A Blue Grosbeak was discovered on Saturday in the Wildflower Meadow. I was fortunate to see it and photograph it on Sunday afternoon.
It spend the afternoon eating seed after seed, which it carefully opened with its beak. It flipped its tail quite frequently and called quite often. It seemed to enjoying the bounty of the Wildflower Meadow.
Central Park has great resources to share information about sightings including NYC Bird Report and a Yahoo! group, ebirdsnyc. Today both sources had news of a Yellow-breasted Chat in the Maintenance Field.
I got to the park as the sun was setting, so my pictures are a little grainy. The Yellow-breasted Chat was a new bird for my Central Park list.
While birding in the Wildflower Meadow, I saw a new bird for my Central Park list, a Great Crested Flycatcher. It had just caught a dragonfly.
I birded in the North Wood on Saturday and enjoyed the second wave of the fall migration, which as brought new ducks, woodpeckers, fly catchers and thrushes. I also stumbled into the Monarch Butterfly migration, where at least 500 Monarchs were taking a break in the Wildflower Meadow.
Random pictures from Saturday…
Saturday was a great day for birding. Once the rainy weather had cleared up, the park was full of active birds. Sunday was quieter, but there was still lots to see. Highlights for me included a Solitary Sandpiper, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks eating Jewelweed, assorted warblers and close up views of a Black-crowned Night Heron.
