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| A rain soaked sleeping Red-tailed Hawk atop an air conditioner in Boerum Hill last night, photo sent to me today. Poor bird! |
Finally as the rain ended, a brief mid afternoon walk under dreary skies to look for anything still dry (I doubt it). Most interesting was the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk atop a cut off snag along the path from Terrace Bridge to the rink, that was feeding on prey.At one time, as the hawk fed, it almost slipped off the wet snag , just grabbing the bark at the last moment and flapping its wings to stay aloft. Must be a heck of a comedian to his folks.
In that area, an adult Coopers Hawk perched at the hilltop. But it didn't stayed long.The juvenile Red tailed tried to intimidate it by flying all around and above it, finally chasing off the Coopers from its turf. I guess the Coopers wasn't amused.
No sign of the Rusty Blackbird as reported perhaps storm weary after a week's stay. But along that path , a flurry of birds that included Fox Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and a female Red-winged Blackbird instead of its better cousin. But as I was viewing the action along with new birder Eric, a Golden-crowned Kinglet flew over, momentarily perched in a Hawthorne, before taking off up the hill.
On the lake, much open now, a lone drake HOODED MERGANSER and the usual population of Northern Shovelers. Better weather ahead but colder on Tuesday might be good for ducks spurred by a polar clipper. But I heard maybe in the long term forecast rain next weekend..Not a good sign for the Brooklyn Xmas Count...lets hope the storm misses..
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 12/12/10
Number of species: 28
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 4 Lake
American Black Duck 2 Lake
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler 175 Lake
Hooded Merganser 1 drake Lake
Ruddy Duck X
Cooper's Hawk 1 Breeze Hill
Red-tailed Hawk 1 juv south lullwater
American Coot 5 Lake
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull (American) X
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 24 West Island triple sweetgums
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse 2 south lullwater
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 south lullwater
European Starling X
Fox Sparrow (Red) 2--West Island triple sweetgums, 1 south lullwater
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 3--2 West Island triple sweetgums,1 south lullwater
White-throated Sparrow 15--10 West Island triple sweetgums, 5 south Lullwater
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 3--one south lullwater,2 West Island triple sweetgums
American Goldfinch 10 West Island triple sweetgums
House Sparrow X
Feeder
Location: Prospect Park
Observation date: 12/12/10
Number of species: 4
Downy Woodpecker 2
Black-capped Chickadee 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Goldfinch 2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/)
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Brooklyn Bridge Park birding , reported by Larry Zirlin
(Ebirds listerve posting)
From: Larry Zirlin
To: ebirdsnyc@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, December 12, 2010 4:07:54 PM
Subject: [ebirdsnyc] Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, 12/13
The latest bird to arrive at Pier 1 is a drake Bufflehead,
seen swimming and diving among the pilings. This brings
the number of reported species at this (relatively) new site
up to 49. I'm hoping for a nice even 50 before year's end.
I've seen Mergansers nearby in the past so that's a possibility
A Gadwall was also present.Between Piers 3 & 4 there
were three more Gadwalls plus another drake
Bufflehead, and off Pier 6, yet another Bufflehead.
Birds on the ground were sparse--only sparrows and pigeons.
Number of species: 9
Gadwall 1
American Black Duck 6
Bufflehead 1
Double-crested Cormorant 8
Ring-billed Gull 35
Herring Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 1 On Manhattan shore beneath Brooklyn Bridge
Rock Pigeon 24 All but one on old National Cold Storage site
White-throated Sparrow 5 Larry Zirlin
http://birdsandwords-larryz.blogspot.com/
