October 23 - Inwood Hill Park: fog again, but a new apartment bird.

 Yet another foggy morning at sunup, but it mostly lifted early, though it remained cloudy for most of the day. However, as in recent days I saw reports on the Internet of flocks of Pine Siskins around the city so I decided to spend some time in the later morning watching from an apartment window in hopes of adding the species to my apartment list. I was encouraged by flocks of American Goldfinches feeding in the flowers and weeds around Muscota Marsh. Finally I spotted a siskin with a group of goldfinch across Muscota on the other side of the boat ramp. At that distance I was only able to get a poor digiscope photo of the bird, but it is recognizable.

Pine Siskin (above) - Inwood Hill Park - 10/23/2020

This was species number 120 for my apartment list, the second new species for the list this month, after the Nelson's Sparrow on October 14.

In the afternoon I went for a short walk over to the soccer field. The fenced in "marsh restoration area" was productive. with among other species, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadee, Palm Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Savannah, Song, and Swamp sparrows, American Goldfinch and another Pine Siskin. Below are a few pictures.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Inwood Hill Park - 10/23/2020

Savannah Sparrow - Inwood Hill Park - 10/23/2020

Pine Siskin - Inwood Hill Park - 10/23/2020