Day 8 - Thursday 28th May 2015
With Wednesday having been dedicated to sightseeing at the Statue of Liberty and several species being regularly
reported at Inwood Hill Park that we hadn’t yet seen during our trip (Orchard
Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbreak, Hairy Woodpecker and Veery in particular), we
decided to head up to the northern most point of Manhattan for our penultimate full days birding in the
hopes of cleaning up on a few extra birds.
Having not seen any in either
Central or Prospect Park, and with individuals seen frequently here according
to e-bird, our main target here was Orchard Oriole - slightly smaller and duller
than the brightly coloured Baltimore Orioles we had become accustomed to.
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| One of the Central Park Baltimores - the only Oriole species we had managed to locate as of yet! |
Arriving at Inwood Hill and
walking the short stretch from the tube station, we were soon heading along the
winding paths that made their way through the huge trees and up the hill the
park is named after. With much denser tree coverage than at Central Park, it
was interesting to see how this difference affected both the species and the
number of birds that we found.
A calling White-breasted
Nuthatch was the first notable bird of the day, creeping up the trunk of one of
the large trees lining the path before stopping to feed on a small morsel it
had discovered lodged inside a dead branch. Being at the very tail end of
migration now meant that we only saw a handful of warblers – the usual American
Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats were flitting amongst the leaves while a
female Blackpoll was the only other warbler species of note. A very quick view
of a male House Finch disappearing behind a branch was a good addition for the
day, while only our second Great-crested Flycatcher of the trip was equally as
brief.
Heading east along the trail,
we heard an alarm call echoing loudly through the trees and moving slowly closer
to the source of the noise eventually revealed a woodpecker. Calling Alex over,
I was sure I’d found us one of our target missing species – the larger size and
positively huge bill in relation to the head eliminating any thoughts of the
more familiar Downy. With Hairy Woodpeckers not often recorded in Central or Prospect Park, it was a relief to finally catch up with this chunky woodpecker
after seeing so many Downys during the week.
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| Hairy Woodpecker - at last! |
Calling continuously and with a male Baltimore Oriole flitting around the branches nearby, I did wonder if the
Hairy had a nest somewhere nearby. We watched this charismatic woodpecker for a
good while as it scrambled up and down the dead branches above us, providing
fantastic views and showing off the dagger like bill.
Significantly larger than
the Downy Woodpecker, size is the main thing to take note of when separating
these two similar American Woodpeckers, but as is often the case with a lone
individual on a trunk, a true idea of size can sometimes be hard to determine
when there is nothing to compare it to.
The beak is therefore another
key feature to look out for, and on the Hairy Woodpecker it is usually the same
length as the head, as opposed to the small, stubby bill of a Downy.
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| Note the huge bill with regards to the size of the head |
The outer
tail feathers will also separate the two, as Downy Woodpeckers will have black
bars all along the outer tail feathers compared to the all-white ones of the
Hairys.
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| The white outer tail feathers were also clearly noticeable |
