April 13 - Central Park

Friday the 13th! Despite the date it was a nice morning in Central Park for Paul Sweet's regular Friday morning AMNH bird walk. Paul is still out of town so I was covering for him again. It was a bit gray, but with mild spring temperatures. Following a night of southwest winds there was definitely some influx of birds, just not as many as hoped for. Given the forecast I went down early and started scouting around the Ramble at 7:00 am, though the actual walk did not begin until its scheduled time of 9:00 am. The highlight of the morning was the continuing presence of the Barn Owl first found at the beginning of the week. The owl was not easy to see, but everyone did get a look at it. During the walk we totaled 33 species. The list is below. After the main list I list an additional five species I encountered on my early scouting trip.

Canada Goose (4, the Lake)
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-tailed Hawk (1, carrying nesting material)
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Barn Owl (continuing bird)

Barn Owl - 04/13/2018 - Central Park

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4)
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee (1, heard by Oak Bridge)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Louisiana Waterthrush (2, Triplets Bridge and Oak Bridge)
Palm Warbler (1)
Chipping Sparrow (5)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow (3)
White-throated Sparrow (everywhere, many singing)
Dark-eyed Junco (4)
Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal - 04/13/2018 - Central Park

Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird (1, Upper Lobe)
Common Grackle
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


Additional species seen in my 7:00 to 9:00 scout.
Herring Gull
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Towhee