A tradition I have been following when morning skies are clear is going to Prospect Lake on Easter mornings, to watch the sun rise. Before the sun rose this morning, the earth's horizon was ablaze with an orange reddish glow and I saw in the distance two Great Blue Herons flying, dark silhouettes within that aura. A Red-tailed hawk , later joined by another swooped down towards the lake surface. There was an assortment of waterfowl , namley Northern Shoveler, Coots, Pied billed Grebe, Mallard , Ruddy, all i am wondering not too mindful of the cold chill except for me ,bundled up in my winter coat i wisely kept out of storage.It was simply a gorgeous sunrise and a spiritual refelction.
6:20- 7:45 all Lake
2 Great Blue Heron,
Black Crowned Night Heron
Red-tailed hawk -2
Mallrds
Coots
Northern Shoveler
Pied-billed grebe
Ruddy ( easily 50)
Palm Warbler- 3 at Mary Monument
Pine Warbler- 2 Mary Monument
Eastern Phoebe- Mary Monument
Cardinal - Wellhouse
Grackle
Great Egret- speared a fish near the West Isl shelter, i watched
Peter
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From Rafael:
DATE: 12 April 2009
OBSERVERS: Rafael Campos & Ed Crowne
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Windy, cold, and apparently, the birds where somewhere else. But the usual route I take in PP, was almost zero interesting Spring arrivals, til I reached Rick's Place, where the 1st Palm Warbler showed its beak, also 1 Eastern Phoebe. As I reached the Boulder Bridge, Ed called me up, that he was in the Midwood area, and listening to a vireo sps notes. I went there, and between the 2, we ID the vireo as Blue-headed.
We went from here to the pools, where we saw, briefly, 1 Louisiana Waterthrush. Also in the same area we saw Yellow-rumped & Pine Warblers. One Northern Rough-winged Swallow was flying around the Upper Pool.
From here we went to the lake, and saw several Tree Swallows flying over. Nothing unusual, but the Osprey made our day. It was circling over the peninsula area.
The list:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Great Egret: 1, lake
Black-crowned Night-Heron: 1, lake
Osprey: 1 flyover Peninsula
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1, by the pools
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher: 1 male, pools. Heard also around Lullwater.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe: 1, Rick's Place
Blue-headed Vireo: 1, Midwood
Blue Jay
American Crow: heard only.
Fish Crow: 2 flyover Grand Army Plaza
Tree Swallow: ~4, lake
Northern Rough-winged Swallow: 1, flyover upper pool
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Creeper: 1, pools
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 1, pools
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: 5
Hermit Thrush: 2
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler: pools
Pine Warbler: pools
Palm Warbler: Rick's Place, Boulder Bridge, pools, Quaker Hill
Louisiana Waterthrush: 1
Eastern Towhee: 1 male, Midwood
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco: ~6, Nelly's Lawn
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird: 2 males
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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From Doug Gochfeld:
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 4/12/09 (11:50 AM-2:45 PM)
Notes: w/ Bob Gochfeld, Elizabeth Poole. Ran into another birder who had
just seen the female Northern Parula on the Peninsula side of the Terrace
Bridge. We couldn't re-find it though. Palm Warblers have finally arrived in numbers (not a lot quite yet).
Number of species: 49
Mute Swan 3
Wood Duck 1
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler 1
Ruddy Duck 75
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Egret 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Duck Island
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Immature, Nethermead, w/ full crop
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 8
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 8
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 15
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Female, Quaker Cemetery entrance
Downy Woodpecker 10
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 40
Eastern Phoebe 4
Blue Jay X
Tree Swallow 7 Lake
Barn Swallow 1 Lake
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 female, Peninsula
White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Peninsula
Carolina Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 Pools
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 Quaker Cemetery, Ravine
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 Peninsula, Lullwater Cove
Hermit Thrush 4
American Robin 175
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Pine Warbler 5
Palm Warbler (Yellow) 12
Louisiana Waterthrush 2 Vale, Lower Pool
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 25
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 3 2 Nelly's Lawn, 1 Midwood
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle 25
Brown-headed Cowbird 1 female Lamppost 249
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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From MIke Corzine:
Hey Peter! The Ravine side of the Lower Pool near the gate and the area just North of it was good for me again. I was there for just a bit between 4:30 to 5-ish and had a small group of Pine (2-3) and Palm Warblers (3-4.) They also favored the cut tree logs on the East side of the path. Also, a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher above the Esdale bridge.
Best,
Michael
