when I went into Inwood Hill Park for a quick walk along the ridge. Migration is nearly over and the woods were fairly quiet, but there were flocks of blackbirds - mostly Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds - passing south overhead. In the hour or so I was in the park, well over a thousand birds passed overhead.Among the waterfowl there were only the usual Canada Geese, Mallards and American Black Ducks, but the Black Duck numbers are slowly increasing with at least four around this morning.

On the way back out of the park I saw a Cooper's Hawk fly into a tree east of the soccer fields, just a little way in from the Indian Road side of the park. As I got closer to the bird it seemed to be busy eating. It allowed a relatively close approach while it ate what appeared to be a House Sparrow. After taking a few pictures, I left the bird to its repast.

immature Cooper's Hawk                                       © Joseph DiCostanzo

I had one other interesting sighting in the park this morning, this one from my apartment window before I went out. A week or so ago I noticed a suspicious looking mound in the middle of the freshwater pool areas in Muscota Marsh. I thought it looked like it might be a Muskrat lodge, at least it looked as if it might be, and I have on occasion seen Muskrats in Inwood. This morning I had my suspicions apparently confirmed when I spotted a Muskrat swimming in the partially frozen water next to the mound. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera handy when the Muskrat was visible, but below is a picture of the mound as seen from my window.

apparent Muskrat lodge in Muscota Marsh                                                                                               © Joseph DiCostanzo
When I mentioned the Muskrat in the new Muscota Marsh area to my friend Sean Sime, his comment was: "If you build it, they will come."

Sunday, November 9, 2014

November 9 - Inwood Hill Park - Dickcissel - # 295!

The Dickcissel that eluded me yesterday in Inwood was more cooperative today, but still required some work to get. This morning when I went into the park i went straight over to the ball fields on the Hudson River side via the north end of the park taking the path that goes under the Henry Hudson Bridge and then the footbridge over the Amtrak railroad tracks. I was checking all the sparrows at the extreme north end of the ball fields, where the Dickcissel was last reported yesterday afternoon, when James Knox walked up and told me the bird was now down at the south end of the fields just in from Dyckman Street - he and Nadir had refound it down there earlier. We headed south and encountered another birder, Mira Fugoch, searching for the bird. Even though the large flock of House Sparrows that James and Nadir had seen the Dickcissel with was still feeding on the grass, the three of us could not spot the bird we wanted. Then a group of Frisbee players arrived and started a game on the field and the sparrow flock dispersed. James and Mira continued to search for the bird along the west side of the field while I checked Dyckman Street itself where some of the House Sparrows had moved to to bathe in a pool of water. Having no luck myself I came back north and rejoined James and Mira in the hunt on the west side of the fields. Finally, a little south of the southern end of the first baseball field the Dickcissel appeared in a mostly bare tree along the river side of the field. The bird then dropped onto the grass to feed with the House Sparrows. A few other birders were lucky enough to arrive at that point to see the bird. The flock of sparrows was fairly skittish and kept flying up from the grass into the trees so I was only able to get some poor, distant photos of the Dickcissel. This is species # 295 for my 2014 New York State year list. Five to go!

Dickcissel, Inwood Hill Park                                                                           © Joseph DiCostanzo
Interestingly, this area where the bird was today is the same general vicinity where a Dickcissel wintered two years ago.

After leaving the Dickcissel, Mira and I headed north along the river front before heading back over the railroad tracks and up onto the ridge. The birding was much quieter than yesterday without the thousands of blackbirds flying over that were such a spectacular part of yesterday's flight. We did encounter an immature Red-shouldered Hawk in the trees between the two pine groves along the central ridge trail. Another highlight was an adult Bald Eagle flying south over the Hudson seen from the meadow overlook. My entire list from the day is below.

