Prospect Park Colors

The other day, I went looking for the Vesper sparrows that had been reported in the park. Fenced-in sections in the southern end of the Long Meadow, the area converted into the Ball Fields by Robert Moses, are providing excellent habitat for sparrows these days. The grasses are going to seed and there are still plenty of invertebrates to be gleaned. There were lots of chipping sparrows and dark-eyed juncos, along with a few white-throated and song sparrows. A phoebe was using the fencing to hawk insects from. A good number of common green darners were patrolled the fields as well, an unexpected extension of summer.

A kestrel flushed dozens of birds as it swooped over. I was standing between the field and the trees, so they all came whizzing towards me, and for a second I thought I might be under attack. I caught the kestrel’s distinctive coloring in the low afternoon sun as it winged away north. The songbirds eventually returned to grazing in the fenced area, but it wasn’t long before a merlin made three passes over the area. Its last pass came within ten feet of me, banking sharply away from the fence.

On my way out of the park, a red-tail passed by, very low to the ground with the weight of a pigeon in its claws.

This Golden-crowned kinglet, Regulus satrapa, is obviously named. The golden yellow crest on this one was flaming in the grass of the “Sparrow Bowl,” as birders call the little meadow just south of the Picnic House. At around 0.21 oz or six grams, it is one of our smallest birds. The word “kinglet” comes out of the Latin Regulus, for a petty king or prince, and refers to the crown. Along with its cousin, the Ruby-crowned kinglet, these birds are often fearless, or oblivious, of humans. This one hopped to within inches of my feet.