Central Park - Apr 30 - Cool and very wet

I had a few hopes for this morning's American Museum of Natural History bird walk in Central Park. I hoped there might be a break in the rain before it really settled in later in the day. Barring that, I hoped for mass sanity among my registered participants and no one would show so that I could go and have a nice leisurely, hot breakfast. My hopes were dashed on both counts. The hiatus in the rain didn't come until we were headed out of the park a little before 9:00 am. As for the second hope, three crazy intrepid people were waiting for me when I arrived at 7:00 am. My regulars can probably make a good guess as to which three were there. I reminded them that as long as I did not use their names, they would have no grounds for a libel suit no matter what I might say on this blog. One pointed out that the truth was always a valid defense.

Getting to the birds, despite the weather we had a list of 27 species, including a handful of the expected warblers.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Northern Shoveler - still six on the Lake
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Great Egret - 1, flyover bu the Bow Bridge
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
Fish Crow - 1, heard
Barn Swallow - 3, the Lake
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1, between Bow Bridge and the Point
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - several, including a singing male
Veery - 1, my first of the year
American Robin
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler - 1, male between Bow Bridge and the Point
Palm Warbler - 1, Hernshead
Yellow-rumped Warbler - a handful
Chipping Sparrow - 6, Feeders
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch - feeders
House Sparrow

The temperature tomorrow is supposed to get into the mid 70's. The question is will the rain stop by tomorrow's 7:00 am start time, or will it linger later.