Possibly the Prospect bird of the year today was a
**TOWNSEND'S WARBLER ** seen around 8 am on the lower Lookout Hill path opposite the Quaker Cemetery main gate, the western counterpart of our eastern Black-throated Green Warbler, the
Townsend's seen feeding in Box Elders trees , the super rarity possibly Prospect's first record witnessed by a number of birders. I gather that 45 minutes was a generous observation before the bird flew off toward the north face of Lookout Hill.
Photo credit attributed to Doug Gochfeld: Photos/Video of the TOWNSEND'S WARBLER can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fresha2411/2009#Other recurring southern warbler rarities are as follows (from text Message reporter):
2
Prothonotary Warblers- one still at Duck Island (Rob Bate, et al) , and a second bird at AmberGill Falls
in the Ravine ( Janet Zinn and Alan Baratz)
Yellow-throated Warbler in the vicinity of Lookout Hill's south face above the Well house ( Doug Gochfeld)
Hooded Warbler- south Vale Cashmere (Tom Stephenson)
Black Vulture -late afternoon initially over the Pools ( Rafael Campos ) , then me and my BBC planting volunteer group , a Black Vulture , likely the same bird , within a kettle of 4 Turkey Vultures and 4 Red-Tailed Hawks. In as many of 3 days, two records is an amazing spectacle , the 5th park record.
Because I was leading a trip in Owls Head this morning, the Prospect morning spectacle show belongs to my peers, Super Saturday Prospect regulars to tell their stories below.
In all,
17 warbler species reported from Rob Jett's report
Good..No .. make that GREAT Birding all around !
Kingsboider
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From Rob Jett:
Date: April 25, 2009 1:41:04 PM EDT
Subject: eBird Report - Prospect Park , 4/25/09
from the NYC listserveI'll keep this brief as Doug Gochfeld is writing up a detailed report that he will be posting shortly.It was an insane day of migrates in Prospect Park. Seth Ausable, Doug Gochfeld, Dave Kauber and I spent several hours in the park together and tallied 17 species of warblers. The highlights were (in order of rarity) Townsend's Warbler (Lookout Hill), Yellow-throated Warbler (Lookout Hill), Prothontary Warbler (Ravine) and Hooded Warbler (Vale of Cashmere). It isn't very often that a Hooded Warbler becomes a minor footnote on a day list. The Townsend's Warbler was seen by 7 people as it foraged primarily within a Boxelder at the edge of Lookout Hill across from the Quaker Cemetery. It was present from 8:00am - 8:30am when it flew higher up the hill. Needless to say, a lot of people were looking for it. Any facts about relocating the bird are unclear to me, but I'm sure we'll hear more from others.Another noteworthy, early warbler, was a Blackpoll Warbler singing on Lookout Hill at 6:15am.Good birding,Rob
> Location: Prospect Park
> Observation date: 4/25/09
> Number of species: 74
>
> Brant 5
> Canada Goose X
> Mute Swan X
> Wood Duck 3
> American Black Duck X
> Mallard X
> Northern Shoveler 1
> Ring-necked Duck 1
> Ruddy Duck 5
> Double-crested Cormorant X
> Great Blue Heron 1
> Great Egret 3
> Green Heron 1
> Black-crowned Night-Heron 6
> Red-tailed Hawk X
> American Kestrel 1
> American Coot X
> Laughing Gull X
> Ring-billed Gull X
> Herring Gull (American) X
> Rock Pigeon X
> Mourning Dove X
> Chimney Swift X
> Belted Kingfisher 1
> Red-bellied Woodpecker X
> Downy Woodpecker X
> Northern Flicker X
> Eastern Phoebe X
> Yellow-throated Vireo 1
> Blue-headed Vireo 12
> Blue Jay X
> American Crow X
> Barn Swallow X
> Black-capped Chickadee X
> Tufted Titmouse X
> White-breasted Nuthatch X
> Carolina Wren X
> House Wren 2
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
> Blue-gray Gnatcatcher X
> Hermit Thrush X
> American Robin X
> European Starling X
> Blue-winged Warbler 1
> Northern Parula 2
> Yellow Warbler 6
> Yellow-rumped Warbler X
> Black-throated Green Warbler 4
> Townsend's Warbler 1 Lower Lookout carriage path from Center Drive
> Yellow-throated Warbler 1
> Pine Warbler 1
> Prairie Warbler 1
> Palm Warbler X
> Black-and-white Warbler 3
> Prothonotary Warbler 1
> Ovenbird 2
Blackpoll Warbler
> Northern Waterthrush 1
> Hooded Warbler 1
> Eastern Towhee X
> Chipping Sparrow X
> Field Sparrow 3
> Savannah Sparrow 1
> Song Sparrow X
> Swamp Sparrow X
> White-throated Sparrow X
> Dark-eyed Junco 1
> Northern Cardinal X
> Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
> Red-winged Blackbird X
> Common Grackle X
> Brown-headed Cowbird X
> Baltimore Oriole 1
> American Goldfinch X
> House Sparrow X
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
***************************
From Rafael:
DATE: 25 April 2009
SITE: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Kings Co.; NY
OBSERVERS: Rafael Campos, Emily Goldstein, Kathy Toomey
With many tex-mess, mentioning a very rare warbler for PP: Townsend's + others, I headed to the park, joining forces with Emily & Kathy at the Vale. Here, the good one was 1 male Hooded Warbler. Also seen by others, 1 male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (I missed it). Orchard Oriole, 1 male.
