Tuesday, September 30, 2008

9/27 inc LEAST BITTERN **

From Rob Jett:

The late Marty Sohmer once told me, "The worst weather sometimes 
brings the best birds." With that bit of advice in mind, I met my 
friend Paige this morning for some wet birding in Prospect Park.

We spent 2 hours birding during the peak of the day's rainfall. When I 
returned home, soaked to the bone, the sun promptly appeared. There 
appeared to be a pretty decent influx of songbirds around Lookout 
Hill, the Peninsula and edges of the lake. Unfortunately, the time 
spent between wiping my bins and actually using them to see the birds 
were brief. We did have one unexpected find that made up for the rain 
- a LEAST BITTERN on Three Sister's Island in Prospect Lake. The bird 
was preening out in the open within the branches of a willow tree that 
juts into the water on the island's western edge. Cormorants can 
usually be seen drying their feathers in this location. Doug Gochfeld 
went out looking for the bird later in the afternoon, but was 
unsuccessful as it had moved from its exposed perch.

In 2006 a Least Bittern was located on the same island, but close to 
the shore on the southwest side within a stretch of phragmites. This 
is only the second time that I've seen a Least Bittern in Prospect 
Park. The first one I found on a foggy Spring morning perched in a 
Black Cherry sapling on Payne Hill (really!).

Here is a link to a Google Earth map with the location tagged:

http://tinyurl.com/4mcyv3

Good birding,

Rob

Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 9/28/08
Observers: Rob Jett, Paige Linden
Notes: Fog and rain. Least Bittern on Three Sister's Island.
Number of species: 41

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck 2
American Black Duck
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Least Bittern 1
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Coot 1
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Empidonax sp.
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling

Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat

Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

The City Birder Weblog
http://citybirder.blogspot.com