Still Nesting Season at Green-Wood

Over the past week I've still been on the lookout for nesting birds in Green-Wood Cemetery. Many of the early breeding bird's offspring have fledged and set off on their own. Some pairs are working on a second (or third) brood. A small subset are still incubating their first brood.

Chipping Sparrows are fairly common in the cemetery during the breeding season. Within the last 7 to 10 days I've noticed an uptick in the number of immature chippies in the area. For a change, the adults are now mostly attending to actual offspring, not cowbirds.

For me, the nests of Gray Catbirds are notoriously difficult to find. Their near constant squeaks, chips and mews aren't helpful as they generally choose very dense vegetation for nests. This fledgling catbird near Samuel FB Morse was the first I'd seen this season.

I've been watching this American Goldfinch nest near Union Ave. for a couple of weeks. There's no sign yet of hatchlings, but should be any day now.

In this distant photo you can see an adult Baltimore Oriole perched next to its recently fledged offspring. Notice an almost complete lack of color in the youngster. Orioles have a brief breeding season in Brooklyn and most will start heading south mid to late July.

Much like their smaller relative, the catbird, Brown Thrashers build nests in dense vegetation. I'm certain there are nestlings beneath this individual as I saw both adults carrying food into the shrub. I discovered that even sticking my head into this boxwood to be impossible.