Week 41 - Green-Wood Cemetery

Last week, October 7th through the 13th, saw little change from the previous week. That's not to say the make up of the birds and botanics were exactly the same as the previous week, but it was subtle. In addition, I missed a few days as I had to attend an out of town wedding.

Some of the new arrivals regularly overwinter in Green-Wood Cemetery. Others are hardy enough that a small number will remain while their compatriots continue farther south.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have increased in abundance and, as usual, can be seen chasing competitors from their favorite boreholes. Red-breasted Nuthatches are more plentiful. It always makes me smile hearing their nasal "yank-yank" call being transmitted from somewhere near the top of a conifer. They've been missing from our area for too long. The Brown Creeper is a small, short legged bird who specializes in picking bugs from cracks in tree bark during the winter months. We'll now be seeing them until Spring arrives.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Double-crested Cormorants were moving south in fairly large flocks. A few will stay along the coast, mixing in with the more numerous overwintering Great Cormorants. There's also been a very noticeable increase in American Crows. Boisterous flocks have been moving around the cemetery looking for trouble by harassing assorted raptors and, when none are found, their own kind.

Double-crested Cormorants

American Crows

Golden-crowned Kinglets are more hardy than the related Ruby-crowned Kinglets. They arrive a bit later in the fall than their cousins. Their abundance has slowly increased as the latter has decreased. We regularly observe this tiny but tough species on the annual Christmas Bird Count in mid-December.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Three late, lingering species spotted last week were Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. All three species are long distant migrants headed to Central and South America. The tanager will overwinter in montane forests of the Andean foothills in northwestern South America, the vireo in the Amazon basin, east of the Andes, as far south as Uruguay and the grosbeak  in Central and northern South America, as well as, Mexico and the Caribbean. They better get a moving.

Scarlet Tanager

Red-eyed Vireo

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Two species who's population really increased last week were Hermit Thrush and Eastern Phoebe. A few thrushes might spend the winter if they find a good food source (usually bittersweet), but it is rare, but not unprecedented, for any of the phoebes to remain during the cold months.

Hermit Thrush

Eastern Phoebe

We are approaching the peak of sparrow migration. Last week I tallied seven species, but one can expect to see at least ten in a single day soon. Like the aforementioned songbirds, many will continue south, but for some, Brooklyn is their Miami. Chipping Sparrow, the always tardy Fox Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow and Eastern Towhee will be seen around the cemetery through the winter. The juncos and White-throated Sparrows are gregarious and are usually found in fairly large flocks.

Swamp Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Field Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

I observed quite a few Turkey Vultures migrating over the cemetery last week and a single, somewhat scarce, Black Vulture. Also on the move were Bald Eagles with several seen in the area throughout the week.

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Bald Eagle

Finally, the one unusual arboreal observation was of a Cucumber Magnolia entering its fruiting cycle. It seemed very late in the fall for this particular tree on Chapel Avenue to be just getting started. I'll have to check with one of the arborists to find out if this is normal as all the other Cucumber Magnolias finished about a month ago.

Cucumber Magnolia