May 22 - Inwood Hill Park

A beautiful, blue sky morning in Inwood Hill Park. It was a bit birdier than yesterday morning, but not a really great day. On entering the park at 218th Street and Indian Road there was a surprising sight: a Red-bellied Woodpecker contending with some House Sparrows and American Robins for a piece of food litter on the ground.

Continuing into the park I received a text message from Nathan O'Reilly that he had a sandpiper on the mudflats in front of the Nature Center. The bird was still there when I got there. Instead of the expected Least Sandpiper, it was a Semipalmated Sandpiper, a relatively uncommon shorebird in Inwood. This was 119th bird in Inwood Hill Park since April 1st. The main part of the park including the ridge and the Clove was fairly quiet. However, my total for the day of 47 species was better than yesterday.

In the afternoon I did do well from my apartment window, adding three species to the apartment list since April 1st: a Northern Waterthrush at Muscota Marsh (Nathan and I had seen one there in the morning), a small group of Cedar Waxwings flying by, and a singing Orchard Oriole. This brings my window list since April 1st to 50 species.

Canada Goose 3
Mallard 7
Rock Pigeon  5
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 5
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 1

Find the Great Blue.

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Warbling Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 2
European Starling 7
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 1
Wood Thrush 4
American Robin 8
Cedar Waxwing 3
House Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 4
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 5
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Common Grackle 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Northern Parula 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 4