The weather was sunny yesterday morning as 19 of us explored Schenley Park.

The City is warmer than the surrounding countryside so most of Schenley’s wildflowers are past their peak.  However spring migration brought a whole new set of birds to the park.  The juncoes are gone. Yellow-rumped warblers are here.

We didn’t count a lot of individual birds but we saw and heard some really good ones.  Best Birds were three First of Year species:  a green heron, the sound of a wood thrush that we couldn’t find, and a rose-breasted grosbeak.

The grosbeak is early but Schenley’s oaks are ready for him(*).  They’re already flowering and leafing out ahead of schedule.

Northern rough-winged swallows courted over the lake and a northern flicker called from a superb nest hole with a shelf-mushroom roof.  (I still don’t know what the flicker’s panting-in-hole dance meant.)

A few of us prolonged the tour with a view of the red-tailed hawks’ nest on Flagstaff Hill.  Here‘s a complete list of birds seen/heard via eBird.

My next Schenley Park outing will be Sunday May 22.  Hope to see you then.

(outing photo by Nancy Hart; rose-breasted grosbeak by Chuck Tague)

(*) Rose-breasted grosbeaks move north as the oaks bloom.  Yesterday’s bird passed a lot of leafless territory to stop in the City’s heat island.