Stork nests

watch your fingers

We made our annual trip to Florida to visit friends in Palm Beach County at the beginning of March. This is the latest in winter we've gone, and the differences in what birds were around were interesting.

domestic bliss

At Wakodahatchee Wetlands park, the Wood Storks were nesting. Some of them were in trees right next to the boardwalk, practically close enough to touch if you didn't mind losing a couple of fingers. In January and February of past years, the dominant nesters were Great Blue Herons; this time it was the storks and smaller shorebirds like Tricolored Heron and Cattle Egret.

shorebird condo

All the little hammocks had nests in them. They were like shorebird condos. They generally had Great Blue Herons at the top.

"I just adore a penthouse view..."

Stork nests were below the Great Blues, and then Anhinga nests farther down.

nice neighbors

Cattle Egret and Tricolored Herons tucked their nests into cozy little crannies throughout the trees. Double-Crested Cormorants mostly had their own hammocks.

cozy

There wasn't much nesting at nearby Green Cay, though there were a nice pair of Screech Owl. The Spoonbills seem to have abandoned it this year, though. I'll post more Florida photos soon, in the meantime, one more Stork nest:

The Out-of-Towners

Cattle Egret on the prowl

It's migration season! And of course New York City is getting pretty much every type of warbler found in the northeast, just like every Spring. Enjoy them while you can!

But we're also seeing some very unusual visitors. At the top of this post, we have a Cattle Egret--I think the first every seen in Manhattan--who has been hanging around at the Penn South co-op, around 28th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue in Manhattan.

Rare bird and common passers-by

Cattle Egrets are originally an African bird, showed up in South America in the 1950s, and have been steadily extending their range over the last few decades. They're quite common now in the southern US--basically a roadside bird in Florida, for example.

on the move

However, it's rare up north. I believe one shows up at Jamaica Bay or Jones Beach once in a while, but that's all. It's in good breeding plumage--the off-white crown and back feathers--but I don't think it's going to find a mate up here.

Not much of an environment--but enough

The area you see the Cattle Egret in here is (so I understand) having some construction work done on it, but the bird is still around a little farther south, still on the grounds of Penn South. Worth a visit if you're in Manhattan. Keep an eye out for other birds when you're there--there were some warblers about when I visited.

Wild Turkey, Central Park

A Wild Turkey showed up in the North Woods of Central Park a couple of weeks ago. Turkeys are not unknown in the City. I'm told there are some in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, and even in Manhattan there are reports occasionally from Inwood Hill. And of course there was Zelda the Battery Park turkey, killed by a car a couple of years back after a long life there. Still, they're pretty rare here.

official vehicle, unofficial bird

I was emerging from the Ramble after an afternoon's birding, and I saw David Barrett looking at something at the edge of the Ramble Maintenance parking area. Surprise! The North Woods turkey had been one the move. We watched the bird scratching through leaves and pecking at the grass for a while, until some idiot chased it across the lawn and it flew up a tree.

I think I'll just stay up here. To heck with you people.

The turkey continued moving south through the park the next day, and wound up at the lawns around Seventh Avenue and 59th Street. I think it's still there--it seems to be smart enough to avoid traffic and dogs.

Least but not last

On Sunday, a Least Bittern was spotted perched high up in a tree over the Gill in the Ramble in Central Park. This small egret is very unusual in this area. I asked long-time bird photographer Peter Post if there had ever been one in Central Park before. He said he had seen one--sixty years ago!

Least Bittern, lurking

There appears to have been one since then, seen by legendary bird guide Starr Sapphire in 1989. But anyway, wow.

Up a tree, by the way, is not where you'd expect to find such a bird. It would like t be down in the tall reeds at the edge of a pond or stream with some tasty fish in it. Alas, reeds are in short supply in Central Park these days. I suspect the bird was waiting for dusk--if all the large mammals would just go away, it would chance a fishing expedition at Azalea Pond.

Anyway, you never know what might turn up in Manhattan.

