Sunday, May 5, 2019

May 4 - Inwood Hill Park - good birds in the afternoon

The morning had been so good in the park, I went back in a little before 5:00 pm to see if I could find anything else. I was glad I did since I found a number of good birds I had not seen in the morning. I picked up one additional warbler, a late Palm Warbler. Thus bringing my warbler total for the day to 17 species. With reports of other warblers seen in the park during the day, the total variety of warblers in Inwood on Saturday was certainly over 20 species. Two good birds I found at the north end of the ridge were Summer Tanager and Blue Grosbeak. The Summer Tanager was a male, but not fully red, still a little blotchy. The Blue Grosbeak was an adult male. There may have been a second individual present which I only got a glimpse of, but the second bird could have been an Indigo Bunting which was also feeding in the vicinity. In total I ended up with 68 species in the park for the day. I very good day in Inwood.

Saturday, May 4, 2019

May 4 - Inwood Hill Park

A nice, birdy morning in Inwood Hill Park. The weather, however, was not the greatest. It was slightly foggy and when I started a little before 7:30 am it started to rain lightly. The light rain continued intermittently for the first two hours of my walk. Part way through the morning I was joined by Danny Karlson up on the ridge.

My walk started off well when a Green Heron flew up into a tree right next to me on the east side of the large bay north of the soccer fields. Continuing along the water's edge I heard my first Eastern Kingbird of the year (I later saw one when I was coming out of the park). As I passed the fenced in area on the north side of the soccer field I heard a Marsh Wren sing twice from the vegetation along the waters edge west of there. The Clove had a few birds, but most of the activity was along the ridge. Whenever the sun broke thru the heavy clouds, activity would pick up. By the time I left the park to go to the Saturday Farmer's Market on Isham with Ann, I had tallied 60 species with 16 warblers. The full list is below.

Canada Goose  3
Mallard  4
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  4
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Ring-billed Gull  14
Herring Gull  1
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Egret  1
Green Heron  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  1
Yellow-throated Vireo  1   (northeast of the overlook meadow)
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  3
Tufted Titmouse  1
Marsh Wren  1    
Carolina Wren  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Veery  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  12
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  4
Chipping Sparrow  5
Field Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  5
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  3
Baltimore Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Ovenbird  5
Worm-eating Warbler  1
Blue-winged Warbler  1
Black-and-white Warbler  6
Nashville Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  2
Hooded Warbler  1 (male)
American Redstart  1
Northern Parula  1
Magnolia Warbler  1
Blackburnian Warbler  1 (male)
Yellow Warbler  1
Chestnut-sided Warbler  1
Black-throated Blue Warbler  3 (1 male and 2 females)
Yellow-rumped Warbler  8
Black-throated Green Warbler  2
Scarlet Tanager  3 (2 males and 1 female)
Northern Cardinal  3
House Sparrow  3

May 2 - Central Park - spring migration at last!

A belated posting on my Thursday AMNH Central Park walk due to having to go out of town immediately after the walk.

The group lucked into the best migration morning of the spring 2019 so far. We easily found over 50 species on our walk. This despite the fact that viewing conditions were often not good with the birds high in the trees and back-lit on a gray morning. Highlights included five vireos and eleven warblers.


Central Park--The Ramble, New York, New York, US
May 2, 2019 7:00 AM - 9:16 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.899 mile(s)
54 species

Canada Goose  2
Mallard  6
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Mourning Dove  8
Chimney Swift  2
Herring Gull  2
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1     Male. Red crown, red throat, white vertical
stripe on folded wing.
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  1
Least Flycatcher  1
White-eyed Vireo  1     White iris, gray head, yellow spectacles, yellow flanks.
Yellow-throated Vireo  1     Calling bird. Distinctive raspy “three-eight” call.
Blue-headed Vireo  2
Warbling Vireo  2
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3
Veery  1
Swainson's Thrush  1
Hermit Thrush  4
Wood Thrush  1
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  1
European Starling  8
House Finch  2
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
Chipping Sparrow  3
White-throated Sparrow  8
Swamp Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Baltimore Oriole  2
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  3
Ovenbird  1
Northern Waterthrush  3
Black-and-white Warbler  6
Common Yellowthroat  2
American Redstart  1
Northern Parula  1
Blackburnian Warbler  1
Yellow Warbler  2
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  10
Prairie Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  2
House Sparrow  5

May 1 - Central Park

I am late getting this list up because of work commitments and having to go out of the city for a day and a half. Wednesday morning in Central Park for my AMNH bird walk group was yet another in a string of gray, overcast, almost foggy days this week. It made for very frustrating birding with the warblers and many other birds high in the trees and back-lit and hence very difficult to identify. Nevertheless, we found 39 species with six warblers. The full list is below.

Central Park--The Ramble, New York, New York, US
May 1, 2019 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.83 mile(s)
39 species

Canada Goose  2
Mallard  6
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Mourning Dove  6
Herring Gull  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  3
Least Flycatcher  1
Blue-headed Vireo  2
Warbling Vireo  1
Blue Jay  6
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  4
Veery  1
Hermit Thrush  2
American Robin  9
Gray Catbird  1
European Starling  6
House Finch  2
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2
White-throated Sparrow  10
Baltimore Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Common Grackle  4
Ovenbird  1
Black-and-white Warbler  2
Northern Parula  2
Blackburnian Warbler  2
Yellow Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6
Black-throated Green Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  4
House Sparrow  6