Post-blizzard birding

Belvedere Terrace steps-- Dec. 27, 2010 -

Photo by Craig Rutter--AP

Birder Larry Zirlin braved the snow yesterday and sent a report of what he saw to eBirds:

In Central Park today, the paths and roads were cleaner than the streets of Brooklyn. Grackles abounded, shooing away all other birds from the feeders when they flocked in. A Brown Creeper, a couple of Fox Sparrows, and 2 sapsuckers made the trip into Manhattan worth the trouble. Day List: Number of species: 21 Ring-billed Gull 25 Rock Pigeon 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Feeders Blue Jay 5 Black-capped Chickadee 10 Tufted Titmouse 5 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 Brown Creeper 1 Feeder area American Robin 5 European Starling 10 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Fox Sparrow 2 Feeders Song Sparrow 1 Feeders White-throated Sparrow 100 Dark-eyed Junco 3 Feeders Northern Cardinal 3 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Feeders Common Grackle 125 American Goldfinch 7 Feeders House Sparrow 20

Larry Zirlin http://birdsandwords-larryz.blogspot.com/

What about the Varied Thrush? Birder Jared Harary also made his way into post-blizzard Central Park yesterday in search of the thrush. He didn't find it. But he added another bird to Larry Z's list, the Eastern Towhee, bringing the total to 22. As he wrote in his report on eBirds: "... had good looks at two eastern towees among the house and white-throated sparrows at the usual varied thrush spot (just east of Maintenance meadow bathrooms).