4/25 Central Park: 11 warbler species

In what felt like a "right on time" migration day I managed to pick the weather right and chose the cooler of the two days to visit the park based on wind direction (Weds was 75 degrees but the previous night had northerlies).  I had 4 Chimney Swifts the night before over my house (c.NJ) and on the northbound train at dawn there were another four over Linden.

The initial impression from Strawberry Fields was that it was quiet, albeit quiet with a lot of Chipping Sparrows, a singing Yellow Warbler and a Northern Parula.  I encountered some Chipping Sparrow flocks in the Ramble and elsewhere that suggested a big day for them.  In contrast only the one lingering female Dark-eyed Junco.  Hernshead was rather more active with two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers.  A distant waterthrush seemed Northern-ish and there were one or two Northerns at the Upper Lobe.  I was reluctant to call the waterthrush at the Triplets Bridge a Louisiana at the time, but on my way out of the park caught up with Louisiana Waterthrush south of Hernshead.  That's my first one for the year.

In the Ramble there were a lot of Palm Warblers exploring the now more open areas where many trees came down in Hurricane Sandy: the swampy ex-Pin Oak area and the Summer House.  Many Eastern (yellow) Palms in that area, and overall I saw perhaps as many as 30 throughout the park - rather a contrast to the Palms I saw in Florida recently which were all of the drab Western subspecies.  Several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, more Gnatcatchers, a few Blue-headed Vireos, but only one Hermit Thrush and zero Phoebes.  The Black-and-white Warblers had as many females as males - a strange thing for their first big movement in the park.  However the best two warblers for the day were a male Prairie Warbler and a male Hooded Warbler, the latter covering ground rapidly near the Summer House and Swampy Pin Oak.

The final interesting birds for the day were a brief glimpse of Ovenbird near Azalea Pond and a male Baltimore Oriole at Maintenance Field.



Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
Blue-headed Vireo (3+)
Barn Swallow
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (5+)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5+)
Hermit Thrush
Northern Parula (1)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler (1 first spring female)
Prairie Warbler (1)
Palm Warbler (30+)
Black-and-white Warbler (5)
Ovenbird (1)
Northern Waterthrush (2)
Louisiana Waterthrush (1)
Hooded Warbler (1)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Baltimore Oriole