October 12 - Central Park

A lovely, cool morning in Central Park for my Wednesday morning AMNH birdwalk group. However, it was a times frustrating because we could see birds high up in the tree tops, but they often stayed out of sight behind the dense clumps of leaves or were mere silhouettes against the sky. Nevertheless, we had a nice couple of hours with a decent variety of species. One favorable development was that most of the Ramble is finally open again now that he Conservancy has finished the latest repaving project and taken down the fencing that has blocked off large sections this fall. My group had been looking forward to this so that we could check the large patch of Jewelweed that was behind the benches at the main path intersection somewhat north of the lower Gill. We were stunned to discover the Jewelweed had all been removed by the Conservancy. I have no idea why.

Northern Flicker - 10/12/2016 - feeding on ground near Maintenance Meadow

Today's list is below (35 species):

Canada Goose (7, the Lake)
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant (1, Turtle Pond)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift (5)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo (2)
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee (6)
Tufted Titmouse (5)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (2, Blevedere)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (1)
Carolina Wren (1)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher (1, Maintenace Meadow)
European Starling
Northern Parula (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow (1, near Maintenance Meadow)
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird (5, flyover flock, Maintenance Meadow)
Common Grackle
House Finch
House Sparrow