Every year, shortly after April's first trickle of migrating warblers appear, I get irritably impatient for mornings of blaring dawn choruses and colorful, hyperactive songbirds dancing in the treetops. The spectacle predictably commences by early-May, but that knowledge does little to quell my restlessness. That said, we did see a few new birds over the weekend, plus, a private tour that I led in Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday revealed some new migrants.
Prospect Park
Like most of the birders in the northeast, Heydi, Paige and I concluded that Friday's overnight South winds would bring some new migrants into Prospect Park and the surrounding area. We arranged to meet at Grand Army Plaza at first light to start our birding at the park's north end. A short walk from the plaza, the Vale of Cashmere's tall surrounding trees and year round water source is usually a good draw for migrating birds. We've experienced many incredible Spring dawn fall outs at this spot. It was not the case on Saturday. Even the recent influx of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Hermit Thrushes seemed to have moved on. At the south end of the Vale I did notice one new season arrival. Hopping around in the shrubs low to the ground was a striking Common Yellowthroat. For the most part, however, it was a pretty quiet morning. In addition to a scarcity of Hermit Thrushes the recent rush of Ruby-crowned Kinglets had also flown off on the South winds.
Another new warbler for us for the year was Yellow Warbler. We walked the entire perimeter of Prospect Lake and heard our first one on Three Sisters Island. A second one was heard then seen high in the canopy within the Ravine. Chimney Swifts have also begun to arrive, although in very small numbers. One very conspicuous Spring newcomer is House Wren. Their energetic, bubbly song was heard throughout the park with at least 5 individuals seen. In coming weeks they'll be found nesting in streetlight fixtures and tree cavities in all the city's parks. Savannah Sparrows were observed migrating through Prospect Park with a few at Breeze Hill, the South side of the lake and on Lookout Hill.
Maybe we'll see a fallout with the next round of South winds ... and hopefully that will happen on the weekend.
**********
Prospect Park
Apr 21, 2012, 6:29 AM - 10:29 AM
51 species
Wood Duck (2.)
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck (7.)
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron (1.)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (2.)
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot (1.)
Laughing Gull (3.)
Chimney Swift (1.)
Northern Flicker (3.)
Blue-headed Vireo (1.)
American Crow
Fish Crow (4.)
Tree Swallow (4.)
Barn Swallow (5.)
House Wren (4.)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2.)
Hermit Thrush (1.)
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher (1.)
Louisiana Waterthrush (1.)
Black-and-white Warbler (2.)
Common Yellowthroat (1.)
Northern Parula (2.)
Yellow Warbler (2.)
Palm Warbler (2.)
Pine Warbler (1.)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (15.)
Eastern Towhee (4.)
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow (4.)
Swamp Sparrow (2.)
White-throated Sparrow
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Other common species seen (or heard):
Mute Swan, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Robin, European Starling, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow
Floyd Bennett Field
After a less than stellar early morning in Prospect Park, Heydi and I decided to head to Floyd Bennett Field. We were hoping to find some dabbling ducks at the "Return a Gift Pond", more specifically, a Blue-winged Teal. Upland Sandpipers had been reported migrating through NYS, so we figured that the grasslands at Floyd Bennett would be the best place to search for one in Brooklyn.
Our first stop was at the Cricket Field, where any chance of finding birds was quashed due to a guy running a gasoline-powered remote control car through the grass. The "Return-a-Gift" Pond was depressingly devoid of birds, waterfowl or otherwise. We decided to walk through the tree, shrub and phragmite habitat of the North Forty towards Mill Basin, then walk the shoreline towards Raptor Point. The sweet fragrance of blooming Autumn Olive trees pervaded the entire north end of Floyd Bennett. Birds were few and far between, but we did come across several Question Mark butterflies. Apparently there was a hatch-out of these anglewings in the area as we ultimately spotted them all over Floyd Bennett Field.
