A cool, breezy (ne winds) morning/early afternoon in Inwood Hill Park in northern Manhattan today. It started out mostly cloudy, became threatening with even a few spits of mist before turning into a beautiful day. The woods seemed relatively quiet, but perhaps that is because I spent so much time (a couple of hours) at the overlook on the ridge that looks out at the Palisades. For a good portion of the time two other birders watched the skies with me (James Knox and Danny ? - sorry Danny, I don't remember your last name). We had a great time with raptors and other migrants going over. I recorded 46 species and I know the others had a few additional species I did not have. Highlights included:
Snow Goose (flock of about 70 flying south high overhead) Brant (one or two small flocks overhead headed south) Canada Goose (locals and a few migrant flocks overhead) Long-tailed Duck (flock of about 15 flying south low over the Hudson - mostly males; the first I have ever seen here) Common Loon (1, overhead going south, spotted by James) Double-crested Cormorant (individuals over the Hudson and in Spuyten Duyvil) Great Blue Heron (1, on mudflats at north end of the park) Turkey Vulture (25+; late-morning into early-afternoon; generally the birds were not flying down the Hudson, nut rather were coming from the ne, passing over us and then crossing the Hudson towards the Palisades) Bald Eagle (12+; mostly various aged immatures, but at least two adults; some were following a similar path to the TV's, but many were going south over the Hudson) Sharp-shinned Hawk (1, from the overlook this morning) Cooper's Hawk (1, seen over Spuyten Duyvil from my apartment around 4 pm) Red-shouldered Hawk (6 - 8; following same pattern as the TV's in the late-morning) Red-tailed Hawk (hard to give a number since the local birds were also up and about, but some were certainly migrants) (James told me he had a Merlin and a Peregrine from the soccer fields at the north end before joining us on the ridge. This would make a total of 7 hawks, plus the Turkey Vultures for the day) Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker (heard one or two; did not seem to be any movement) Eastern Phoebe (1) Blue-head Vireo (2, on the ridge) American Crow (10 - 14, moving north along the ridge) House Wren (1, getting late for this species) Golden-crowned Kinglet (1) Hermit Thrush (3-4) Cedar Waxwing (flock of about 40 over ridge) Yellow-rumped Warbler (everywhere) Chipping Sparrow (2-4, soccer fields) Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco (many all over park, including an apparent flight of them going over - mostly northward) mixed flocks of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds going south Joe DiCostanzo www.greatgullisland.org -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
