A Few More New Birds

The robin above had just emerged from bathing in one of Johnson Park's streams when I took its photo. I think the yellow flowers in the background are Lesser Celandine, which carpets the ground in much of the park right now. That robin was one of dozens I saw while walking through the park yesterday. I wanted to see if any new birds had arrived. I saw one new species for the year when a bright male Palm Warbler flashed past me. The look was not very satisfying, but there will probably be more of them soon enough. There were dozens of Tree Swallows; I combed through them for other species but only pulled out two Northern Rough-winged Swallows and one Barn Swallow.

Some migrating waterfowl are still moving through. There were seven Common Mergansers, most of which were down by the Route 18 bridge. In the same area, I saw two Green-winged Teal and three Buffleheads, with one Ring-necked Duck further upstream (closer to Landing Lane). New arrivals included one Black-crowned Night-Heron roosting on the far side of the river.