Canada Goose
American Black Duck
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant (1, flying upriver)
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk (1, see above)
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon (1, over the canal at the north end)
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee (have become common in the last two weeks)
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (a couple)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Dickcissel (see above)
Common Grackle (400, flying by my apartment window in the early morning)
House Finch
House Sparrow

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Virginia DiCostanzo: 1921 - 2014

I hope those who read my blog for its birds and natural history notes will forgive me for a brief, non-nature, personal note. My mom, Virginia DiCostanzo, died this past Tuesday evening, November 4. She grew up in Brooklyn and raised six children there. I grew up in the house she grew up in and she lived there until a major stroke two weeks ago. We buried her in Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday, just a few blocks from where she lived. Monk Parakeets flew around calling from their nests in the cemetery entrance gate as we arrived for the funeral. In a way, I guess this is a sort of natural history note after all, since our lives and deaths are all part of the natural world. My brothers and sisters and I had discussed which of us would speak at the funeral. I deferred to my younger sister Toni, and I was very glad I had. Toni spoke for us all. She did not tell us before hand what she was going to say, but I could not have come close to matching her words:

Last year after spending five days with mom in the hospital, as she fought her way back to us, mom gave me another one of her many gifts.  Mom put her hand on my cheek and said, “Thank you for everything.”   “Thank you for everything.”

Four simple words that mean so very much.  “Thank you for everything.”

So today mom, I give to you that simple gift from all of us.

From Al, Jim, Joe, Ann, Marie, Joe, Joey, Joanna, Pat, me and Dad too.

Thank you, for always making us believe that we had everything, because we did, we had you.

Thank you for the warm summer days playing at the beach, enjoying the pepper and egg sandwiches you had gotten up so very early to make for all of us.

Thank you for the little ice cream bars you lovingly brought out to us, as we sat on the stoop watching the kids on the block run after the ice cream truck.

Thank you for understanding that six noisy kids and then later, two beautiful grandchildren could turn the house upside down and that that was ok.

Thank you for every Christmas morning you turned into a magical celebration, filled with more gifts than we could have ever imagined. 

Thank you for teaching us that it doesn’t cost anything to be nice, and that a smile, a kind word and an open heart will carry you through your most difficult day.

Mom, you filled our lives with love, comfort and laughter.  And for that, today, WE give you these simple words that mean so very much.

“Thank you for everything.”

Mom, Go with God.  Fly to daddy.  Be at peace.
We will always love you.  You are forever in our hearts.

November 8 - Inwood Hill Park - thousands of blackbirds

I went into Inwood Hill Park this morning to look for the Dickcissel reported there yesterday - I had no luck finding it, but I heard at the end of the day that it had been refound on the northern ballfields by the Hudson River, so perhaps tomorrow. What I did see this morning was a massive flight of Icterids (blackbirds). There was a steady stream of flocks of blackbirds going over, sometimes thousands at a time. They were mostly Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds, but mixed in were Brown-headed Cowbirds and some Rusty Blackbirds. While James Knox, Danny Karlson, Nadir Sourigi and I watched the migrating flocks from the soccer fields this morning we also picked out a couple of Horned Larks going over - a new species for me for Inwood. Also going over were Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, and American Kestrel. When I ran into James later in the morning when Ann and I were headed to the farmer's market, he told me they had also seen Red-shouldered and Broad-winged hawks after I left. There is still a good variety of sparrows around the soccer fields - in the morning I saw Savannah, Chipping, Field, Swamp, White-throated, Song, and Dark-eyed Junco.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

November 2 - Inwood Hill Park - vultures, raptors and a bluebird

Yesterday's rains were replaced by clearing skies and a stiff northwest wind. And daylight savings time was finally replaced by standard time. Despite the extra hour during the night, I did not get out as early as I had hoped. As I was getting ready to go into the park I looked out my window and saw James Knox coming out of the park. I yelled down to him to ask what he had seen and he said I should finally pick up Turkey Vulture for my New York County year list since they were migrating over in numbers. He had also seen Bald Eagle and had just watched a Red-shouldered Hawk go over. So it was with some optimism that I headed into the park. James's preview was on the money - by the time I got to the soccer field I had seen four Turkey Vultures and an immature Bald Eagle going over. There were numbers of juncos around the edges of the soccer field, but with a game in progress it was not a good time to really check out the sparrows. Instead I went up onto the ridge and spent some time at the meadow overlook watching for migrating vultures and raptors. Birds were moving, but perhaps because of the high winds, very few seemed to be actually moving south over the river. While at the overlook most seemed to be appearing over the ridge from the northeast. Numbers for the three hours I was in the park, part of the time on the ridge are below. Best was an adult Red-shouldered Hawk circling relatively low over the meadow overlook. Since the River did seem to be the primary route for the migrants, I came back down the ridge to watch for a bit from the soccer fields. (I found the game was now over, but most of the sparrows had apparently been driven off.) While I watched the sky from the field, Nadir Sourigi rode up on his bike and we watched for a while together. Our best bird was not a raptor, but an Eastern Bluebird that landed very briefly in the top of a tree before flying off again.

