For about a week a Red-headed Woodpecker has been reported in Central Park.  I finally got a chance to see it on Saturday.  Like most of the Red-headed Woodpeckers we get in Manhattan, it is an immature bird, without a red head.  It has selected a stand of oak trees west of ball field number 2 in the North Meadow and east of light W9802.  (If you don’t know the “secret code” of the park street lights, this decodes as W=West Drive, 98=98th Street, 02=the second street light in the block.)

Red-headed Woodpeckers excavate cavities and then store nuts in them.  If this one behaves like ones we’ve had in previous years, it should be fun to watch this activity through the winter.

An Eastern Bluebird was seen in the West 80s of Central Park of Central Park on Friday (and again on Saturday).  It’s the state bird of New York.  This once-prolific bird had a sharp decline of population due to nesting cavity competition from European Starlings and House Sparrows.  Nest box programs started in the 1960s and 1970s have helped the species population numbers to improve but it remains an infrequent visitor to Central Park.

Fall brings a variety of ducks to Central Park.  Every year one or two Green-winged Teals are spotted.  One was the Meer for a few days this week.  It’s about 2/3 the size of a Mallard, so they’re easy to pick out in a raft of ducks.

A Purple Gallinule was found on the north shore of Turtle Pond in Central Park this morning and created quite a sensation among Manhattan’s birding community.  The juvenile bird worked the shoreline and gave birders great views from a short distance. The species is normally found in Florida and South Carolina, but is known to wonder, showing up on occasion in all the eastern states and many Canadian provinces.  The word gallinule comes from the Latin “gallina,” meaning small hen.

After the ran stopped on Sunday, I took more photographs of the Union Square Saltmarsh Sparrow.  It was still there today, Tuesday.  If you go looking for it be aware that is hides anywhere from 30-60 minutes and then forages on the southeastern most lawn for about 10-30 minutes.  Hopefully it will continue for a few more days.