April 5 - Central Park

This morning was the first bird walk of the spring season for my Wednesday morning AMNH group. At 7:00 am it was foggy with a low overcast. Just before I arrived most of the group had a Brown Creeper at our regular meeting place on Central Park West. At Hernshead some of the group spotted a Winter Wren moving in the low trees along the shoreline - this was probably the best bird of the morning, though unfortunately, not everyone saw it before it pulled a disappearing act the way Winter Wrens often do. By the time we got up to the Belvedere Castle the sun was starting to break through and it turned into a lovely morning. On the south side of Turtle Pond Lenore Swenson spotted a bright yellow Pine Warbler which everyone got on. In the Maintenance Meadow, a Palm Warbler was our second warbler of the morning. Due to maintenance work a large part of the center of the Ramble, including the Azalea Pond and almost all of the Gill was fenced off and inaccessible. Despite the problems we had a very nice two hours finding a total of 40 species, including the Brown Creeper before the walk officially started and a Red-tailed Hawk over Central Park West seen by Lenore and myself as we were leaving. The full list is below.

A Fox Sparrow in the fog below the Belvedere Castle.

Bloodroot in bloom east of the Upper Lobe.

Canada Goose (8)
Mallard
Northern Shoveler (35)
Hooded Merganser (pair on Turtle Pond)
Ruddy Duck (1, winter male on the Lake)
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret (1, Turtle Pond)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (1, Turtle Pond)
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Herring Gull (overhead)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker (6)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1, below Belvedere)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Northern Flicker (6)
Eastern Phoebe (6, mainly south side of Turtle Pond)
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse (10)
White-breasted Nuthatch (6)
Brown Creeper (1)
Winter Wren (1)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (1, below Belvedere)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1, south side of Turtle Pond)
American Robin
European Starling
Palm Warbler (1, Maintenance Meadow)
Pine Warbler (1, south side of Turtle Pond)
Chipping Sparrow (1)
Fox Sparrow (5)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow (1, Maintenance Meadow)
White-throated Sparrow (everywhere)
Dark-eyed Junco (2, Maintenance Meadow)
Northern Cardinal
Rusty Blackbird (3, island in Turtle Pond)
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch (1, feeders)
House Sparrow