Thursday, March 22, 2018

Might as well be Spring

Ed Gaillard: birds &emdash; Blue Jay, Central Park
dramatic Jay

The last weekend of winter was chilly but bright. Sunday I took a walk through Central Park, testing out a new camera. I caught a couple of birds in dramatic light at Tanner's Spring.

Ed Gaillard: birds &emdash; Commpn Grackle, Central Park
Grackle down for a drink

The camera is a Nikon P900, which I bought mostly for it's huge zoom range; I'm hoping to use it instead of a spotting scope when I go to Jamaica Bay. Hauling around a scope and tripod is a pain in the ... backpack. It seems to work pretty well despite its tiny sensor.

Ed Gaillard: birds &emdash; Northern Cardinal singing, Central Park
Cardinal in a song battle

There's a lot of birds singing now. In the Ramble I watched a Cardinal counter-singing against a nearby rival. House Finches are in voice, and I've heard Fox Sparrows and even a few Juncos. The Goldfinches seem to be behind this year, though--I haven't even seen any really bright males yet.

Robins have been singing in small numbers. WHite-Throated Sprows have been relatively silent--there haven't been very many in the Park this winter.

Ed Gaillard: birds &emdash; American Robin, Central Park
O Robin, harbinger of Spring!

Then Spring came in with a blizzard. I saw a flock of over 40 next to the Met Museum in the falling snow on Wednesday. That's the most I've seen at once since last Summer. I guess they flew in just before the storm.

Hopefully we'll start getting real Spring weather soon.