"Spring is coming!" "He is?"

Elena and I went to Central Park today.  We were particularly looking for the very early Pine Warbler that has been reported recently and for the American Woodcock reported in the Oven yesterday, which would be year birds for both of us.  The Woodcock especially is infrequent in the Park, and not common for New York in general.  Also we hoped for the American Tree Sparrow who has been seen around Evodia lately, which I have seen but Elena had not; and for Red-Winged Blackbirds, quite common but neither of us had seen any this year.

Well, we got them all.

First, we saw Cedar Waxwings between Maintenance and the Gill source.  Next, the Pine Warbler was practically the first bird we saw when we got to Evodia.  It was bouncing around on the ground just a few feet from the fence on the south side of the field.



Later the American Tree Sparrow showed up, and the female Baltimore Oriole who's been around all winter (didn't see the male today), and also a Rusty Blackbird,



and several Brown Creepers, and the other usual birds.  I could hear male Red-Winged Blackbirds going off all over the place, but none were in sight.

We went for a walk around Willow Rock (we didn't spot the Woodcock) the Riviera (nice bunch of Song Sparrows), and the Pin Oak swamp (nothin'), then returned to Evodia where Kevin (a very good birder) told us he had in fact seen the Woodcock at the Oven, and kindly led a small group over to see it.  With his help, we got a nice view:



Eventually we went back to Evodia, where the RWBBs finally came out before being flushed by our final first-of-season sighting:  an entitled asshole letting his dog run off leash.  Spring is coming!