One of the year's really good birds for Prospect, an AMERICAN BITTERN flew low over the lake and landed somewhere in phragmites on the west side of the Peninsula "thumb" mid morning. Rob Bate was fortunate to see the Bittern fly right in front of him near the shore by the Wellhouse, very close to him before the large heron veered off to the right. However, a further search proved unsuccessful but its likely and possibly in any of the phragmites patches along the north shore of the Lake (Peninsula side).
Today's sighting represents the 18th record ,and continuing the good streak of 6 straight years ( since 2005) of a Prospect sighting for American Bittern , a rare species for here given its rarity, its secretiveness and hidden abilities in marsh habitats.The last sighting was last year's May 2009 bird in the Peninsula tip and Duck Island area.
--Kingsboider
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From Rob Bate:
Prospect Park
Besides the American Bittern, other birds of note were a Blackpoll Warbler and our continuing Baltimore Oriole.I saw no Robins today.
From Rob's posting summation to NYS LISTSERVE
Subject: American Bittern - Prospect Park
From: Robert Bate
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:22:06 -0400
Today while moping about the waning of fall migration by
the lake's edge in Brooklyn's Prospect Park I looked up to
see a large heron-like bird flying across the water. At first I
thought Green Heron, a common enough bird in this urban park,
because of the chest streaking. However the bird was huge,at
least for a Green Heron. The dark band along the back of it's wing
identified it as an American Bittern. It flew around the lake and
headed straight for my position but it may have been startled to
see a human in Prospect Park and quickly reversed course
disappearing around a bend of the shoreline.
Word went out and Rob Jett and Peter Dorosh
joined me in an attempt to relocate the bird, unfortunately to no avail.
Rob Bate
Brooklyn, NYC
Observation date: 10/28/10
Number of species: 45
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Wood Duck X
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X
Ruddy Duck X
Pied-billed Grebe X
Double-crested Cormorant X
American Bittern X
Great Blue Heron X
Cooper's Hawk X
Red-tailed Hawk X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher X
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
White-breasted Nuthatch X
Brown Creeper X
Carolina Wren X
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Hermit Thrush X
Gray Catbird X
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Blackpoll Warbler X
Common Yellowthroat X
Chipping Sparrow X
Field Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow X
White-throated Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Baltimore Oriole X Wellhouse
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X
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Peter's list:
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 10/28/10
Number of species: 27
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 7 lake
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X lake
Ruddy Duck 135 west sector lake
Pied-billed Grebe 2--one lullwater, 1 lake
Double-crested Cormorant 8 perched or near 3 Sisters Islands
Great Blue Heron 1 lake
American Coot 7 lake
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Black-capped Chickadee 1 maryland monument
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Hermit Thrush 1 peninsula
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 south lakeside
Blackpoll Warbler 1 south lakeside behind 3 Sisters Islands
Chipping Sparrow 20 peninsula meadow
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow 1 rink
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X f/o south lullwater
Common Grackle 17 Peninsula
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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From Larry Zirlin:
Brooklyn Bridge Park
It was only a matter of time before a Peregrine Falcon
added itself to the Pier 1 roster. One flew in off the East
River in just about the same "flyway" as the Kestrel I saw
last week, then flew into and perched in a tree on the
Promenade.
Other new species for the park: A Northern Flicker
was briefly faked out by the wood telephone poles that are
used as light stanchions in the park (I assume the poles are
treated to make them impervious to insects), and
2 Black-capped Chickadees were on the hilly part of the
park.
List for the day:
Number of species: 17
Canada Goose 3 Flyover
American Black Duck 4
Mallard 5
Double-crested Cormorant 9
Peregrine Falcon 1 Flyover then into the Heights
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 4
Northern Flicker 1
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Palm Warbler 3
Song Sparrow 6
White-throated Sparrow 9
Dark-eyed Junco 3
House Sparrow 40
Larry
http://birdsandwords-larryz.blogspot.com/
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