Mokka mit Schlag » Birding

Prospect Park, 2006-07-22
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Yesterday I joined the Brooklyn Bird Club for a trip to Somerset County, New Jersey led by Peter Dorosh. We left Brooklyn about 6:45 A.M. and arrived at Glenhurst Meadows (a.k.a Warren Green Acres) about 7:35. The birds were hopping (and flying, and jumping, and scuttling, and walking, and everything else). We tallied twenty species just waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. (One car had taken the wrong exit.)

Sparrows were what we had come for, and they didn’t disappoint. Song Sparrow was the first species, but the second was an uncommon Vesper Sparrow. It looks like a Song Sparrow (streaked breast), except the face is totally wrong and shows a prominent white eye ring. I didn’t recognize it at first, but the eye ring jumped out at me; and Peter confirmed it as a Vesper Sparrow. I thought this might be a life bird, but on returning home and checking my records I found I’d seen one once before, 364 days earlier at Caumsett State Park on Long Island. At least this was a New Jersey first for me. Overall the group tallied nine sparrow species at Glenhurst:

• Eastern Towhee^*
• Field Sparrow
• Vesper Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow

Other groups at the site also reported Lincoln’s Sparrow, which is uncommon around here but not as uncommon as White-crowned or Vesper, so we didn’t stay longer just to look for it. We probably should have since we didn’t add a single more sparrow species all day, much to our surprise and consternation. (The goal for the day was ten sparrow species, and we missed by one.)

We walked down one path at the site, and for less than half a mile. The highlight of the day came near the end of the path where Valerie spotted a Wilson’s Snipe in the middle of the road, a life bird for me. I couldn’t find it one the ground, but it promptly took off and flew a long circle around us affording great looks. Sorry, no picture of this one. I didn’t have my camera with me; and couldn’t have gotten a decent shot if I did. Google has lots of pictures though, if you want to see one.
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Maine, 2006-06-22

Maine, 2006-06-22

2006-06-25, Female, Maine

Blue Grosbeaks are regular accidentals in New York. Usually they show up on Staten Island or along the coast at Fort Tilden or Jones Beach. I’d avoided chasing any of several that had showed up earlier this year, but the recent sighting in Central Park, where they’re much less common, was too tempting to resist. Starr Saphir first found the bird on Saturday morning. It has hung around since then, and was reported again this morning at 9:30 A.M. I’d considered heading out early to try for the bird, but I had a noon lunch meeting in town, and I didn’t want to show up all sweaty from the park, so I took a chance that the bird would still be there in the afternoon. It paid off.

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