Prospect October 31st; previous day reports

First , a Happy Halloween to all:

No spooks reported today in Prospect but for a few "in the flesh" good birds expected at this time of the year.

Early this morning, 5 AMERICAN PIPITS were reported in the baseball field  fence enclosure --by now a famous spot for its locality , reported by Mark Salvadalena visiting from Washington state. Later, at 12:30 during my lunch break , along with Mark, we saw 2 AMERICAN PIPIT in the baseball fields center part  walking on bare muddy ground.

Staying focused in this same area, the continuing VESPER SPARROW was reported by Rob Bate, the VESP seen inside the fence enclosure.

As expected this late fall, AMERICAN WOODCOCK usually comes in. I  flushed one around 1:15 above the Sparrowbowl near the top road .After its escape , it flew into the wooded berm along West Drive.

Prospect Park, Kings, US-NY
Oct 31, 2011
Protocol: Incidental
12 species

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Ravine, bathing in creek, flew up
American Woodcock 1 Sparrowbowl between Tennis and Picnic Houses
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Hermit Thrush X
American Pipit 2 baseball fields
Chipping Sparrow X
Vesper Sparrow 1 reported by Rob Bate
Savannah Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
House Sparrow X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)







October 30th reports Prospect & Greenwood Cemetery





From Monica Berger



Hi Peter: Here's my day list for Prospect. Nothing unusual except a

Nashville warbler adjacent to the Wellhouse. As to quantity, it seemed

like everywhere I looked there was a hermit thrush. Best, Monica



Pied-billed Grebe

Mute Swan

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Ruddy Duck

Cooper's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Winter Wren

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Tufted Titmouse

Blue Jay

European Starling

House Sparrow

Nashville Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Eastern Towhee

Chipping Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal









From Orrin :

I got to Green-Wood Cemetery too late today to sort through the plethora of golden-crowned kinglets, juncos and hermit thrushes, except for this gorgeous, cooperative EASTERN BLUEBIRD

American Pipit in Prospect

2 AMERICAN PIPIT walking in middle ballfield on bare ground 1230;  5  were  reported (by Mark Salvadalena) this morning inside the fence enclosure. MEADOWLARK also reported pending observer identity with info obtained from third party.

--Kingsboider

WESTERN KINGBIRD along Riis Golf course northwest fence.flew into golf course afterwards

12 AMER PIPTS on fort tilden little legue field west

October 29th Snowy Prospect

I looked out my window this early afternoon with unbelieving eyes: it's actually snowing before Halloween!

Dennis H reported the still present EASTERN MEADOWLARK at 9:10 this morning on the baseball fields as it has been the past week.

I hope it brought along cross country skis.....

--KB

Prospect Oct 28th: "At home" Meadowlark & Vesper Sparrow; better late than never

The lone EASTERN MEADOWLARK (EAME) and VESPER SPARROW continue to delight birders visiting the Baseball fields fence enclosure. In a rare occurrence for length of stay, this being the third straight day for EAME, Mary Eyster reported the bird early this morning.During my lunchtime hour, along with Mike Yuan, we saw the EAME fly out to a tree overshadowing field #3, where its bright yellow breast illuminated well from that distance.But it came back  for Chris Elliot, the EAME staying put in the medium high grass in the center of the enclosure. I got a later report from Mike Yuan that a second EAME joined in later.

Just as long ( if not longer) for the other local rarity, Mike reported the VESPER SPARROW along the west snow fence. So, it's great to see both these birds stick around in their protective enclosure despite all the human activity outside.

Here's a report from Mike with a photo of the VESPER SPARROW ( click on link)

peter-



a 2nd meadowlark joined the 1st at the ballfield enclosure.


a crop of the vesper sparrow, seen outside the ballfield enclosure in a flock of chipping sparrows:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/88884477@N00/6289926768/



On another note, Mary E. reported very good sparrow activity in a sizable smart weed meadow north of the Picnic House ( just past the picnic table area and east of the pedestrian road dumpster ).There are two sparrow infested meadow patches, the other more of a Beggar Ticks/smartweed mixed  meadow near the flooded depressed road that crosses the Long Meadow. I found a sizable flock of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, likely 125 birds with some SONGs and 2 SWAMP. A WINTER WREN skulked around as well.. Nothing rare but its a great spot to observe and hope for a rarity.

On a last note, on the east side (or Long Meadow side) of that picnic tables area under the grand oak grove, numerous DARK-EYED JUNCOS were skittish and nervous as they fed on the bare lawn below two great Oaks. I saw one interesting junco, with good amount of pink flanks, likely a Pink -sided subspecies. I didn't get much of a chance to watch it more because a RED-TAILED HAWK flew right in and perched right above the flock.Zing...gone were the juncos. No wonder the "high anxiety". When I came back thru the area later, the Red-tailed came swooping in from behind me ( and I saw it close) ,barely missing a startled squirrel on the ground. Lots of action there! ( and nuts I missed seeing a grab)

High sparrows numbers came in late this fall, more the latter half of October instead of early October. Well, better late than never.

-Kingsboider

Ballfields fence enclosure

EASTERN MEADOWLARK + numerous sparrows @ ballfields fence enclosure per Mary Eyster; also VESPER SPARROW seen along west fence per Mike Yuan.

Bald Eagle at Bush Terminal Pier Park ( under construction); Prospect EAME & VESP

This post normally would not qualify under my "north Brooklyn" requirement but I will make an exception here due to the exciting potential of this new park I have been inside to advise an environmental activist friend on the Osprey platform there.

These Bald Eagle photos were taken by Mamdouh Elbahary,a
Senior Project Scientist with the company building the roughly 65 acre park looking out into NYC Harbor. The photos were taken October 6th & 7th. Pretty cool, huh ?

*******************************************

Today 10/27

Back on the home turf, during my lunchtime "dash" in this cold soaking rain, in Prospect Park, a second EASTERN MEADOWLARK join yesterday's EAME before one of them flew out just as I was looking at a VESPER SPARROW (VESP) perched on the northwest side snow fence of the reknown baseball fields fence enclosure. The VESP would fly down to bare area on the lawn to feed. Many PALM WARBLERS were seen along with DE JUNCO, SONG, SAVANNAH ,and CHIPPING Sparrows before I made haste back to the Tennis House office.

Not a nice day today with the cold bone chilling rain.

--Kingsboider

My List

Prospect Park, Kings, US-NY
Oct 27, 2011 12:20 PM - 12:45 PM
Protocol: Stationary
10 species

Double-crested Cormorant 1 Duck Isl
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Duck Isl
American Coot 7 Duck Isl
Hermit Thrush X
Palm Warbler 12 Baseball field and the rest below same spot
Chipping Sparrow X
Vesper Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Eastern Meadowlark-2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

VESPER SPARROW on or below nrthwst snow fence baseball fence enclosure.1 EAME flew out.1 put.

TWO EASTERN MEADOWLARKS nside baseball fields fence enclosure.(prospark)