A happy bird day

Black-capped Chickadee

photo by LLOYD SPITALNIK

Stephanie Seymour of Englewood, N.J. was out bright and early this morning. Here's her report:

It was a wonderful morning to be out. There was a good migration and good numbers of birds. Here is my report from 7 am to 9 am this morning:

Location: Central Park
Observation date: 10/8/10
Number of species: 49

Mallard 30
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 (flew in and perched on tippy top of pine tree in SF)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 8+++ I am reporting 8 Sapsuckers but honestly, I think I saw at least 12, but maybe closer to 15. They were all over the place. Including 2 male adults. Had 3 in one tree at once)
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 6
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 (calling! SF)
Eastern Phoebe 3 (SF, Bow Bridge, Ramble)
Blue Jay 9
American Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 25+ (many eating on the thistle feeders hung up in Ramble)
Tufted Titmouse 1 (eating on the thistle feeders with the Chickadees)
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 (heard only) (SF)
White-breasted Nuthatch 5 (including 1 on the ground in the Ramble)
Brown Creeper 2 (great looks at one) (SF)
Carolina Wren 2
Winter Wren 2 (SF)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 25+
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 12+
Swainson's Thrush 4
Hermit Thrush 6
Wood Thrush 2 (SF and drinking at Azalea Pond waterfall thingy)
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 6
Brown Thrasher 2 (Maintenence Field)
European Starling 10
Cedar Waxwing 60 (all flyovers)
Northern Parula 3 (SF)
Magnolia Warbler 1 (SF)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 20+
Black-throated Green Warbler 2 (SF)
Palm Warbler 4 (SF)
Blackpoll Warbler 8 (most in SF)
Ovenbird 1 (SF)
Eastern Towhee 5
Field Sparrow 1 (feeding with Song and WT Sparrows) (Maintenence Field)
Song Sparrow 15
Lincoln's Sparrow 1 (Maintenence Field - thank you Roger)
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 300+ (huge influx)
Dark-eyed Junco 30
Northern Cardinal 6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 (at south end of The Lake)
Common Grackle 7
Purple Finch 1 (female) (Maintenence Field feeding with sparrows)
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow 40

...and perch on it

Photos courtesy of PaleMale.com
taken on October 6, 2010

Bill Trankle, a long time correspondent from Indianapolis, writes:

Marie, could you enlighten me as to the identity/purpose of the bamboo contraption that Lincoln Karim [www.palemale.com] caught Pale Male sitting in yesterday? He notes it's behind the Met, so I don't know if this is some art installation or leftover set work, or some other . . . something. Have you ever seen it?

I enlightened Bill by sending him a link [below] from the New York Times. And in the course of finding it I learned that the exhibit closes on Oct 31st. Good reminder; I've been putting off paying the roof garden a visit. Now I'll be sure to go during the next few weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/arts/design/12vogel.html


There are more great photos of Pale Male at the Met on the PaleMale.com site. Below is another:

Yesterday's Bird of the Day, and a bit more about a bird of the day before yesterday

Blue Grosbeak at Great Hill-- 10/3/10

For Central Park birders the bird of the day yesterday was a Blue Grosbeak. This species is listed as Infrequent on the Birds of Central Park annotated checklist. It was photographed yesterday morning at the Great Hill [in the North Woods part of the park] by Barrie Raik.

Correction:

Yesterday Jack Meyer sent an email related to the day's posting. The subject line was entitled A Small Quibble:

Marie:

On your blog (glad to see it up & running again) you label the Black-throated Blue Warbler "fall version". But males in fall have the same distinctive coloring as in spring. And females in spring look as they do in fall. First year females lack the pocket hanky.

Jack

Here's my reply to Jack: You're right!

And here are some of the birds we DID see yesterday 10/2/10

Scarlet Tanager [fall version]

Great Egret

Magnolia Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler [fall version]

Photos by Barrie Raik