Canada Goose (migrating flocks overhead as well as the locals on the fields)
American Black Duck (2)
Mallard
Turkey Vulture (17)
Bald Eagle (5, all immatures)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (1)
Red-shouldered Hawk (1, adult)
Red-tailed Hawk (6, impossible to know how many were locals and how many migrants)
Merlin (1)
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird (1)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Palm Warbler
Savannah Sparrow (2 lovely plumaged birds by the brushy area on the north side of the soccer field)
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Common Grackle
House Sparrow

Friday, October 31, 2014

October 30 - Inwood - Ravens and Blue Grosbeak

A beautiful, crisp, fall morning in Inwood. I went into the park around 7:30 am. After checking the Muscota Marsh area (the usual Swamp and Song sparrows in the marshy areas), I went out towards the dock. When almost to the dock I heard a Common Raven croaking across the canal but I couldn't spot exactly where it was coming from. Then I spotted a raven flying north across the canal, but I knew this was not been the bird I had heard. The flying bird landed in a cleft on the cliff near the big Columbia "C" on the north side of the canal. Already in the cleft was another raven, presumably the bird I had heard calling. Over the next few minutes the two birds moved around the cleft and picked up and passed around some sticks in the cleft before flying off. Ravens have become increasingly regular in the neighborhood lately. If this is a pair, perhaps of young birds, thinking of nesting in the area, perhaps even on the cliff overlooking the canal, they would be a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.

I continued my walk, back past Muscota Marsh and to the soccer fields. The trees on the south side of the Henry Hudson Bridge are now showing some nice fall color.

Ridge south of Henry Hudson Bridge                                                                      © Joseph DiCostanzo
As in recent days, there were many sparrows around the edge of the soccer field. Today the flocks were mostly on the southwest side of the field and as in recent days were dominated by Dark-eyed Juncos - probably hundreds of them. After checking through the sparrows for a while I headed up the Clove to the ridge. I was hoping for a hawk flight and the meadow overlook of the Hudson River is often a good spot to catch birds following the river south. However, I think it was still too early in the day - no thermals yet for the hawks to ride. On the path north of the overlook I found that the Osage Orange tree had dropped most of its large, yellow/green, knobby, baseball-sized fruit. These are a not uncommon sight littering the ground in the fall.

Osage Orange fruit on ground.                                                                             © Joseph DiCostanzo
Close-up of Osage Orange fruit.                                                                                   © Joseph DiCostanzo
As I was walking south along the ridge to get to the valley path to go home, my cellphone range with a call from Nadir Sourigi. He had a Blue Grosbeak along the Greenway trail south of Tubby Hook at the west end of Dyckman Street. Since I still needed this species for my New York State 2014 year list I quickly headed south. Nadir said he would wait for me to arrive so I did not have to hunt for the bird. When I got there I found Nadir and James Knox still watching the bird which was feeding in the weeds on the west side of the trail with an Indigo Bunting.

