Registrar: Nick Dawson
Attendees: 13
Weather: Clear and Sunny, 46 to 55 degrees, light south wind
Species: 51
For the New York birders who were out every day during spring migration in 2024, they’ll look back on May as something of a disappointment. Though there were some days when the trees were full of warblers and reports of rarities were popping up on the alerts, the norm was that it was uncharacteristically quiet. Either the winds were blowing in the wrong direction and no new birds were coming in, or the winds were blowing from the south, but birds seemed to be overshooting and simply not stopping in the city’s parks and other migrant traps.
The Hastings-on-Hudson walk led by Julien Amsellem in late April almost seemed to be a bellwether of the migration season to come. Julien had hoped that attendees on the walk would see up to 60 species at Hillside Woods, where he learned to bird as a child. Despite a promising forecast and south winds that seemingly should have brought in a flurry of warblers and other neotropical visitors, when we arrived there, the bird song we heard was mostly from resident birds. There was a Louisiana Waterthrush and a mess of Yellow-rumped Warblers, but few other new arrivals besides these birds. Julien was most excited about the presence of a Wild Turkey, a very uncommon bird for Hillside. For the NYC-based Linnaean members, undoubtedly the highlight of our walk through the woods was Julien calling in some Barred Owls (he can mimic their call uncannily well), who then perched obligingly for all to see. When we wrapped up at Hillside, there was a brief period of hawk watching in which we added more raptors to our list for the day: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, and Bald Eagle. (Sadly, we missed an expected and much-desired bird, the Pileated Woodpecker, which is a resident at Hillside Woods but sadly did not grace us with its presence.)
After lunch, those who wanted to continue birding moved on to MacEachron Waterside Park, where we added some water birds to our list, plus a Bald Eagle which flew in very close and put on a show for the photographers. Just as the group was leaving, we had one final treat: a visit from a trio of Bonaparte’s Gulls, who swooped in to be our buzzer birds. It was a satisfying culmination to a very enjoyable day of birding; though still only 19, Julien is a gifted birder and knowledgeable leader, so regardless of exactly which birds show up, it’s always a great experience to go on his walks.
Species List
Canada Goose
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Barred Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
House Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Louisiana Waterthrush
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
