Monday, April 18, 2011

Prospect Park 4/18--Warblers & Vireo

I was having a pretty decent morning in the park, heading over to the peninsula to see if I could find a Yellow Warbler I'd heard was there (it's also a good spot for Common Yellowthroats) when Twitter blasted through in my pocket--message from Peter: the elusive Yellowthroated Warbler was back at the Lullwater. When last we left our hero (me) on Monday, he had high-tailed it over to the same spot only to hear those fateful words, "Oh it just flew off." This time I was closer to the area so I had a better chance, I thought. On the Lullwater trail I came upon Tom S who had reported the bird to Peter. He'd had the bird a few minutes before, but, naturally, it had flown off. As we were discussing the chances of me sighting the bird, he got a call which turned out to be from Mary E who had the YTWA about a hundred feet from where Tom & I stood. When I got to the viewing platform where Mary was she said she'd seen it high up in the canopy--"unfortunately" there were lots of Yellow-rumps flitting about, making it difficult to pick out the Yellow-throat. And then she had it again and happily, I was able to find it as if fluttered on the end of a branch. I got a pretty good look at it, mostly from the side, but once it turned around and I got full sight of its yellow throat and I was satisfied.

It was in that same spot that earlier in the morning I'd seen my other 2 years birds--on a tree trunk I saw my first Black-and-white Warbler, and no sooner had I said the words aloud than a White-eyed Vireo shooed it away.

I walked a ways with Mary, each of saying that we had to leave and each of us in no hurry to leave. Along our desultory path we came across 3 Brown Creepers, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and lots and lots of Palms. Just as we were saying goodbye by the Long Meadow she pointed out my last bird for the morning--a Brown-headed Cowbird.

40 species for the morning.
Canada Goose    16
Mute Swan    4
Mallard    20
Northern Shoveler    4    West Island
Ruddy Duck    90
Double-crested Cormorant    3    Three Sisters
American Coot    2    One Boathouse Pond, one lake
Ring-billed Gull    18
Herring Gull    8
Rock Pigeon    15
Mourning Dove    10
Belted Kingfisher    1    Lullwater
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1
Downy Woodpecker    3
Northern Flicker    2
White-eyed Vireo    1    Lullwater cove viewing platform
Blue Jay    5
American Crow    3
Barn Swallow    1    Lake
Black-capped Chickadee    10
White-breasted Nuthatch    1    Center Drive
Brown Creeper    3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher    1    Rocky Pass
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    10
Hermit Thrush    8
American Robin    150
European Starling    75
Yellow-rumped Warbler    30
Yellow-throated Warbler
    1    Lullwater cove viewing platform
Pine Warbler    2
Palm Warbler    25
Black-and-white Warbler    1    Lullwater cove viewing platform
Eastern Towhee    6    Center Drive and Lookout Hill
Song Sparrow    4
White-throated Sparrow    9
Northern Cardinal    8
Red-winged Blackbird    25
Common Grackle    15
Brown-headed Cowbird    1    Long Meadow
House Sparrow    25

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