From here we thru Rick's Place, Ravine & the Pools, looking for a PRWA (no luck!!!), but around the pools, 1 Black Vulture flew over, followed minutes later by 5 Turkey Vultures. 2 Black-throated Green Warblers, and later I saw 1 Prairie Warbler. Also flying over, at least 1-2 Chimney Swifts.
Lookout Hill, no luck with the YTWA & TOWA. Maybe mañana!!!
Exciting afternoon at PP.
Birds recorded:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck: 4 m, pools
Mallard
Black Vulture: 1 flyover pools
Turkey Vulture: ±5, flyovers
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift: 1-2 flyover pools
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker: 1 f, Lookout Hill
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird: 1, Vale
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 1, Lookout Hill
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Swainson's Thrush: 3-4, Vale
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher: 1, Vale
European Starling
Northern Parula: heard only
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler: 2 m, pools
Prairie Warbler: 1, pools
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler: 3
Hooded Warbler: 1 m, Vale
Eastern Towhee
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird: 2 f, Rick's Place
Orchard Oriole: 1 m, Vale
Baltimore Oriole: 1 m, Lookout Hill
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Brooklyn is good birding!!!!
**************************
From Tom Stephenson:
Hi Peter,
I had to leave the park, so never got to see the Townsend's...however I heard it was back at the base of lookout later in the day.Tomorrow I'm going to see what I can find.
Today a few notables during my hour or so in the park:
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Brown Thrasher
Solitary Vireo
other warblers...yellow, prairie, yellow-rumped, Northern parula
***************************
From Anne Lazarus:
At about 9:15AM Hayde tells Taeko and me that she saw the Prothonatory Warbler fly to the Phragmites on the southwest corner of Duck Island.We leave upon hearing from Rob Jett about the Townsend Warbler at Lookout Hill. I saw it briefly there. At about 11:30 I go back toDuck Island and see the Prothonotary Warbler in the Phragmites at thesouthwest corner of Duck Island.At about 2:45PM Taeko Tsujimoto, Pat Pollack, Lee Fleurshein, WadaIsabel Ponte and I return to Duck Island and see the Prothonotary Warbler in the Phragmites at the southwest corner of the island. We also saw some Turkey vultures, one Black Vulture with them and an Ospry. reported on April 25, by Anne Lazarus
****************************
From Doug Gochfeld:
Sent: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 7:23 pm
Subject: eBird Report - Prospect Park , 4/25/09
From Doug's posting on the NY Listerve:
Rob Jett couldn't have summed it up better with the title of his E-Mail. If someone had told me that we would have the type of day list in Prospect Park on April 25th that we did, I would indeed think they were insane.It was difficult to hear anything over the cacophony of American Robins just post-dawn, but shortly afterward a freak fog bank rolled into the park and when it receded about 30 minutes later, revealing the morning sun, things really picked up. The end result of my morning and early afternoon birding expedition was 80 species, including 17 species of Warbler and 3 species of Vireo. I'll spare the narrative here, since the list of highlights itself is long enough in itself. I birded most of the day with Rob Jett, Dave Klauber, and Seth Ausubel, before meeting up with Bob Gochfeld later on in the day. A link to some pretty poor (putting it generously), but okay for documentation photos (Townsend's & Prothonotary Warblers) is below.Highlights (Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, April 25, 2009):TOWNSEND'S WARBLER ( seen here: http://tinyurl.com/cpscyt ). Spotted and identified by Seth Ausubel (Great call by the way, come to Brooklyn more often if you're gonna keep finding stuff like this) at around 8:00 AM, and stayed in view for 7-8 lucky birders through at least 8:25 AM before moving West and out of our sight. It was also likely present a couple of hundred feet to the SW at around 6:30 AM, which would bode well for it staying in the same general area.PROTHONOTARY WARBLER (Ravine, near Ambergill Falls, also working the stream towards the Lower Pool). The one at Duck Island was also apparently seen a couple of times today, although we didn't see it despite waiting for about 30 minutes.YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER (Lookout Hill south slope, seen starting at ~7:25 AM and I understand it was cooperative for most of the day)WORM-EATING WARBLER (South Midwood, found by Keir Randall. It was uncharacteristically cooperative despite the fact that we saw it during the heat of the early afternoon)HOODED WARBLER (Singing male, Vale of Cashmere)Blackpoll Warbler (First heard by Rob Jett, singing incessantly early morning at NE Lookout Hill lower path)Prairie Warbler (2 males, singing at Breeze Hill, NE Lookout Hill lower path)Pine Warbler (Male, near 16th Street entrance)Blue-winged Warbler (2, Heard singing from NE Lookout Hill lower path, heard and seen South Slope of Lookout Hill)Common Yellowthroat (2, heard singing from Lamppost 249 area, female seen well at Terrace Bridge)Purple Finch (Singing immature male, Butterfly Meadow on Lookout Hill)Yellow-throated Vireo (Singing near 16th Street entrance, found by Shane Blodgett)White-eyed Vireo (2, NE Lookout Hill lower path early, South Midwood in the afternoon)Orchard Oriole (Male, Lookout Hill)Baltimore Oriole (Male, Lookout Hill)Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Male, Vale of Cashmere)Wood Thrush (NE Lookout Hill lower path early)Green Heron (Peninsula/Labella Cove)House Wren (4-6 on Lookout Hill)Ring-necked Duck (Male, Upper Pool. Getting awfully late)Field Sparrow (5: 3 in and around Lookout Hill, 2 in Chipping Sparrow Flock in Long Meadow near Payne Hill)Savannah Sparrow (1 on Peninsula Meadow)Common Loon (Breeding plumage flyover seen from Lookout Hill)Chimney Swift (2 individuals)Wood Duck (3 males, 2 Upper Pool, 1 Duck Island)Turkey Vulture (4 kettling over Prospect Park Southwest near the Long Meadow, afternoon)Brant (5, flyover flock: Laugh all you want, but a quality bird for Prospect Park)Other Warbler Species not listed above:Northern Parula (2-4), Black-throated Green Warbler (5-6), Palm Warbler (2), Black-and-White Warbler (6+), Ovenbird (2), Yellow Warbler (10+), Yellow-rumped Warbler (150-200?)In addition to the 17 species of Warbler I saw/heard, Seth, Dave, and Rob heard a Northern Waterthrush when I wasn't with them, and others saw a Louisiana Waterthrush at the stream near the Nethermead Arches. 19 species of Warbler on April 25th. Pretty damn good.A word of caution when looking for the Townsend's: There are a couple of Black-throated Green Warblers in the immediate area, so be thorough when making either ID. Hopefully it's re-found tomorrow morning.Photos/Video of the TOWNSEND'S WARBLER can be found here:http://picasaweb.google.com/fresha2411/2009#Good Birding!-Doug Gochfeld. Brooklyn, NY.
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 4/25/09
Notes: Night of Southwest Winds preceeding, clear at dawn, then extremely
foggy for about 45 minutes, then cleared up to a spectacularly sunny and warm
(80+ degrees) day. Mostly birded with Rob Jett, Dave Klauber, Seth Ausubel.
Also with Bob Gochfeld later in the day and Ed Crowne a couple of times as well.
