Orange-crowned Warbler
Thanks to the good eyes and I.D. skills of fellow birders, I was able to photograph an Orange-crowned Warbler at dusk this evening at the Turtle Pond Dock. It was just west of the blind.
American Wigeon
Turtle Pond had an American Wigeon on Saturday.
The wigeon was found by Chuck McAlexander’s Saturday Slow Birding walk group. As fall migration winds down, rare waterfowl are often found on the lakes and ponds of Central Park, as they make their way further south.
Indigo Bunting
Sparrow Rock has had an Indigo Bunting for a few days. It’s been eating grass seeds. Seed eating bird have beaks that let them separate the husk from the kernel. Watching this bunting, strip of grass seeds, and then husk the seeds, has been fairly easy. It has often been eating seeds within fifteen feet of observers.
North Face of the North Tower of the Beresford Apartments
The San Remo pair have been spending a great deal of time on the towers of the Beresford Apartments at 81st and Central Park West this fall. The female has been using a window, I don’t normally see her in. The oval “window”, which is actually bricked on this side, on the north face of the north tower. This is a perch, in past years I failed to monitor. She has also been perching on a ledge on the northeast corner of the tower. So, it’s worth keeping an eye on this side of the tower, if you’re at Sparrow Rock or coming south from the reservoir on the west side.
Great Horned Owl
On Halloween evening, there was a Great Horned Owl in Central Park in a tree just east of the bridle path between the Locust Grove and Sparrow Rock. I didn’t arrive until just before fly out. It was a joy to watch this owl which was only seen for one day.
It flew out to a nearby pine, and then to a tall tree along the West Drive but quickly disappeared into the night.
Merlin
On the roof of the open building to the west of Belvedere Castle in Central Park was a Merlin late in the afternoon today. It was seen earlier in the week in the same spot, and has also been seen hunting on around the Great Lawn. It stayed perched for over half an hour.
