An afternoon in the park

Central Park, NYC

Wednesday 8 May 2019 62 °F

After finishing my final exams, I headed to Central Park upon hearing a report of a vagrant Evening Grosbeak that had turned up at the Evodia Feeders in the Ramble!

One of my first birds in the park was this very cooperative male BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER:

And the female:

Then, after a few minutes of scanning the trees around the feeders, a birder shouted that he’d spotted the EVENING GROSBEAK and sure enough there was the bird! Too cool — this is a rarity for New York City in the winter, and absolutely unheard in other months! I guess this bird may be on its way northward after their invasion along the East Coast this past winter.

Then the other grosbeak for the day, ROSE-BREASTED, came in to join the fun:

I was even able to snap a few photos of the two grosbeak species together, something I never would have dreamed of doing since the Evening is such a winter bird and the Rose-breasted such a summer species!

Female BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER:

Male NORTHERN PARULA:

VEERY:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH were more evident than ever, by far more common than Hermit Thrush by now:

An extremely cool sighting was seeing this rare roosting Red Bat which a kind woman pointed out to me:

GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER:

GRAY CATBIRD:

Male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

Male MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

WOOD THRUSH, which sang its beautiful song a few times:

This was the only HERMIT THRUSH today, a stark contrast from the many present just a few days ago:

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, getting quite late for these:

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH:

Then, I headed over to a place called “Strawberry Fields” in the park where a Summer Tanager had reportedly been seen.

BLACKPOLL WARBLER was a nice first sighting of spring:

Although I failed to find the Summer Tanager, an abundance of cooperative SCARLET TANAGERS absolutely made up for it, including this female:

And of course, the stunning male:

Bird-of-the-day to the Evening Grosbeak with runners-up to the Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Scarlet Tanager. Stay tuned — I am in for one more day of Central Park birding tomorrow morning before I head home for the summer friday! Then, I will lead Oak Park Bird Walks and spend a weekend in Indiana with my friend Kim Habel as we tackle the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival which should be a jolly good time!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 971 Species

Posted by skwclar 15:29 Archived in USA