May 21 - Inwood Hill Park - Planets and Black-crowned Night-Heron

It was a beautiful day with bright blue skies all day. But the winds were mostly from the north last night and well into the day and there were very few birds in the park. I was was back in my apartment from my morning walk by 9:45 am and my day list total of 40 species was the lowest in maybe two weeks or more. However, in the evening Ann and I went down to the benches in Muscota Marsh to watch the sunset (though the sun actually disappears behind the ridge long before sunset) and to watch for migrating flocks of Brant. We were joined there by Hilary Russ and we all watched from separate benches.

If you blowup the above picture you may be able to spot Venus above the ridge right of center. When it got dark enough we were also able to see Mercury through binoculars a little below Venus. While looking at Venus through her binoculars, Hilary spotted a distant flock of Brant flying north.A few minutes after 9:00 pm a Black-crowned Night-Heron flew by. This was my first one of the season and my 118th species in Inwood since April 1st.

The full bird list for today is below.

Brant 45
Canada Goose 4
Mallard 15
Rock Pigeon 12
Mourning Dove 3
Chimney Swift 4
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 6

Herring Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 2

Warbling Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 2
European Starling 13
Gray Catbird 5
Northern Mockingbird 1
Wood Thrush 2
American Robin 12
House Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 3
Baltimore Oriole 3
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 3