Making up for lost time, I went to Prospect Park today for the first time in well over a month. I was crunching through snow last time I was there. It was frosty this morning and windy--not the kind of day to stand around waiting for the birds to appear in one spot. I entered at 9th Street and kept going at a fairly steady pace, walking from the Upper Pool, around the The Boathouse, along the Lullwater, around the lake and over to the Vale of Cashmere, exiting at Grand Army Plaza about two & a half hours later.
The Upper Pool had a drake Ring-necked Duck. There seems to be one every spring in this water--no way to know if its the same one. I do remember a couple of years ago one hung around well into May and looked pretty raggedy by then. Also a fine drake Wood Duck was in the back of the pool.
The most fun I had was walking circles in the Vale. I kept circumambulating the frozen pools, turning up something new and interesting with each pass: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a couple of calling Tufted Titmice, two male American Goldfinches pecking at seeds on the ice and the lone Dark-eyed Junco for the day, along with the usual cardinals, doves, jays and so forth.
32 species and two frozen hands:
Canada Goose 16
Mute Swan 5
Wood Duck 1 Upper Pool
Mallard 70
Northern Shoveler 15
Ring-necked Duck 1 Upper Pool
Ruddy Duck 80
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Duck Island
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 4
Ring-billed Gull 100
Herring Gull 10
Rock Pigeon 9
Mourning Dove 15
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Vale
Blue Jay 8
American Crow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 2 Vale
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Vale
American Robin 125
European Starling 50
Song Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 8
Dark-eyed Junco 1 Vale
Northern Cardinal 20
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Common Grackle 20
American Goldfinch 2 Vale
House Sparrow 10
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