Prospect Park!
Brooklyn, NYC
Sunday 25 September 2022
68 °F
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24:
Today I had a 10-1 rehearsal in Brooklyn so I took advantage of the early morning to bird Prospect Park. There turned to be a lot of migrants around and I did the best I could despite the limited time and tricky lighting of the early morning. MAGNOLIA WARBLERS were everywhere:
This cooperative SCARLET TANAGER was nice:
Caught a bee!
Love a good double — here it is with another Magnolia:
As it started to warm up just a bit, I had six BROAD-WINGED HAWKS lift up from the trees where they were presumably roosting for the night, and they continued the next leg of their southbound migration. Unfortunately the camera was not being cooperative. 
My favorite sighting this far came of this handsome male HOODED WARBLER which, as you should know by now, is my favorite warbler! It is just so striking, and uncommon enough to only be seen a couple times each season.
Another uncommon warbler immediately following the Hooded sighting was this CANADA WARBLER, a nice male. Both of these birds triggered the rare bird alert due to slight tardiness. 
BLACKPOLL WARBLER:
After rehearsal, I was back to Prospect Park because someone had reported a very uncommon sighting, a Grasshopper Sparrow, which would be a NY lifer for me! Along the way I stopped at a pond with a resident WOOD DUCK:
And this weird female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. I suspect this bird might have a pigment abnormality as it has an excessively stark amount of white on the chin relative to typical individuals.
NORTHERN PARULA:
Unfortunately, despite my best searching efforts right at the correct spot alongside Prospect Lake, I missed the Grasshopper Sparrow. A raft of NORTHERN SHOVELERS will just have to do:
Bird-of-the-day to the Hooded with runner-up to the Canada Warbler. A decent morning of fall migration!
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1139 Species
