The highlight of my walk through the park this afternoon was a Lincoln's Sparrow near the big willow on the eastern shore of the Upper Lobe. There was a Song Sparrow in the vicinity and the contrast between the Song's broad streaks and large central chest spot and the Lincoln's fine streaks and spotless chest made was striking. There was also a Catbird at the same location; hadn't seen any lately.
The Upper Lobe contained 6 Northern Shovelers: two male/female pairs, and two unattached males who didn't much care for one another's company. Had a nice view of a Fox Sparrow in Mugger's Woods, and a Red-Tailed Hawk flew into and then out of a tree at the west end of Tupelo meadow. I've been making an attempt at actual counts of the common birds instead of just doing estimates. The ebird system queried my count of 63 Titmousoi. They didn't seem more numerous then on days when I've put down 40 (estimate). Ebird didn't balk at the appalling 114 White-Throated Sparrows. That's a lot of sparrows. And 44 House Sparrows, too. Others: 12 Cardinals, 11 Blue Jays, 10 House Finches, 9 Black-Capped Chickadees, 8 Goldfinches--why do I feel a song coming on? 3 White-Breasted Nuthatches, 2 Hermit Thrushes, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and a Downy Woodpecker. Oh, and a Robin. One Robin. Happy birding, Ed Gaillard Manhattan -- 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/ --
