Another Cold Day in Prospect Park

I spent a few hours in Prospect Park again this morning, mostly to try out the new Canon 400/f5.6L lens I’ve rented. The lens performed reasonably well, though the lack of image stabilization was a more serious impediment than I expected. I did get some nice shots, and 400 mm was really only too long for a few close gulls that were responding to chumming. Once again, the Park was extremely quiet aside from a few hotspots that featured relatively abundant food. The Vale of Cashmere had tufted titmouse, black capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Morning Dove, Blue Jay, White-throated Sparrow, but nothing unusual.

The feeders on Breeze Hill supported Red-winged Blackbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, and one Red-breasted Nuthatch. This is the only even remotely unusual bird I found. There haven’t been a lot of them in the park this season, and if there’s a good seed crop up north next winter, there might not be any. They’re an irruptive species. Some years they’re everywhere. Some years you have to struggle to find one or two in the county.

From Prospect Park 2010-01-10

The final spot that was worth checking out was the south end of the lake. Lots of gulls here, mostly Ring-billed but also at least one Herring Gull and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. One American Crow flew onto the ice. Most of the Northern Shovelers and Ruddy Ducks that sometimes number in the hundreds here seem to have decamped for less frozen climes but there were still a few of each, along with a couple of American Coots, six or so Mute Swans, a lone male Bufflehead, and many, many Canada Geese and Mallards. The feral Muscovy (possibly Mallard hybrid) is still hanging out too. One Red-tailed Hawk flew to the top of a tree on West Island.

Total species count was 23 including 7 new BGBY birds:

1. Canada Goose
2. Mute Swan
3. Mallard
4. Northern Shoveler
5. Bufflehead
6. Ruddy Duck
7. Red-tailed Hawk
8. American Coot
9. Ring-billed Gull
10. Herring Gull
11. Great Black-backed Gull
12. Rock Pigeon
13. Mourning Dove
14. Red-bellied Woodpecker
15. Downy Woodpecker
16. American Crow
17. Black-capped Chickadee
18. Tufted Titmouse
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. White-breasted Nuthatch
21. American Robin
22. European Starling
23. White-throated Sparrow
24. Northern Cardinal
25. Red-winged Blackbird
26. American Goldfinch

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 7:10 PM and is filed under Birding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the Atom feed. You can skip to the end and make a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.