Late spring warbler-fest - Central Park 25th May

Prompted by reports of a Yellow-breasted Chat I headed over to Strawberry Fields early on. No luck with the chat, but there was a nice selection of warblers as compensation, including a male Blackburnian, Canada, Magnolia, Northern Parula and American Redstart. After an hour or so I started heading back to work via the Ramble. I stopped at Belvedere Castle where a group of birders had congregated under a Honey Locust tree. There must have been some sort of hatch occurring as I had 10 species of warbler in 15 minutes including: Chestnut-sided (2+ females), Blackburnian (1m, 2f), Bay-breasted (1m), Blackpoll (1m, 2+f), Magnolia (1m), Yellow (1+f), Black-throated Green (2f), Black-throated Blue (1+f), American Redstart (1f) and Northern Parula (1f).

Male Bay-breasted Warbler. This fellow spent at least half an hour feeding on the lowest branches of the tree giving most birders present their best-ever views.

At times it seemed like he was deliberately posing, showing off plumage features we might not have noticed...

Female Black-throated Green Warbler, also showing very well.

Female Blackburnian Warbler giving just a hint of yellowy gorgeousness...

...but nothing beats the male!

Blackpoll Warbler trying to muscle in on the Blackburnian's feast.

Male Blackpoll Warbler, quite a cracker really!

Female Chestnut-sided Warbler looking quite boring compared to the rest

And if you got bored of warblers there was always a Red-eyed Vireo to look at.