May 18 - Central Park

Another big flight of migrants on radar last night; another disappointing morning. I suppose the disappointment is actually relative. Most of the spring has been so cool and wet and the migration has been so slow that everyone was looking for some spectacular flights this week now that the winds were predicted to be favorable (SW) and the temperatures were warming up. Indeed, Tuesday morning (which based on the overnight radar on Monday night was expected to be middling) was, in fact, quite good. The next two mornings, which everyone thought would be even better, just didn't measure up. This does not mean that we had a very poor morning, just a disappointing one. My Thursday AMNH bird walk group tallied forty species, with ten warblers, about half the warbler total of Tuesday morning. It would seem that the last two nights were so favorable for migration that the big numbers of birds picked up on radar just kept on going. Nevertheless, we had some nice birds: Great Crested Flycatcher, male Bay-breasted Warbler, and a male Scarlet Tanager. The list is below.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret (1, flyover)
Herring Gull (2, flyovers)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
Downy Woodpecker (heard)
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee (1, heard)
Great Crested Flycatcher (1, west of Azalea Pond)
Eastern Kingbird (3, Hernshead and Turtle Pond)
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo (3, heard)
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse (heard)
White-breasted Nuthatch (1)
Swainson's Thrush (1)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (6, flock flying over)
Ovenbird (1)
Northern Waterthrush (1, heard)
Black-and-white Warbler (4)
Common Yellowthroat (3)
American Redstart (4)
Magnolia Warbler (6)
Bay-breasted Warbler (1, male se of Turtle Pond)
Blackpoll Warbler (5)
Canada Warbler (1, male singing south side of Turtle Pond)
Wilson's Warbler (1)
White-throated Sparrow (1)
Scarlet Tanager (1)

Scarlet Tanager 05/18/2017 Central Park

Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow