It has been my experience that if I'm looking for a particular bird, I will not find it until I have truly, honestly given up all hope of seeing it. It was true again today.
Almost as soon as I got into the park I received a tweet from Peter about a MOURNING WARBLER in the Midwood. The Midwood is a big area and I figured my chances of finding it were almost nil, but it was as good a place as any to start birding so I headed that way. A few minutes later, another tweet came in with a slightly more precise location--somewhere on a ridge near the Boulder Bridge.
I walked through the Ravine and met Tom, Adam, and another birder, all converging on the same area. In order to find a Mourning Warbler it helps to be good at birding by ear and since I had no idea what the bird sounded like, I was lucky to run into Tom who has a tremendous knowledge of bird song. We walked around the ridge for a while with no luck--Tom played us a clip of the song, but there was nothing even remotely close. After a while we all gave up and I walked off down the hill, thinking that maybe it went thataway. Just as I hit Center Drive I saw Rob B and he called out "Mourning Warbler!" I saw a blur fly down into the brush. I wasn't about to count a blur. We hung around the area looking but of course we didn't find the bird again. It was at that point, I think, that I officially gave up. Rob and I hit a few other spots but the only semi-interesting birds we found were Baltimore Orioles, Red-eyed Vireos, a Green Heron and a Wood Duck. We went back into the Midwood and met Rob J there who said he'd been circling the area looking for the MOWA with no success. We walked down the hill and onto one path then onto a horse path and by then I wasn't exactly sure where we were in the Midwood--I don't know that I could find it again. We were birding desultorily (at least I was) and chatting when Rob J heard a snippet of MOWA song. The hunt was back on. I still had no hope. Rob J then saw a brief flash of bird up the slope and we walked up a narrow path. A robin, a catbird...then, boom! Mourning Warbler in the understory. Amazingly, I got on the bird--it flew into the sight line of my binoculars and I was able to follow it as it skipped from twig to twig. Then, we lost it. Still, I was feeling fine--that's a life bird for me.
A few moments later another birder, John, came by and he was in the position I'm so often in--"OOH, you just missed it." Except Rob J located the bird again and John saw and heard it. Then it flew out across the path and then flew back around us. We were in the middle of its circle. Mourning Warbler is a hard bird to find and I'd have never found it had I not been with a couple of really good birders.
Later, I met Shari at the Botanic Gardens for lunch. Mid-day, there wasn't much activity, but we did see our first Eastern Kingbird of the year and hear our first Eastern Wood Pewee in the Native Flora Garden.
Prospect Park
Number of species: 21
Wood Duck 1 Male, Upper Pool
Mallard 6
Green Heron 2 Upper Pool and Lullwater
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Northern Flicker 2
Red-eyed Vireo 2 Ravine and Esdale Bridge
Blue Jay 1
Barn Swallow 3 Boathouse Pond
Black-capped Chickadee 1 Lullwater
Wood Thrush 5
American Robin 50
Gray Catbird 5
European Starling 25
MOURNING WARBLER 1 Midwood
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Common Grackle 1
Baltimore Oriole 6
House Sparrow 20
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Number of species: 13
Mallard 5
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Native Flora Garden
Eastern Kingbird 1
Fish Crow 3 Flyover, twice
American Robin 40
Gray Catbird 5
European Starling 35
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 5
Common Grackle 1
Baltimore Oriole 3 One flyover, two in Native Flora Garden
House Sparrow 15
No comments:
Post a Comment