Princeton, Sept 17th

Only a brief time before work and a 10am meeting - enough time to wander down the gravel road to the water company and back. Northern Parula, Nashville Warbler, American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Black-and-white Warbler were of note. A high vireo couldn't be ID'd to species. Undoubtedly more there, but I didn't have time to check them out.

Central Park, Sept 16th

Faced with a drop in temperatures and a north wind overnight I went into Central Park for a day's birding. The weather was overcast rather than the forecast partly sunny, and there were less birds around than I was expecting - later reports came in of Connecticut Warblers in various city locations, but one was not found in Central Park. Nevertheless there was a decent selection of species to be found in modest numbers:

Gadwall
Osprey
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Great Crested Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Also of note was a group of 6 migrating Chimney Swifts riding a thermal over the Maintenance Field going south.

Central Park, Sept 13th

A warm and slow day in the park had a few redeeming features. Finding nothing much at Strawberry Fields (Rose-breasted Grosbeak) or the Lower Lobe (Green Heron), I found a few Gadwall on the Lake on my way to the Upper Lobe where things were a little more interesting. While photographing a flock of Cedar Waxwings coming down to feed on pokeberry, a Yellow-breasted Chat popped up. This wasn't an easy bird to re-find, although Tony Lance saw it about 45 minutes later. There was also a Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding nearby and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher vocalizing over our heads. The warbler count was low in species and numbers - a Palm Warbler in the Maintenance Field was the most interesting one.

Green Heron
Gadwall
Cooper's Hawk
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat
Song Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Jamaica Bay, Sept 4th - Wilson's Phalaropes

Ahead of the deluge that was TS Hanna I decided to do some afternoon birding at Jamaica Bay. Tide levels were non-ideal, approaching low tide. The numbers of shorebirds on the East Pond were modest, and 90% of them were Semipalmated Sandpipers. Few Least, and few Semipalmated Plovers. But this being early September there were one or two interesting shorebirds around, with Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper. One juvenile Pectoral was fairly tame, the White-rumped somewhat, and the Stilt Sandpipers relatively spooky. There were a few juvenile Red Knots in the mix.

Not a great birding experience, but decent for photography now that the water levels have dropped a bit. As I was leaving, at sundown, I finally dug out the spotting scope from my camera pack and confirmed my suspicions - there were 3 Wilson's Phalaropes feeding along the north-east corner of the Pond - I could see them as gray-white blobs using binoculars, standing out from the Yellowlegs.


Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Gadwall
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Osprey
Semipalmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Red Knot
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Northern Waterthrush