Date: Sunday, 10 January 2010 (11:40a-5:00p) Location: Prospect Park Observers: Eve Levine, Ben Cacace Reported by: Ben Cacace
This is the first time I've birded Prospect Park so I haven't translated the abundance checklist < http://www.brooklynbirdclub.org/maps/ppchklst.pdf > to my reporting spreadsheet. This will be remedied. The Prospect Park checklist has Rusty Blackbird as 'very rare' for winter and American Pipit seen only a few times since 1960. The pipit was just north of where Rob Jett spotted one on 1-Jan-2010. The bird today was perched for on a fence south of the Tennis House in an enclosed area. It finally flew west. A pair of Rusty Blackbirds (male & female) were spotted on the east edge of the Nethermead calling to each other from separate trees. Soon after they dropped to the grass to feed. At least 3 adult Red-tailed Hawks were spotted at one time with many other sightings throughout the day including 1 feeding just west of Long Meadow with another Red-tailed Hawk perched quietly nearby. Weather for 10-Jan for Park Slope (11:40a-5:00p) < http://tinyurl.com/y94ha2r >: - Conditions: clear to partly cloudy near sunset - Temperature: 25.1 to 31.2 F (-4 to 0 C) - Wind direction: W - WNW - Wind speed: 4 - 8 mph (gusts to 13 mph) ** Total species - 28 ** 'Very Rare' not seen every season [1 spp]: - American Pipit - 1 on Long Meadow S of the Tennis House 'Scarce' seen in habitat, but not daily [1 spp]: - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1 heard 'Uncommon' seen in small numbers; 1-3 per day in habitat [4 spp]: - American Coot - 10+ on the lake - Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3+ - American Robin - 1 - Swamp Sparrow - 1 along the S edge of the lake 'Fairly Common' usually seen; 3-12 per day in habitat [6 spp]: - Northern Shoveler - 12+ on the lake - Red-tailed Hawk - At least 3 adults - Downy Woodpecker - Several (~10+) - Black-capped Chickadee - 1 - Northern Cardinal - 15+ incl. 9 in one small tree - Rusty Blackbird - 2 (male & female) on E edge of Nethermead 'Common' seen easily; more than 12 per day in habitat [16 spp]: - Canada Goose - ~150+ on the lake - Mute Swan - ~6+ on the lake - American Black Duck - ~2+ on the lake - Mallard - ~100+ on the lake - Bufflehead - 1 male on the lake - Ruddy Duck - 4 on the lake incl. 2 female & 2 male - Ring-billed Gull - Majority of the 1000+ on the lake - Herring Gull - Several (~10+) - Great Black-backed Gull - Several (~5+) - Rock Pigeon - 24+ - Mourning Dove - 1 - Blue Jay - Several (3+) - American Crow - 1 seen & calling - European Starling - ~100+ - Song Sparrow - 2+ - White-throated Sparrow - ~12+ Abundance categories from 'The New York City Audubon Society Guide to Finding Birds in the Metropolitan Area' published 2001. Abundance season is 'Winter', December - February, and applies to all of New York City. Taxonomic order: - Canada Goose - ~150+ on the lake - Mute Swan - ~6+ on the lake - American Black Duck - ~2+ on the lake - Mallard - ~100+ on the lake - Northern Shoveler - 12+ on the lake - Bufflehead - 1 male on the lake - Ruddy Duck - 4 on the lake incl. 2 female & 2 male - Red-tailed Hawk - At least 3 adults - American Coot - 10+ on the lake - Ring-billed Gull - Majority of the 1000+ on the lake - Herring Gull - Several (~10+) - Great Black-backed Gull - Several (~5+) - Rock Pigeon - 24+ - Mourning Dove - 1 - Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3+ - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1 heard - Downy Woodpecker - Several (~10+) - Blue Jay - Several (3+) - American Crow - 1 seen & calling - Black-capped Chickadee - 1 - American Robin - 1 - European Starling - ~100+ - American Pipit - 1 on Long Meadow S of the Tennis House - Song Sparrow - 2+ - Swamp Sparrow - 1 along the S edge of the lake - White-throated Sparrow - ~12+ - Northern Cardinal - 15+ incl. 9 in one small tree - Rusty Blackbird - 2 (male & female) on E edge of Nethermead -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
