He's late, he's late, for a very important date.

Parula Warbler -- May 9, 2007.
photo by Lloyd Spitalnik

May is the month Central Park birdwatchers expect to see Northern Parula Warblers. Since they do not nest in Central Park, by the end of May parulas are a rare sight, and after the second week of June a very, very rare sight indeed.

Yesterday, June 17, well into the Parula breeding season, regular birder Rebekah Creshkoff reported a Northern Parula singing at the garden path of the Great Hill, in the northwestern end of Central Park. Could that be a new Central Park record?