Poor picture of the Blue Grosbeak.                                                                                © Joesph DiCostanzo
The grosbeak was number 294 for my year list. Only six to go to my goal of 300! As the three of us headed north back up the Greenway, the day's hawk flight was starting. Overhead we saw a immature Bald Eagle, a Red-shouldered Hawk and two Peregrine Falcons - the last perhaps local birds. My morning list follows.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven (2, see above)
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Palm Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow (1, fenced brushy area north side of soccer field)
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird (a group flying south over the Greenway)
Common Grackle
Purple Finch (6, seen flying south at the Overlook)
House Sparrow

Monday, October 27, 2014

October 25/26 - Inwood Hill Park - sparrows and eagles

It was a lovely weekend with some nice birding in Inwood Hill Park. Reports on the Internet indicated a massive fallout of birds at coastal sites on Saturday, mainly sparrows. Inwood also saw  a good influx of sparrows. Saturday morning the fenced in shrubbery area at the north end of the soccer fields and the adjacent grass held a wonderful variety of sparrows. I encountered eight species here in about an hour of watching: Chipping, Field, Savannah, Song, Swamp, White-throated, White-crowned sparrows, and Dark-eyed Junco. There were probably 5 - 6 immature White-crowns. A Cooper's Hawk also put in a brief appearance overhead.

There were many fewer sparrows in the same area on Sunday morning, but on the southeastern corner of the soccer field (away from all the people) there were 50 - 60 Dark-eyed Juncos. Also on Sunday morning, Bald Eagles were migrating down the Hudson. I saw five individuals (four adults and one immature), most from the Meadow Overlook, but some from the soccer fields. Also seen from the overlook was a Common Raven going over. A Merlin and a Red-tailed Hawk (perhaps a local bird) also went by. In the woods there were lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Palm Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo.

Hybrid sparrow - more photos.

On my Friday October 10 Central park bird walk I spotted a White-throated Sparrow x Dark-eyed Junco hybrid. The other day I received an email from Laura Goggin with the news that she had seen what had to be the same individual in the same area of the park on October 14. She got some very nice photos of the bird which she has put on her Flickr stream: herehere, and here.

October 24 - Central Park - finally dry

After a two day northeaster, finally a dry morning in Central Park for the last Friday AMNH bird walk of the season. We were rewarded with the best list of the week, helped by the weather and a large group of participants as a number of people from my other walks came on Friday, avoiding the previous two days of rain. The highlight of the morning was White-crowned Sparrow with two immatures on the grass across from the southeast corner of Turtle Pond.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Red-tailed Hawk
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

October 23 - Central Park - rain again

Another rainy morning for the last of the Fall season's Thursday morning AMNH Central Park bird walks. Five participants braved the elements for an hour and a half. We spent most of the time sheltering in the pavilions at Hernshead and the Belvedere. Unfortunately, it was not as birdy as yesterday's morning in the rain. The list follows.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow

October 22 - Central Park - rain

A wet morning the fall season's last Wednesday morning AMNH Central Park bird walk. Two brave (foolhardy?) participants showed up for the rainy morning. We spent an hour and a half in the pavilion at Hernshead staying dry. Nevertheless, it was surprisingly birdy and we were rewarded with a total of 21 species! The list below.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Winter Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Gray Catbird
Palm Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

October 21 - Inwood Hill Park - Sparrow Days

The fall Sparrow Days are here. Large numbers of sparrows are in and have been in for days now. The majority are White-throated Sparrows, but there is a good variety of others around also. On Sunday morning, October 19, I had eight species of sparrows just around the fenced weedy area on the north side of the soccer fields at the north end of the park: Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow; Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco. Nadir Sourigi had a ninth species there, a White-crowned Sparrow. Later in the day Ann and I were at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and saw several White-crowns there, as well as a Vesper and a Clay-colored, bringing my sparrow species count for the day to eleven. This afternoon, watching the Muscota Marsh area from my apartment window I saw Field Sparrow (1); Savannah Sparrow (1), Song Sparrow (many), and Swamp Sparrow (at least 5, including an adult). The Field Sparrow was new to my apartment bird list and brings my total to 114 species.

