May 28 - Inwood Hill Park

A gray day in the park. Recent mornings have also started off gray and foggy nut eventually the sun burned off the fog and clouds - not today. It was also a fairly quiet day for birds - both in the sense of not a lot of species and not a lot of song. The bird highlight was probably the Killdeer on the mudflats north of the soccer fields. Danny Karlson and I saw it yesterday and it was back again today. Also as with yesterday, the Killdeer later moved over to the mudflats by Muscota Marsh for a short time in the afternoon.

Since the birding was quiet I spent more time looking at and photographing flowers. Below are a selection of them from today. The Garlic Mustard is an invasive pest that is all over the park. It has actually been in bloom for probably six weeks or more.

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Other plants noted today:

Common Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris)

False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum)

Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)

Common Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbelatum)

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Mapleleaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Returning to the birds, I recorded 40 species today. None were new to my April/May list.

Canada Goose 54  - Most of these were in a single migrating flock of fifty birds over the Hudson.
Mallard 6
Rock Pigeon 6
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 8
Killdeer 1

Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Great Egret 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Warbling Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 3
Tree Swallow 2

Barn Swallow 6

White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 3
European Starling 12
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 2
Wood Thrush 4
American Robin 10
Cedar Waxwing 4
House Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 2
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 6
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 5
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 4