April 14/15 - Inwood Hill Park

It would have been hard for the weather on Saturday and Sunday to be more different. Saturday was a beautiful sunny and warm spring day. Sunday was cool and gray for most of the day and rainy in the evening; the bleakness of the day enhanced by the cold, stiff northeast breeze. I went into Inwood Hill Park for a few hours on both mornings. Not surprisingly, the birding was very different on both days. The totals for the two days were very similar - 28 species on April 14 and 27 on April 15 - but the make-up was so different that the total number of species was 36 over the two mornings. There are still not many warblers around. I only saw Palm Warblers the first day, but the total for them was at least 16 individuals, thanks mainly to a group of about ten birds south of the Overlook Meadow. Other people saw Pine Warblers, but I didn't run into them. I saw no warblers on Sunday. There were a few kinglets of both species on Saturday, but none seen on Sunday. The soccer fields continue to produce a nice variety of sparrows..

The full list of 36 species is below, but before I get to that I want to mention some non-avian species seen. The Dutchman's-Breeches are starting to bloom in The Cove, though they are still far from their peak. The Daffodils are well past their peak and there is lots of Forsythia out. On the 15th I was accompanied by Ed Eden on my walk. On our way back from the ridge we encountered a Striped Skunk walking through the woods. We made sure we did not annoy it.

Striped Skunk - 05/15/2018 

In another local mammal sighting, on the 14th Alison Dundy posted a picture of an Opossum in a tree just outside the park at Isham and Seaman.

Bird List
Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron (1, flyover on the 14th)
Great Egret (hunting in Muscota on the 15th)

Great Egret - 04/15/2018

Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl (there is one that quite a few people seem to know about that occasionally peaks out of a dead tree stub when it is sunny). The following picture was taken from a fair distance and is greatly enlarged.

Eastern Screech-Owl - 04/14/2018

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren (heard calling both days)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (4/14 only)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (4/14 only)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Palm Warbler (16 on the 14th)
Chipping Sparrow (soccer field both days)
Savannah Sparrow (1, soccer field both days)
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird (a female on the soccer field in company with a group of female Red-winged Blackbirds on the 14th)
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird (5 males on the soccer field on the 15th)
House Finch (the Clove on the 15th)
American Goldfinch (1, Muscota Marsh on the 15th)

House Sparrow