Number of species: 80
Brant 5 W-E flyovers, Lullwater viewing platform
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 4
Wood Duck 3 Male @ Duck Island, 2 males @ Upper Pool
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler 2 Lake
Ruddy Duck 8 Lake
Common Loon 1 Breeding plumage flyover, Lookout Hill
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Egret 3
Green Heron 1 Along the stretch of water between Peninsula and Rink
Black-crowned Night-Heron 6 Duck Island, Peninsula, 3 Sisters.
Turkey Vulture 4 --4 Kettling over Prospect Park Southwest (near Long
Meadow) at 3:00 PM
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Merlin 1 Early flyby, Lullwater.
Laughing Gull 6
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 20
Chimney Swift 2
Belted Kingfisher 1 Lake side of Peninsula
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard, Quaker Ridge
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1 Lookout Hill
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 6
Eastern Phoebe 1 Lullwater
White-eyed Vireo 2 Lookout Hill, South Midwood
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 At 16th St. Entrance
Blue-headed Vireo 16 Probably an underestimate
Blue Jay X
crow sp. 1
Tree Swallow 2 Flyovers: Lullwater, Lookout Hill
Barn Swallow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Heard, Lullwater
Carolina Wren 2
House Wren 6 Lookout Hill. 2 pairs, and 2 other individuals
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 15
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8
Hermit Thrush 30
Wood Thrush 1 Lookout Hill
American Robin 85
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Blue-winged Warbler 2 Lookout Hill
Northern Parula 3 Lookout Hill, Vale, Quaker Cemetery
Yellow Warbler 12 Scattered throughout
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 125
Black-throated Green Warbler 5 Mostly Lookout Hill (2+) and Vale of
Cashmere (2)
Townsend's Warbler 1 Lookout Hill. Seen briefly at 6:30 on slope North
of Maryland Monument, but not well (passed off at the time). Then excellent
looks (thanks to Seth Ausubel's finding and positive identification) on the
Lower North slope of Lookout before it moved to the West and wasn't seen again.
Photos and video obtained.
Yellow-throated Warbler 1 Lookout Hill (south slope). Singing an
interesting Yellow Warbler-like song.
Pine Warbler 1 At 16th St. Entrance
Prairie Warbler 2 Lookout Hill north of Maryland Monument, Breeze Hill.
Palm Warbler (Yellow) 2 Together, very early (Center Drive?).
Blackpoll Warbler 1 Singing incessantly early (6:30 AM) Lookout Hill
north of Maryland Monument
Black-and-white Warbler 6
Prothonotary Warbler 1 Ravine
Worm-eating Warbler 1 Midwood ~2:20 PM (Thanks to Keir Randall)
Ovenbird 2 Peninsula, Vale
Common Yellowthroat 2 Heard singing south slope of Lookout, female seen
from Terrace Bridge
Hooded Warbler 1 Brilliant male in the Vale
Eastern Towhee 25 Very numerous, especially on Lookout Hill.
Chipping Sparrow 16 several spots, including ~12 at Long Meadow north of
Payne Hill
Field Sparrow 5 2 lamppost meadow, 1 Lookout Hill north of Maryland
Monument, 2 Long Meadow north of Payne Hill
Savannah Sparrow 1 Peninsula Meadow very early
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 65
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1 Long Meadow north of Payne Hill
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 12
Orchard Oriole 1 North slope of Lookout Hill
Baltimore Oriole 1 North slope of Lookout Hill
Purple Finch 1 Butterfly Meadow (singing immature male)
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
*************************
From Tom Preston:
Peter
Today's list from Jo Ann and I.
- Tom
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 4/25/09
Number of species: 61
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 2
Wood Duck 3
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler 2
Ruddy Duck 9
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Egret 1
Green Heron 1
American Kestrel 1
Laughing Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker X
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue-headed Vireo 3
Warbling Vireo 1
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Fish Crow 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 13
Hermit Thrush 3
American Robin X
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling X
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler 18
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Townsend's Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Eastern Towhee 7
Chipping Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird/
************************
Observers: Peter Dorosh, Mary Eyster, Bob ONeill, Heidi Steiner, Donna Evans
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 4/25/09
Number of species: 6
Wood Duck 2 drake upper pool
Mallard X
Ring-necked Duck 1 drake upper pool
Black Vulture 1 -in kettle over Ravine
Turkey Vulture 4 , a kettle over ravine
Red-tailed Hawk 4, a kettle over ravine
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
(Photo credit :Tom Stephenson ; Todays bird of the day: RHWP)
