Birding Prospect

An excellent day to bird Prospect Park, where wintering species are showing up while migrants are still passing through. The black-throated blue warbler above got unusually close to me. I saw my first bluebird ever within the city boundaries. A young lark sparrow was also to be seen; I understand that this is the first one to shown up in Prospect in about a decade. Both lark sparrow and bluebird were in the recently fenced-in area at the north end of the Ballfields; the fences, for re-seeding the grass, are doing wonders for the birds: Eastern phoebes, yellow-rumped and palm warblers, several other sparrow species, and even meadowlark (unseen by me) are putting the space to good use. Here's my complete list from the Long Meadow and the Midwood:

Mallard, Wood duck, Merlin, Red-tailed hawk, Mourning dove, Eastern phoebe, Northern flicker, Blue-headed vireo, American crow, Black-capped chickadee, White-breasted nuthatch, Brown creeper, Carolina wren, Ruby-crowned kinglet, Golden-crowned kinglet, Eastern bluebird, Hermit thrush, Blue jay, American robin, Cray catbird, European starling, Black-throated blue warbler, Yellow-rumped warbler, Palm warbler, Chipping sparrow, Common yellowthroat, White-throated sparrow, Lark sparrow, Song sparrow, Swamp sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, Northern cardinal, Brown-headed cowbird.