birding
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Prospect Park
The Upper Pool is just starting to blush with the coming of fall. A walk through the park yesterday. We saw: Wood Duck, Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, American Kestrel, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, House Wren, Carolina…
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Blackpoll in BBP
From the air, or, as in this case, the great bridge, Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 is an island of green. We’re not the only species that sees and enjoys this. Recently a migrating Eastern Red Bat was noticed resting through the daylight. Yesterday, I saw three species of warblers in the park. They’ve dropped…
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Yes, we have egrets
The larger Great Egret (Ardea alba) and the smaller Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) are sometimes found side-by side, making the size differential between them easy to see at a distance. For more detailed observation, especially in flight, the Great has a yellow bill and black feet, the Snowy a black bill and yellow feet. Note…
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Two Gulls
Ring-Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), one of the three species of gull found here in the city year around.Laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla), a summer visitor to the city. Named for their call, which sounds a bit like crazy-laughter. (The name “Black-headed gull” was taken.) These birds will soon lose their breeding plumage, which includes the black…
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Banding Osprey, Part II
Osprey chicks can be too old to band, because as they near fledging, they may jump off the nest site prematurely to get away from the human who has climbed up to borrow them for a moment. If they aren’t actually ready to fly, this can lead to broken wings. This one, however, was a…
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Banding Osprey, Part I
Last year, there was one fledged Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) chick on the east end of Nantucket. Numbers had been dwindling in previous years and last year was pretty much bottom; there just weren’t any fish to be had, so the adult Osprey were traveling to hunt at the other end of the island, but that…
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Common Tern
“Comintern”? It’s a wonder these things weren’t exterminated during the Cold War. Sterna hirundo. This one was fishing from the pier, leaning over and examining the water for several moments before dropping down to capture a small fry. A couple of days later, I saw another, or perhaps the same bird, perching on the pier,…
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Fledgling
Northern Mockingbird in Brooklyn Bridge Park about an hour ago. This may be the very bird noted by a fellow BBP scout.
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Pelham Bay Park
“Only the dead know Brooklyn…” but you can say the same thing for the rest of NYC. Five massive boroughs: it’s a full-time job to explore them all. Last Saturday, we journeyed up to the eastern Bronx to visit Pelham Bay Park. Pharaoh — or should I say “Tyrant,” based on the Greco-design of the…
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The day in birds
My day in birds began just after 5 a.m. when I woke to the pre-dawn chorus of the local House Sparrows. Argh! I grumbled something and rolled over. Between rain clouds, I went out to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in the middle of the day. Some thirty-seven species of birds and three mosquito bites. Many…
Backyard and Beyond 