Central Park, Sept 30th

Slow migration day off a west wind and lower temperatures. Although there were quite a few Brown Thrashers in Strawberry Fields there were very few other migrants. The most numerous warbler was Common Yellowthroat. A remarkable 25 Gadwalls in a variety of plumage (some coming out of eclipse, some in full breeding) were around the island at Turtle Pond, which offered a few photo ops.

Gadwall
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
White-throated Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

DeKorte Park, Sept 26th

After Central Park, DeKorte park was rather more active at least in the waterfowl and shorebird sense. Several Lesser Yellowlegs were still around, there was a large concentration of herons in the drying pools, but the best birds were 2-3 Soras, one of which was rather tame.



Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Sora
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher

Central Park, Sept 26th

Low volume migration was somewhat surprising off north winds, including relatively little raptor movement. Best birds were the Green-winged Teal on the Lake and the two Hummingbirds in the Oven. A switch over to later fall species was indicated by Blue-headed Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Phoebe.

Green-winged Teal
Red-tailed Hawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Summer Tanager
White-throated Sparrow

Central Park, Sept 19th

A Saturday morning in the park on a cooler fall day provided some fall migration but nothing spectacular in terms of numbers or more unusual species. Best birds were a skulky Mourning Warbler in Tupelo Meadow and a Peregrine doing acrobatics over the west side at Strawberry Fields.

Peregrine Falcon
Solitary Sandpiper
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting

Northern Wheatear, DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst NJ

Northern Wheatear is moderately common in Britain so I've seen a bunch of them, but only one previously in the US - a quick look at the often-elusive Smith Point Park bird on 9/22/01. So even though I had seen one in GB on 9/11 I went looking for the DeKorte Park bird, finding it relatively quickly and getting good looks at what appears on the face of it to be a first fall immature of the Greenland ssp. This is the first time I've birded the impoundments at DeKorte and there were a good number of shorebirds present. Predominantly Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs there were also Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpipers, Semipalmated and a single juvenile American Golden Plover. Not bad for a morning, and a Northern Harrier was over the phragmites on the way out.