Another fascinating, non-bird observation was of a mantis egg case. I noticed this small, beige sphere attached to a bare shrub. I recognized it as a mantis ootheca from a distance, but wasn't sure what the structure was dangling off of the bottom. As we got closer, I realized that it was actually dozens, if not hundreds, of mantis nymphs emerging. Periodic breezes would carry off some of the mantids to begin their new lives. Others were climbing out onto the twigs adjacent to their nursery. I'd come across many of these egg cases in the past, but never been fortunate enough to witness the nymphs hatching. We wondered which species this was and I presumed that it was Chinese Mantis as this introduced species is very common around New York State. I tried asking the young mantis, but they weren't talking. They were lucky that it wasn't a very birdy day, or later in the migration as I'm sure flycatchers, warblers and other insectivores would have devoured most of them.
Throughout the course of the late-morning and early-afternoon we noticed lots of Double-crested Cormorants migrating. We counted flocks with as few as 8 individuals and as abundant as 57. By 2:30pm we had tallied over 200 cormorants flying overhead. We didn't find any shorebirds at the end of Archery Road or at Dead Horse Bay. A flock of five Forster's Terns were new for the year, but otherwise it was a very slow day for Spring birds at Floyd Bennett. In addition to the Question Marks, we spotted seven other species of butterfly, which made it the most butterfly-y day so far this year.
Here's a short slideshow of images from Floyd Bennett Field on Saturday:
Like most of the birders in the northeast, Heydi, Paige and I concluded that Friday's overnight South winds would bring some new migrants into Prospect Park and the surrounding area. We arranged to meet at Grand Army Plaza at first light to start our birding at the park's north end. A short walk from the plaza, the Vale of Cashmere's tall surrounding trees and year round water source is usually a good draw for migrating birds. We've experienced many incredible Spring dawn fall outs at this spot. It was not the case on Saturday. Even the recent influx of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Hermit Thrushes seemed to have moved on. At the south end of the Vale I did notice one new season arrival. Hopping around in the shrubs low to the ground was a striking Common Yellowthroat. For the most part, however, it was a pretty quiet morning. In addition to a scarcity of Hermit Thrushes the recent rush of Ruby-crowned Kinglets had also flown off on the South winds.
Another new warbler for us for the year was Yellow Warbler. We walked the entire perimeter of Prospect Lake and heard our first one on Three Sisters Island. A second one was heard then seen high in the canopy within the Ravine. Chimney Swifts have also begun to arrive, although in very small numbers. One very conspicuous Spring newcomer is House Wren. Their energetic, bubbly song was heard throughout the park with at least 5 individuals seen. In coming weeks they'll be found nesting in streetlight fixtures and tree cavities in all the city's parks. Savannah Sparrows were observed migrating through Prospect Park with a few at Breeze Hill, the South side of the lake and on Lookout Hill.
Our first stop was at the Cricket Field, where any chance of finding birds was quashed due to a guy running a gasoline-powered remote control car through the grass. The "Return-a-Gift" Pond was depressingly devoid of birds, waterfowl or otherwise. We decided to walk through the tree, shrub and phragmite habitat of the North Forty towards Mill Basin, then walk the shoreline towards Raptor Point. The sweet fragrance of blooming Autumn Olive trees pervaded the entire north end of Floyd Bennett. Birds were few and far between, but we did come across several Question Mark butterflies. Apparently there was a hatch-out of these anglewings in the area as we ultimately spotted them all over Floyd Bennett Field.
Another fascinating, non-bird observation was of a mantis egg case. I noticed this small, beige sphere attached to a bare shrub. I recognized it as a mantis ootheca from a distance, but wasn't sure what the structure was dangling off of the bottom. As we got closer, I realized that it was actually dozens, if not hundreds, of mantis nymphs emerging. Periodic breezes would carry off some of the mantids to begin their new lives. Others were climbing out onto the twigs adjacent to their nursery. I'd come across many of these egg cases in the past, but never been fortunate enough to witness the nymphs hatching. We wondered which species this was and I presumed that it was Chinese Mantis as this introduced species is very common around New York State. I tried asking the young mantis, but they weren't talking. They were lucky that it wasn't a very birdy day, or later in the migration as I'm sure flycatchers, warblers and other insectivores would have devoured most of them.
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