May 4 - Inwood Hill Park - slower, but still birds

Having spent two long days birding in the park I slept in this morning. I didn't get into the park until nearly 11:00 am. It felt quieter than the last two mornings though my total for the day of 54 species was my best day yet this spring. I just had to work harder for things. I ran into Nadir Souirgi early on and we birded together most of the time, joined part of the time by Rachael Joakim. I only picked up two new species for the spring: Great Crested Flycatcher and a briefly seen male Scarlet Tanager.

Before giving the full bird list, a couple of non-birder photos. The first is the flower of Common Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris), a prickly vine that can be unpleasant to get caught in, but that can be fairly pretty.

The second photo is of the Dryad's Saddle mushroom that I presented in yesterday's post. Today's picture is of the same specimen, but today when I photographed in I put my Leatherman tool in the picture to give some scale. The tool is four inches long.

The following is today's bird list.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Feral Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Turkey Vulture 2 - one over the Palisades and one over the park
Osprey 1 - over the Hudson River
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Peregrine Falcon 2 - overhead at the Meadow Overlook
Least Flycatcher 1 - on the ridge; path between the pine groves
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 - east side of the Clove, towards Payson Avenue
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 - top of the Clove
Blue-headed Vireo 3 - scattered locations
Warbling Vireo 2 - probably more around the north side of the soccer fields
Blue Jay
Common Raven 1 - over the Palisades
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
House Wren 1 - on the ridge in a brushy tangle
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird - all over the park now
Northern Mockingbird - around Muscota Marsh
Wood Thrush - singing in the Clove and on the ridge
American Robin - everywhere
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow - soccer fields
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle - scarcer this spring than in other years
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler - many fewer than Saturday
Nashville Warbler 1 - on the ridge
Northern Parula - various locations
Chestnut-sided Warbler - the Clove
Black-throated Blue Warbler - the ridge
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Scarlet Tanager - the ridge
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4 - top of the Clove path