One of the best fall sparrow locations in Prospect is Breeze Hill. There are long dirt mounds dumped from the rink construction, overgrown with weeds galore. Well , this is where you will find the sparrows and a birders bonanza.
Mary Eyster texted me of the news saying " very birdy", and I went there after work. At least 9 species sparrows were recorded at Breeze Hill and it'll be good for a few weeks. The regulars were expected topped by WHITE-CROWNED, FIELD, CHIPPING,SAVANNAH with a horde of WHITE-THROATED,with far fewer numbers of SONG, DARK-EYED JUNCO, and SWAMP. Two LINCOLN's SPARROWS were sighted today; one in the dog beach wildflower meadow, the other in Sparrowbowl adjacent the Tennis House.
Besides the sparrows, there were warblers as well on the Breezelawn. BLACKPOLL, PINE, BLACKBURNIAN, YELLOW-RUMPED were some of these species.
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET and GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLET showed an uptick in the park.
A last word: its EASTERN PHOEBE (EAPH) "convention weekend". Inside the baseball field fence enclosure, I counted 23 EAPH.Its quite a scene, these flycatchers perched on the snow fence, or rebar poles holding plastic fencing.
And a word on the HOODED WARBLER: its still there in the west Nethermead Bridge flower meadow per Bobbi Manian. I guess the location has the right stuff for the density and food it has. See Bobbi's terrific photograph of the rare warbler.
Peter's list
Prospect Park, Kings, US-NY
Oct 7, 2011 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
35 species
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan X
Wood Duck 1 at 3 sisters isl
Northern Shoveler 1 lake
Double-crested Cormorant 1 lake
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Breeze Hill
Northern Flicker 4
Eastern Phoebe 35--23 Ballfields
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Blue Jay X
Brown Creeper 1 reptd by Kathy Toomey Wellhouse
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 Nethermead
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin X
Gray Catbird 1 Breeze H.
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Common Yellowthroat 3 Breeze Hill
Blackpoll Warbler 1 Breeze Hill
Palm Warbler 2 --1 Breeze Hill, 1 Ballfields
Blackburnian Warbler - Breeze Hill lawn
Hooded Warbler- west Nethermead Bridge, rept by Bobbi Manian
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4 Breeze Hill
Chipping Sparrow 5 Breeze Hill
Field Sparrow 1 rept by Mary E Breeze Hill
Savannah Sparrow 9 Ballfields
Song Sparrow X
Lincoln's Sparrow 2 x--Upper pool meadow, sparrowbowl
Swamp Sparrow 6--4 Breeze Hill; 2 Nethermead Br
White-throated Sparrow 30 Breeze Hill
White-crowned Sparrow 2 Breeze Hill --juvs
Dark-eyed Junco 4 Breeze Hill
Northern Cardinal 2
House Sparrow X
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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Post from NYS BIRDS
observer Gabriel Willow
Subject: Sparrowy Day in Prospect Park
From: gabriel willow
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 13:56:33 -0700
On an afternoon stroll from the Audubon Center up to
Breezy Hill and back today I hit a sparrow goldmine
and many other autumn migrants.� There are several big
piles of gravel on the hill covered in seeding mugwort,
Japanese knotweed, and goldenrod that seem to be a sparrow mecca.
There were about 5 White-throated Sparrows for every other bird seen.� Other species sighted were 2 Swamp Sparrows, several Song Sparrows, a Lincoln's Sparrow, an immature White-crowned Sparrow, numerous Dark-eyed Juncos, Chipping Sparrows, and a Field Sparrow.� Other species present included numerous Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Brown Creeper, a Winter Wren, American Redstart, Palm, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Blue, and Black-throated Green Warblers, a flyover Common Nighthawk and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
Not a bad lunch break!
Good Birding,
Gabriel Willow
Prospect Park Audubon Center
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From Orrin
In about an hour at BBGarden this morning, roughly in the order first seen (south to north)
White-throated sparrow (many)
Song sparrow (several)(
Blue jay
Red-bellied woodpecker
Mourning dove
European starling
Northern parula
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
American robin
House sparrow
Common yellowthroat
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Northern flicker
Black-throated green warbler
Golden-crowned kinglet
Palm warbler
Gray catbird
Yellow-rumped warbler
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Yesterday I saw, in addition to most of these birds, a brown creeper, several hermit thrushes, and a black-throated blue warbler.
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From BBC birder Tom Stephenson on upcoming talks:
Hi Peter,
There are two talks coming up at the Linnaean Society, held at the American Museum of Natural History, I thought you might be interested in attending, and/or letting others know about.
This Tuesday, Oct 11, Peter Pyle (who wrote the bird bander's bible) is talking about how birds molt, and different systems for understanding the sequences birds go through maintaining their plumage. Should be interesting and also relevant for field ID.
This was the talk we tried to schedule for BBC but it didn't work out.
Turns out they were able to book him in Connecticut, so everything turned out OK.
Next month, Tuesday Nov 8, I'll be talking about warbler and other species' vocalizations, including how to understand and use sonograms and structural analysis to differentiate similar-sounding songs and contact calls.
I'll also discuss memory theory and some simple systems for memorizing vocalizations.
Someday you may be able to point your iPhone at a bird and see it's sonogram...easier than hearing them!
More details on time, location, etc:
http://linnaeannewyork.org/programs.html
Anyway, you probably already know about these, but wanted to be sure.
Best regards,
Tom