Big White Birds

Just because, here's some photos of the big white wading birds of Florida.

the more I look at this one, the more I like it (Snowy Egret, Green Cay)

Some of the birds at the wetlands parks are quiet used to people and go about their business within a few feet of the boardwalks.

up close and personal with a Great Egret at the Green Cay boardwalk

Great Egret hunting, Wakodahatchee Wetlands Park

Cattle Egrets were happy to get close as well. At Wkosahatchee, a bunch of them flew up onto the boardwalk railing only a few feet away from us.

no, you back off

Let me tell you something, buddy...

more 'tude

I looked at this next one a long time while photographing, and then again at the photo at home. It's a Cattle Egret, too, just in a slightly different state of plumage.

Here's an odd one out for the big white birds. This is a Little Blue Heron--they're white in their immature plumage:

odd one out

I'll finish this up with a White Ibis in nice light:

damn fine lookin' bird

Awesome Majesty

not a good sign

I have no particular point here, just showing some more photos from Florida. This Turkey Vulture buzzed me a couple of time while I was walking around Loxahatchee Refuge. It had been a longish hike, and I was flagging a little, but I felt that the bird was a being a bit presumptuous.

don't walk on that log!

At Wakodahatchee Wetlands Park, this alligator waited patiently for a mistake.

marching to his own beat

Nearby, some Cattle Egrets flew right up on the boardwalk railing. No fear at all.

yikes!

A Wood Stork flew right past me at Green Cay. Quite startling; they are surprisingly quick. I was lucky to get any kind of shot at all.

Florida, part one: Life Birds, Green Cay

Elena and I went to Florida over Presidents Day weekend. We were making a long-overdue visit to our friends Adam and Judy in Palm Beach County, but with their indulgence we got in some birding.

exclusive valet birding

I hadn't been in Florida in fifteen years, since before I started birding, so the life birds started coming as soon as we left the airport. White Ibises are all over the place--roadsides, along the ubiquitous canals, parking lots... And I saw my first Anhinga ouside a restaurant where we stopped for lunch. (My Big Fat Greek Restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale. Very nice place. Try the keftedes.)

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

And Cattle Egrets are common roadside birds as well.

this one was at Green Cay, but trust me, they were all over the roadsides

Birding by the roadside is fun, but the best thing was Green Cay Wetlands.

totemic

This is a fantastic man-made wetlands park, run by Palm Beach County, with about a mile and a half of boardwalks that bring you right up close with normally-reclusive waterbirds.

very shy

This American Bittern wasn't a lifer, but what a view! It was not eight feet away from me, almost under the boardwalk. Funny thing--right after seeing it, I ran into Central Park birder Brian Padden, who was birding there with Big Year birding legend Sandy Komito. I had the pleasure of pointing them at the Bittern.

just off the parking lot

The birds at Green Cay start even before you reach the boardwalk. Along the path from the parking lot to the nature center building, we saw several warblers, Painted Buntings, and White-Winged Doves.

And then you get into the wetlands, and there's just a riot of birds. There are ducks:

I don't know how I missed seeing Blue-Winged Teals before, but I had.

in south Florida, Mottled Ducks replace Mallards as the common ducks

gallinules:

Common Gallinules live up to their name at Green Cay

juvenile Purple Gallinule. I didn't get a really good picture of an adult.

Grey-Headed Swamphen, an exotic South Florida speciality

herons:

Tricolored Heron. Well, I suppose you can claim any number of colors you like...

juvenile Little Blue Heron

adult Little Blue Heron

Glossy Ibises! Wood Storks! Limpkins!

Glossy Ibises, another introduced species quite at home in Florida

Wood Stork. It took HOW long to figure out these were dinosaurs?

this Limpkin was loudly asserting his territorial rights after a dispute

and Roseate Spoonbills. My god, the Spoonbills.

that spoon, that spoon, that Spoonbill...

And those are just my life birds! I'm not even close to done writing about Florida. More soon.