I’ve been on vacation for the last week, spending time in Northern California. My sister and brother-in-law rented a house about 15 miles north of Mendocino for the first part of the trip. The house had views up and down the Pacific coast and had a large Cormorant rookery on a large rock out in the ocean in front of the house.
Falconer’s Hill which is about a block west of Central Park West at 71st Street had a wonderful male Dickcissel and a number of White-crowned Sparrows on Saturday.
A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was perched on a branch of a Sweet Gum Tree on the north bank of the Pool, at dusk, Thursday evening. This is a new bird for my Central Park list.
A young Western Tanager has appeared in the park. It does appear in Sibley’s range maps as a rare visitor to the east, but I think this is the first one recorded in Central Park.
Thanks to a posting by Jack Meyer, pointing out Ardith Bondi’s discovery, I knew to be on the lookout for three Ring-necked Ducks. I found them sleeping on the Reservoir. They woke up after something startled a large group of gulls. This was a new species for my Central Park list.
The last set of photographs from my late December Florida trip.
