I spent a good bit of time birding the North End of Central Park this morning. There was a nice push of migrants last night including a whopping 27 Hermit Thrush, which is quite good for May. Hermit Thrush were ubiquitous in the north end, often two or three nearby at any given time. A few Wood Thrush and a Veery were also present.
I saw a total of 18 species of warbler including 2 Hooded; 1 about 250 meters upslope and northwest of the ravine, and 1 working the southeast side of the ravine and singing softly. Other migrants of note were a Louisiana Waterthrush (continuing?) at the ravine, a few Northern Waterthrush, a loudly singing Nashville Warbler, a bright male Blackburnian Warbler, 2 Prairie Warblers, a Blue-winged Warbler, 2 Least Flycatcher, and a Yellow-throated Vireo. I got to Morningside Park late, but it had some birds to offer as well, including 3 more Hermit Thrush, a late Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco, 8 Warblers, and Blue-headed Vireo. THe majority of birds were in the northwestern part of the park. The species composition at both parks reflects a late push of many early migrants last night (this observation was actually brought to my attention by Doug Gochfeld who noticed it while birding in Brooklyn today), but also the beginning of some nice May diversity. Ebird lists below: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18177321 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18178245 Happy birding, Luke Musher Harlem, NY -- 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/ --