Prospect Park 4/25--SPSA, GHOW, NOWA

I had 5 minutes of business to conduct in Brooklyn yesterday, so to make the trip worthwhile I decided to spend most of the day birding my old haunts in Prospect Park. It was a relatively successful expedition, despite the dearth of warblers--Peter, who I ran into late in the day, told me that it has, so far, been a disappointing season for warblers. I added 2 birds that teeter and one bird that stays very still to my year list.

The first treat of the day was a Spotted Sandpiper I saw teetering lakeside on the peninsula. Later, in the Vale, my first reaction was "another one" when I saw a bird wagging its tail on the edge of the pool, but I quickly saw that it was my first Northern Waterthrush of the year. I briefly considered Louisiana Waterthrush, but it's already a little late for them and this one was yellowish with a striped/spotted throat, so the i.d. was evident.

Toward the end of my sojourn, walking through the Ravine, I saw Peter, as I said and we briefly compared notes. When he mentioned how few warblers they'd been getting in the park, especially compared to "the competition" of Central Park, I said that it was still early. Then I realized, "No, it isn't." It's late April--we're probably halfway through migration and there's still a lot of "easy" birds I haven't seen.

Peter was on his way to check on a fledgling Great Horned Owl and was kind enough (and patient enough) to point it out to me. Happily it was high in a tree and no longer on the ground as had earlier been reported. This is the same nest Rob showed me back in December. Nice to have some continuity.

For the long day I found 37 species. I had expected more, but realized that getting there as late as I did (around 10:30) I was handicapping myself. One bird for which there was no shortage was robin.  I've seen a lot of robins in the park at time, but don't think I've ever seen them as ubiquitous as they were yesterday.
Canada Goose  15    One on nest, Upper Pool, as last year
Mute Swan  9
Wood Duck  4    Upper Pool
Mallard  25
Ruddy Duck  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Coot  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1    Peninsula
Laughing Gull  2
Ring-billed Gull  2
Herring Gull  7
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Rock Pigeon  15
Mourning Dove  8
Great Horned Owl  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  7
Northern Flicker  4
Blue Jay  2
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  4
House Wren  1
Hermit Thrush  2
American Robin  250
European Starling  150
Northern Waterthrush  1    Vale
Palm Warbler  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  9
Eastern Towhee  2
Chipping Sparrow  2
Swamp Sparrow  1    Lullwater North
White-throated Sparrow  5
Northern Cardinal  4
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Common Grackle  20
Brown-headed Cowbird  4    Nelly's Lawn
American Goldfinch  1
House Sparrow  50