May 4 - Inwood Hill Park

My birdiest morning this spring in Inwood. Once again as I headed into the park this morning a little before eight, I ran into Danny Karlson who was also going in to look for birds. One of my first birds was an Indigo Bunting that briefly perched high in a tree by Indian Road and 218th Street - my first Indigo of the year. The lack of sparrows on the soccer fields surprised Danny and me, but once we started up the Clove we started picking up warblers - Ovenbirds and Black-and-whites were among the first. Soon a nice male Chestnut-sided Warbler was my first of the species for the year. The birdiest area was the center of the ridge north of the Overlook Meadow. A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (spotted by Danny), a singing Black-throated Green Warbler, and a female Scarlet Tanager were all firsts for me as were an Eastern Kingbird, a calling Least Flycatcher and a calling Great Crested Flycatcher - the flycatchers are starting. We were delighted with a Worm-eating Warbler probing through the fallen leaves on the ground. After passing under the Henry Hudson Bridge a male Orchard Oriole and a singing Nashville Warbler were also new. My last new bird of the morning was a lone Least Sandpiper feeding on the fast disappearing mud as the tide covered the flats north of the soccer fields. In the end I tallied 55 species (list below). We also encountered a Striped Skunk on the ridge practically in the same place we saw one earlier in the week.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
American Kestrel
Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper - 05/04/2018 - Inwood

Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1, male)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher (1, calling)
Great Crested Flycatcher (1 or 2, calling)
Eastern Kingbird (1)
Blue-headed Vireo (3)
Warbling Vireo (2, near water on the way in from Indian Road)
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Wren
House Wren (2, singing)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Veery (1)
Swainson's Thrush (1)
Wood Thrush (at least 3 singing)
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Ovenbird (6)
Worm-eating Warbler (1)
Black-and-white Warbler (10)
Nashville Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (2)
American Redstart (1)
Northern Parula (1)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (2)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (6)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (8)
Black-throated Green Warbler (1, singing)
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow (1)
White-throated Sparrow (2)
Scarlet Tanager (1, female)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3)
Indigo Bunting (1, male)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole (1, male)
Baltimore Oriole (7)
American Goldfinch (1)
House Sparrow