CATTLE EGRET + Mid-April Migrants

On Friday, I went looking for new migrants. I had no luck, until I stumbled across a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (#76) at The Point. I will certainly see hundreds of these birds this year. Just as I was about to exit the park, I thought I heard something that sounded like a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher by the Pilgrim Statue, and I found one (#77) hanging around the cherry trees there. This was about a week later than my first one last year, but this is the typical arrival time of these tiny insectivores. On Tuesday, a CATTLE EGRET was found on a residental lawn in Chelsea, which is the last place you would expect this first county record on land to be. Nevertheless, I took the C train over there and got great looks at this bird (#78) foraging on the lawn. Today I went looking for migrants after the good winds the night before. My first new migrant was a Yellow-Rumped Warbler (#79) at The Point, surprisingly a female. I saw several more today, all of which were males. After finding many of the usual migrants, I went up to The Loch to search for a reported Prairie Warbler, which is a bit early. When I arrived there, there were several birders looking at a large warbler flock featuring several Pine, Palm, and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. It took a while, but eventually I got great looks at the Prairie Warbler (#80). I still have not seen Louisiana Waterthrush, but likely will soon. My next year additions will likely be Savannah Sparrow, Black-and-White Warbler, and Blue-Headed Vireo, since reports of them are starting to come in.