Two More Year Firsts in Prospect Park
Yesterday Peter Dorosh found a Grey Catbird, possibly the same one that had been seen several times in December; and Arleen O’Brien heard a Fish Crow. She also saw an American Tree Sparrow on Wednesday. So far I’m not being very successful at predicting the next bird to show up. I think I’m going to try to keep track of when the individual birds have shown up. So far, here’s what we have:
January 1:
Snow Goose (1, Prospect Lake)
Canada Goose
Mute Swan (5, Prospect Lake)
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Bufflehead (1 M, Upper Pool)
Ruddy Duck
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Vale of Cashmere)
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren (Peninsula Woods)
Hermit Thrush (North Woods)
European Starling
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow (3)
Swamp Sparrow (1, Peninsula Woods)
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird (1 F, Breeze Hill feeder, 2 M, Near West Island)
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Great Blue Heron: Peter Dorosh
American Crow: Peter Dorosh
Pied-billed Grebe: Peter Dorosh
Red-tailed Hawk: Peter Dorosh
American Robin: Arleen O’Brien
Golden-crowned Kinglet: Arleen O’Brien
January 2:
Cooper’s Hawk: Rafael Campos
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Rafael Campos
Northern Flicker: Rafael Campos
January 3:
Northern Mockingbird: Elliotte Rusty Harold
Eastern Towhee: Elliotte Rusty Harold
January 4:
Merlin: Doug Gochfeld
Brown Creeper: Doug Gochfeld
American Tree Sparrow: Arleen O’Brien
January 5:
Fish Crow: Arleen O’Brien
Grey Catbird: Peter Dorosh
January 6:
Long-eared Owl: Rob Jett, Sean Sime. That’s a good one. We missed it last year.
So far that makes 52 species total for the Park and Gardens. Central Park is up to 60 species reported, though we should reliably pick up all but two of the ones they’ve recorded later in the year, if not immediately. Great Horned Owl and Northern Sawwhet Owl will be tough though.
