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| A sleepy beautiful mute swan on a beautiful day! |
Holy smokes! What an amazing day! I went to Prospect Park to go for a walk and hopefully see some birds... well... I ended up joining a few people I met along my walk for a good while and having more eyes meant that I got to see more birds and have help on ID's. The people I walked with were so nice and like I said, birding is such a great way to meet people and talk about nerdy things the entire time, gah! I love it!
My walk took me along the banks of the pond and lullwater and then halfway up the hill that looks out over the water. It was warm out today, but the birds were out in full force, below is my list of birds for my 3.5 hour outing:
Mallard, barn swallow, mute swan, double-crested cormorant, house sparrow, white-throated sparrow, common grackle, red-wing blackbird, starling, American robin, black-capped chickadee, veery*, catbird, spotted sandpiper, blue-headed or solitary vireo*, red-eyed vireo*, Northern parula*, black and white warbler, black-throated blue warbler, blackburnian warbler*, chestnut-sided warbler*, Cape May warbler*, magnolia warbler*, yellow-rumped warbler, black-throated green warbler, blackpoll warbler*, palm warbler, yellow warbler, oven bird, Northern waterthrush, common yellowthorat*, American redstart, chipping sparrow, tufted titmouse, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, Northern oriole, green heron, great blue heron, chimney swift- PHEW!
An asterisk* notes a bird I have seen for the first time ever!
I'm going to let the slew of photos from today do the talking...
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| Feral domestic mallards. I have seen this same group for years, I affectionately refer to them myself as the "misfit mallards," as they always keep to their own little group. |
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| A black and white warbler with something tasty. |
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| B&W warbler |
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| First catbird of the year! I remember the first time I learned what a catbird was, I was in high school (let me tell you how cool I was in high school...) and heard mewing and thought a kitten was hurt in my yard, then out flew this bird and them it mew'd at me. That is when I met one of my favorite birds for the first time! |
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| A nest, perhaps waiting to be filled. |
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| A yellow-rumped warbler takes flight. Warblers are super flitty- I took 490 photos today. 95% of them were garbage, because this is what warblers do. |
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| My first sighting of a blackpoll warbler! Not a chickadee, the orange legs give it up, also when viewed from the side, they are long and slender. |
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| My first sighting of a Northern parula! |
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| The green herons were active and vocal today! |
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| Grabbing breakfast. |
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| From afar I thought he got a snake... no, just a GIANT earthworm! |
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| A few shots of the black-throated blue warbler. |
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| B&W warbler running up a tree... |
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| A few shots of a Northern parula that was quite close! |
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| The back of the N. Parula has that yellow patch. |
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| The blue back of the black-throated blue warbler. |
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| Red-bellied woodpeckers settling a domestic dispute of sorts. At one point, 4 of them were crawling about the limb the one is sitting on top of. |
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| A first! A blackburnian warbler. This was pointed out by the very nice people I joined up with on my walk. Super huge thanks to them. I was blown away by how stunning this guy was. Enjoy the next few photos of him... |
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| Another first, a common yellowthroat... another warbler! |
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| A blue-headed or solitary vireo - a first for me! |
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| A Cape May warbler - another first for me! |
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| A veery - a type of thrush... another first! |
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| A downy woodpecker contemplates his next move... |
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| I think this is a female northern oriole. |
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| A few so-so photos of the chestnut-sided warbler - you guessed it, another first for me! |
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| The rear-underside view of the chestnut-sided warbler... |
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| A palm warbler on the path. |
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| A very excited tufted titmouse. |
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| hungry bluegills for hungry cormorants and herons... |
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| A small red-eared slider. |
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| We may be in Brooklyn, but we still have poison ivy... |
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| An Eastern Chipmunk |
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| Saw 7 spotted sandpipers in flight together at one point, these guys were all over the shore and very easily scared off, so it was really nice to observe this guy without him flying off. |
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| An American redstart hanging out fairly low, allowing me to get a nice shot. |
I also now understand what people mean by warbler neck... ouch. My neck is beat after today! But, what an outing! I officially knocked out a whole page in my field guide of birds I have seen:
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