October 21 - Central Park

The combination of sunrise well after 7 am and heavy clouds to the east made for a dim start to the Tuesday AMNH Central Park bird walk. Despite that we had a nice morning birding. As the sun got higher and the clouds cleared from the west (at least in the early morning) it turned into a lovely morning. The dominant bird was White-throated Sparrow with large numbers all through the Ramble.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck (3 males, Turtle Pond)
Gadwall (1, Turtle Pond)
Mallard
Great Blue Heron (1, flyover)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, perched in swampy pin oak area)
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren (3)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (scattered individuals)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat (1)
Palm Warbler (1)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow (1, Maintenance Meadow)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Saturday, October 18, 2014

October 18 - Van Cortlandt and Inwood Hill parks - 292 and 113

No, the numbers in the title of this post are not species totals for this morning. Last month my friend Sean Sime suggested that since I was having a good birding year, I really should try for 300 species in New York in 2014. I had not set out to do a big year this year, but since 300 is in sight, I thought I might as well make a little extra effort and try for it. Last week Nadir Sourigi told me he had had American Pipits on the parade grounds at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, about a mile north of Inwood, so I decided to try for that species this morning. I ended up sleeping a bit late (leading walks in Central Park four morning in a row can cause that), so I didn't get up to Van Cortlandt until a few minutes after 9 AM. The was already a fair number of people about so I thought I had missed my chance, but as I crossed the south end of the parade grounds an American Pipit flew over calling. I did not see it take off, so I don't know if it had been disturbed from the gound or was merely looking for a peaceful place to land. It continued off to the west. The pipit was 292 for the year, eight to go!

I didn't stay in Van Cortlandt long since I needed to get home to go to the farmer's market with Ann. Back in the apartment, I was sitting at the computer to enter the pipit in my year list when I heard a Common Raven calling outside the window. This is a species I have been seeing with increasing regularity in Inwood over the last year or so and one I have been expecting to add to my apartment list for some time. It is number 113 for my apartment bird list!

The forecast is for NW winds tonight. I am hoping for a flight and some additions to my lists tomorrow!

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

Thursday, October 16, 2014

October 16 - Central Park

A slightly damp morning for two brave AMNH bird walk participants in the Ramble in Central Park. For the most part, the rains held off with only a couple of periods of light rain. Luckily, the longest and heaviest spell came when we were by the Belvedere Castle so we had a place to stand out of the rain and still bird. Despite the weather we managed to find 30 species.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck (4, Upper Lobe, 1 adult male)
Mallard
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2)
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse (feeders; fewer around than yesterday)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (1)
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher (2, swampy pin oak area)
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (20+, by park drive east of Maintenance Building)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (2, male and female)
Eastern Towhee (calling and seen all through the Ramble)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow (1, Maintenance Meadow)
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Finch (feeders)
House Sparrow

October 15 - Central Park

Partly cloudy and relatively mild for my Wednesday AMNH bird walk group in Central Park. We are now well past the peak of fall migration, but it was relatively quiet even for this time in migration. We found only two warblers, one individual each of two species.

Canada Goose
Gadwall (3, Turtle Pond)
Mallard
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (including one adult male)
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse (individuals seemed to be quite common)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (2)
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat (1)
Magnolia Warbler (1)
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Finch
House Sparrow

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

October 14 - Central Park

It was overcast and dim when I started out with the Tuesday AMNH Central Park bird walk group at 7 am. The ground was wet from overnight rain. The clouds overhead were starting to break up, so I thought we had probably seen the last of the rain for the day and by the time the walk ended at 9 am it was a lovely day, with a mostly blur sky. It was a relatively quiet morning, with a few highlights: Wood Ducks, a couple of Brown Creepers and a Purple Finch. Unfortunately, what would have been the best bird of the day eluded us. After we had passed Willow Rock by the Point, we heard about a Yellow-breasted Chat at Strawberry Fields. We hurried over, but the bird had disappeared by then and though some of us stayed until about 9:30, it did not show itself again. The full list follows.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck (2 on te Upper Lobe; 4 flying over Turtle Pond)
Gadwall (3, Turtle Pond)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, Maintenance Meadow)
Merlin (1, seen from the Belvedere)
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (near the feeders)
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (2, in the same tree north of Willow Rock)
Carolina Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (about a dozen near the park drive northeast of the Maintenance Meadow)
Black-throated Green Warbler (1, Strawberry Fields)
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Purple Finch (1, female, feeders)
House Finch (2, feeders, male and female)
House Sparrow