April 26 - Inwood Hill Park - migration finally hits home

Early yesterday morning, within minutes of each other I heard from Sean Sime in Brooklyn and Nadir Souirgi birding on the ridge in Inwood Hill Park that there were lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers (with a scattering of other birds) passing through. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out yesterday, so I decided to try to go this morning, weather permitting. Thunderstorms during the night made me suspect i wouldn't get in to the park afterall. When I got up this morning it was very gray, with a low overcast, but a check of the weather radar indicated there should be a window of dry weather, or at least a spell of no rain, in which I could check out the park. The weather did indeed cooperate. There were good numbers of Yellow-rumps on the ridge, though in apparently less numbers than reported yesterday by Nadir. I also found a couple of Palm Warblers in the meadow on the ridge as well as a Blue-headed Vireo. A first for the year for me was a Baltimore Oriole heard up on the ridge. When I encountered James Knox as I came back down the valley, he said he had heard an Orchard Oriole singing on the south side of the soccer fields by the spring. James had also seen three Snowy Egrets flyover, much rarer here than our usual Great Egrets, and a couple of Greater Yellowlegs on the flats. Another first of the year for me was a Veery partway down the main valley path.

Veery 04/26/2016 Inwood Hill Park

Back on the soccer fields I ran into Danny Karlson and we headed over to the northwest corner of the fields to look for the Northern Waterthrush that James had reported there. Shortly after getting there we first heard it singing and then saw it walking on the mud under the trees.

To leave birds for a moment, the Dogwood is starting to flower up on the ridge. My complete list of forty species is below after the Dogwood picture.

Flowering Dogwood 04/26/2016

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant (1, flying south over the Hudson)
Great Egret (2)
American Kestrel (1, flying west over the soccer fields carrying something in its talons)
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (1, singing along north edge of soccer fields)
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow (1, over the water)
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren (singing)
Veery (1, picture above)
American Robin
Gray Catbird (1, my first of the year)
Northern Mockingbird (1, Muscota Marsh)
European Starling
Northern Waterthrush (1, see above)
Yellow Warbler (1, north side of soccer fields)
Palm Warbler (2, see above)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (many)
Eastern Towhee (singing)
Chipping Sparrow (soccer fields)
Field Sparrow (1, soccer fields)
Savannah Sparrow (1, soccer fields)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow (2, almost all gone now)
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole (1, see above)
American Goldfinch (1, adult male up on ridge)
House Sparrow