Beautiful birds arrive as hope for the hawks begins to diminish

While early spring migrants have been trickling into Central Park since early March when the first Phoebe was sighted, the trickle is turning into a torrent as of Saturday. That was the first really warm day after a long cold spell in New York and the migrants are pouring in. David Speiser, one of the park's best young birders, distinguished also as Liliana's Daddy, has been sending in bird reports and photos. Thanks David. Below are 5 of his recent beauties:

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet -4/21/07

Swamp Sparrow 4/20/07


Pine Warbler - 4/22/07 [a very yellow one -- many pine warblers are drab, hardly yellow at all]



Orange-crowned Warbler - 4/22/07 [Note-- this is a regular, but hard to find early spring warbler. Quite a coup to get a good picture of one.]


Louisiana Waterthrush-4/21/07
[5 photos above by David Speiser]


Other species seen by various birders during the last 4 days: Indigo bunting, Northern waterthrush, many hermit thrushes [must have been a big migration of them day before yesterday--I saw one in tiny Gramercy Park] yellow-rumped warbler. .Lots of Golden-crowned kinglets must have arrived yesterday. You could hear their thin "seet seet seet" songs throughout the park. fLots of flickers calling loudly--ke-ke-ke-ke-ke!. The robins are building nests and squabbling over territories throughout the park.

Also arrived in Central Park, the migratory birdwatchers, those who come regularly but only during the migration seasons. Their number will increase as May approaches. By May 5 they may outnumber the birds.


Pale Male & Lola and other hawks

Soon I'll be posting a report about other red-tailed hawk nests,successful ones, in other parts of NYC. And if Pale Male and Lola's nest fails again this year, I promise we'll have a full discussion on this website of the possible causes of failure, as well as some proposals of what to do next. But give it a few more days. Don't uncross your fingers quite yet.