birding
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Woodcock Madness
A few of the nine American Woodcock I saw on Thursday in Prospect Park. Or, in this one’s case:Outside the park. On Vanderbilt St. in Windsor Terrace. I herded this one off the street. A stalking cat gave me the side-eye for doing so.The bird landed in the only patch of open ground around. But then the…
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Scolopax minor
The first of three American Woodcocks seen on the Brooklyn Bird Club’s Woodcock walk in Green-Wood last weekend.Same bird from the other side. A dozen people walk by stealthily…. The sun came out. But it’s at dusk that these non-shore shorebirds do their magic. The males begin to vocalize repeatedly with a peent/beent call. Then…
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Tufted
I’ve never had such an obliging Tufted Titmouse before. The binomial, Baeolophus bicolor, translates as small crest of two colors. More fun with names on this MSU page. * Let’s pause today, in light of yet another court staying the latest edition of Trump’s religious bigotry, to remember a despised alien “race” that professed a…
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Raptor Wednesday
Sometimes all you get is the general shape of the critter. The big-headed American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), for instance. Other times, you take your best shot. I thought this might be a Kestrel, too. But it sure was spending a lot of time up there, a behavioral characteristic I haven’t seen so much with Kestrels.…
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Great Blue & the Democracy of the Heart
Lo and behold, on a recent day I scanned the little islet in the midst of the Sylvan Water and found this Great Blue Heron. Had the bird stuck around all winter? (We’ve have very few days with frozen water). I did see a GBH sail across the Sunset Park plain back in January, heading…
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Books of a Feather
I grew up with Roger Tory Peterson’s field guide in the house. I was not a bird watcher then (“birder” with its exciting, action-orientated flavor, had not yet taken over the lingo). My mother was. I didn’t get it. I could definitely identify a Northern Cardinal. When I started to watch birds I decided to…
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Of a feather
Have you been keeping up with the our ever-expanding knowledge of bird evolution? The linked summary is a good place to catch up on these fascinating discoveries and hypotheses. The findings have been, uh… flying off the fossil beds in recent years and they have turned over old certainties. The barred pattern on the feather…
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Raptor Wednesday
A Bald Eagle at Croton Point. In February, I had 61 raptor sightings (!), a count which includes a total of 18 sightings during two trips up to Croton Point. More about non-violent protest. The take away: demonstrations are good, need to continue, and get bigger. Here’s a list of actions in NYC. Here’s the…
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Raptor Wednesday
See me?Well, I don’t want to be seen. Speaking of being seen! There are lots of elections this year, and although the Republican anti-democracy campaign plows full speed ahead, their nasty little oligopoly isn’t here yet.
Backyard and Beyond 