As I was entering the park this morning, Peter put out a tweet that warbler activity on Lookout Hill was "decent" including Tennessee and Cape May Warbler, so I headed in that direction. I wasn't even there when another tweet came in about a Black-billed Cuckoo on the path above the Wellhouse, west of the Maryland Monument. Directionally challenged as I am in the park, it took me a few minutes to figure out which part of the path was west and after a cursory look I gave up and continued up to Lookout, where, by the time I got there, the action had died down to yellow-rumps and a couple of pines, with towhees and catbirds jumping on and off the path.
I ran into Peter and Keir there and soon Rob B came along. Three great birders and with Peter obviously being a bird magnet today I tagged along with them. And that strategy worked: Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (a rarity this time of year), and Scarlet Tanager (female) all along Center Drive.
Keir peeled off after the tanager and the three of us continued north but activity died down after around 10. It's funny how hot spots can overnight turn into not spots: not a blessed bird at the compost pile. (And then later, turn back into a hot spot--the Prothonotary Warbler was reported there again, mid afternoon!) The Rose Garden, Vale, and Nelly's Lawn had Chipping Sparrows (6 picking at one dandelion), Northern Parulas, and a Baltimore Oriole.
Later on, by my lonesome on the Peninsula there were a couple of more warblers (yellow-rumps, as usual, were everywhere) and a couple of species of swallows, though even they seemed sparse compared to the last few times I've been there.
The lake was empty save for 6 cormorants and a few ducks, gulls, and those aquatic pigeons known as swans.
A decent day--there were something like 22 species of warbler reported by all the birders (and there were a lot of them in the park today). In sports, you can't win 'em all. In birding, you can't see 'em all, to my teeth-gnashing frustration.
Number of species: 40
Canada Goose 6
Mute Swan 4
Mallard 15
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Herring Gull 10
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Left side Nethemead bridge above path
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1 Center Drive
Blue Jay 2
Tree Swallow 2 Peninsula
Barn Swallow 7 Lake
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 Peninsula
Hermit Thrush 1 Midwood
American Robin 75
Gray Catbird 7
European Starling 75
Northern Parula 4
Yellow Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 30
Blackburnian Warbler 1 Center Drive horse trail inside woods
Pine Warbler 3
Palm Warbler 1 Center Drive
Black-and-white Warbler 1 Peninsula
Eastern Towhee 5
Chipping Sparrow 7 Nelly's Lawn & Peninsula
Song Sparrow 2 Peninsula
White-throated Sparrow 25
Scarlet Tanager 1 Center Drive (female)
Northern Cardinal 10
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Common Grackle 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 4 Center Drive & Wellhouse Drive
Baltimore Oriole 1 Vale
House Sparrow 5
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