The first day of spring sprung forth in Prospect with the continuing RED-NECKED GREBE, RUSTY BLACKBIRD, WOOD DUCKs ,holdovers from late winter's grasp; also a great bird for the area, REDHEAD Ducks in Greenwood Cemetery and a sure spring symbol with AMERICAN WOODCOCK.
The RED-NECKED GREBE still favors Prospect Lake, tucked in at the center of the lake , and especially nice to see it sleeping with three merganser species at that locale.COMMON, HOODED and a lone RED-BREASTED hen in almost side by side with each other . Rob Bate reported 19 HOODED off the Peninsula tip.
At Upper Pool, 12 WOOD DUCKs favor this spot along the back shore and the island.It was what I was able to see despite the dense snags perhaps hiding more.
And as the sun came out, I was delighted to see 6 RUSTY BLACKBIRDs next to the Osage Orange at north Nethermead, before they flushed back to the Binnen creek /pool area.
And last, Ed Crowne mentioned at my lunch break stop, an AMERICAN WOODCOCK at the north Payne Hill woods, near the Long Meadow. A later search proved fruitless, Timberdoodle gone astray by then.
A lone Killdeer at the Ballfields this morning with March roaring with its characteristic winds.
Orrin Tilevitz reported REDHEAD at Valley Waters, the first main pond in from the main cemetery entrance at 25th Stand 5th ave.Pics later.
--KB
Prospect Park, Kings, US-NY Mar 20, 2014 Protocol: Incidental 24 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 6
Wood Duck 12
American Black Duck 2
Mallard X
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 2
Northern Shoveler 4
Ring-necked Duck 3 Upper pool
Hooded Merganser 12
Common Merganser 5
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 21
Red-necked Grebe 1 Lake
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot X
Killdeer 6 Ball fields fence field 1 late afternoon
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
American Robin 45
European Starling X
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Northern Cardinal X
Rusty Blackbird 6 Nethermead north
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17528689
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
