Kingsboider Note: this posting is one of three for today October 29th. Scroll down for the other postings
Now the Highlites : Exceptional and ultra rare BLACK VULTURE in a late afternoon flyover Breeze Hill (PDorosh), BALD EAGLES ( SNanz,then PDorosh with help of text message fast track); AMERICAN WOODCOCK (RBate, LZirlin), late PHILADELPHIA VIREO (RBate).Very good sparrow movements.
From reports generated today, from the likes of it, it was a very good day,particularly on and near Breeze Hill . Late afternoon provided the best drama with the Bald Eagles spotting ( see previous posting) over the Terrace Bridge which connects to Breeze Hill; and a very surprising BLACK VULTURE seen in a low flyover over the Breeze Hill meadow at 4:20 pm. The Vulture is recorded fewer than 10 times in Prospect''s history though in recent years have been increasing in frequency.For a fall sighting though,its likely even rarer given this vulture's still southern domain ( but numbers are increasing into the northeast for the past decade). Records search for Black Vulture is pending on Monday. Of course, Breeze Hill twice revealed American Woodcock. In addition, the very late PHILADELPHIA VIREO reappeared in the Wellhouse Peppercorn tree, about 120 paces from Breeze Hill ( wink wink).
Sparrows are still prevalent, and this time of year may be a good opportunity for birders to get out there and look for the ultra rare one , maybe a sparrow , maybe even a western rarity..It seems like a blossom of rarities , in species and late birds so far..lets keep the ball rolling.
It's good crisp weather for birding, so try for it. ( and bird early because the Halloween Park weekend event will be noisy with ghoul music from Lookout Hill and lots of scary kids too....; ) )
Peter's list:
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 10/29/10
Number of species: 37
Canada Goose 85-- 45 lake,40 higher f/o
Mute Swan 3 lake
Wood Duck 1 drake south lullwater near terrace br
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X lake
Ring-necked Duck 2 hen/drake immatures within Ruddy Ducks flock Lake
Ruddy Duck 55 lake
Pied-billed Grebe 2-1 south lullwater, 1 lake
Double-crested Cormorant 7 lake, 4 at Three sisters
Great Blue Heron 1 south lullwater cattails
Black Vulture 1 low flyover Breeze Hill; 4:20 pm
Bald Eagle 2 immatures, low soar over Terrace Bridge, thanks to Steve for heads up texts from afar
Cooper's Hawk 1 Nethermead
Red-tailed Hawk 3 together soaring Lullwater/Nethermead south
American Coot 22
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Black-capped Chickadee 2 Maryland Monument
Winter Wren 1 Maryland Monument hydrant
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 wellhouse , in peppercorn tree
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 15 various locations
Hermit Thrush 8 various locations
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 1 Wellhouse
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 1 Maryland Monument
Field Sparrow 1 Rink
Song Sparrow 45 various locations
Swamp Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow X common ,but hard to gauge numbers
Dark-eyed Junco 4 Terrace Br
Northern Cardinal 2 wellhouse
American Goldfinch 2 Butterfly Meadow
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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From Mike Yuan:
Birded Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 for the 1st time this afternoon.
Highlights were :
Blue Headed Vireo bathing in one of the pools,
Field Sparrow.
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 2
Rock Pigeon 6
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7
Common Yellowthroat 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 8
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 20
House Sparrow 2-
Mike
