Midtown Birding (2)

In November I started a new job, which moved me away from the pocket park I wrote about before. By the way, recent reports from there say that some Swamp Sparrows, a Towhee, at least one Catbird, and two Brown Thrashers are all still there.

My new location, around Park and 51st, is unfortunately not so interesting, but there have been some birds.

office plaza bird

The first day, I spotted a Common Yellowthroat on the plaza outside the building. I saw that same bird around for several weeks, and other Yellowthroats in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew's Church across the street, and even hanging around a coffee cart near Lexington Avenue.

St. Bart's visitor

Most of the interesting birds were in the tiny St. Bartholomew's yards. A good part of the reason is that they had a water trickle running in the southern part of the yard, in a reasonably protected spot. That combined with a couple of trees and some shrubs, is enough to attract some birds.

just passing through

A few migrants appeared in the churchyard. Besides the Yellowthroats, there were Juncos, Song Sparrows, a Hermit Thrush, and one morning even a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. There are also the usual city residents--pigeons, starlings, House Sparrows--and the winter-ubiquitous White Throated Sparrows.

in town for the winter

There was a Gray Catbird around, but I haven't seen it since the trickle was shut off in mid-December. That's also when the last of the Yellowthroats departed.

like many New Yorkers, street food keeps the Catbird going

Finally, there's a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker who has been working trees all up and down 51st and 52nd Streets (at least), and also the tree in the St. Batholomew's southern yard.

street scene, St. Bartholomew's Chruch

Since he seems to be teh only Sapsucker in this part of town, he's got a large number of trees to work on, which he does quite diligently. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep him going all winter.

diligent driller of holes

Prattsville NY, Summer Solstice

On the first weekend of Summer, our friend Gary drove us up to his family's summer house in Prattsville NY, Catskills. It's a lovely place that I've blogged about before.

On the way up, we stopped for lunch at the original Bread Alone shop in Boiceville. Ten minutes looking at the scrubby woods at the edge of the parking lot yielded a Vesper Sparrow along with Carolina Wrens, Common Yellowthroats, and Catbirds.

We arrived in Prattsville with plenty of light left on the longest day of the year. I went for a stroll around the area. As last year, the highlight were the Bobolinks nesting in the hayfields at the nearby crossroads.

There were more than last summer, so I guess they must have done well. For the first time I heard the males singing. The males stayed out of sight until I was walking along teh edge of the field, then they rose up, one or two at a time, giving a wild song like someone tuning an old-fashioned radio. I imagine they were agitated by having a large mammal near the nest site and were trying to draw me away. Before I arrived, a couple of cars went past, and those didn't bother the birds at all.

This was also the first time I got a good look at Bobolink females. They're quite good-looking birds as well, though much more understated than the males.

Both sexes look a little haggard--feathers ruffled, tails a bit ragged.

I went down the road a little. I heard a hoarse deep screaming call in the distance, and then nearer by came an answer--a Raven, who took off from a tree, flying toward the other call.

Something else called nearby like a police whistle. As I peered into the woods to find it, a Turkey Vulture flew in above me and landed briefly in a treetop.

here's the world-famous vulture...

Back at the house, we heard Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows, and Chestnut-sided Warblers in the yard, and an Indigo Bunting perched on a wire. In the distance we heard a corvid party--the Ravens, along with crows and Blue Jays calling continuously for a half hour.

On Saturday night came a soaking rain. It finally let up a bit after 7 on Sunday morning, and I went off through the fields. I got good and soaked from the tall, wet grasses, too.

Birdsong was everywhere. Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee. Catbirds sang loudly from deep within the brush. Farther away, a Prairie Warbler sang its rising buzzy song.

Later in the morning, Gary and I walked up the road partway up Bearpen Mountain. Singing Indigo Buntings were everywhere.

A large number of crows were conversing, not too distant but out of sight. We did spot some Wild Turkeys, though.

When we headed back to the house, the Bobolinks were out again.

A bit more rain came in after lunch, and by the time it was over it was time to leave. While packing the car, we heard a loud banging from the old barn.

The Sapsucker Is In

I didn't manage to get a picture of it, but this natty Sapsucker was banging the tin roof of the barn, which resonated nicely. It made a hell of a racket, that is to say, demonstrating to all potential rivals that the resident Sapsucker was on his territory and not to be messed around with.

Kingfisher, Randall's Island

I still haven't seen a number of regular winter waterfowl--like Horned Grebe, Common Loon, Greater and Lesser Scaup--so I went up to Randall's Island on Saturday. I didn't have any luck with the waterfowl, but I did have a very nice look at a Belted Kingfisher.

Mister elegant

He was hunting up and down the Bronx Kill--the little neck of water separating Randall's from the Bronx mainland--and at one point hit the water and then came up and hovered a few feet above the water for about 5 seconds.

Hovering over the Bronx Kill

I think he was hoping for a second try at whatever he had just missed. It was interesting to see how his wings looked like a hummingbird's while hovering. Fascinating.

Urban Kingfisher

Earlier in the week in Central Park, I had nice views of some of the resident woodpeckers. Several Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers overwintered, which is a little unusual.

Sapsucker at Evodia

And there's at least one pair of Hairy Woodpeckers around. If it's only one, they range from Greywacke Arch and Tanner's Spring on the east and west sides of the Park, and also all over the Ramble. So there may be two or more pairs.

Hairy Woodpecker at work

Winter woodpeckers and such

There's quite a variety of woodpeckers in Central Park this winter. To start with, there's a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers, who I've mostly seen in the Ramble between the Gill and the Ramble Arch. The male is an exceptionally fine-looking bird.

hello, handsome!

Isn't that a good-looking bird?

The hairy's smaller cousins, Downy Woodpeckers, have been all over the place.

ohsocute!

A few Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are overwintering, which I don't think I've seen in Central Park before. I'm told they're fairly common at this latitude in winter, however.

just hanging out

The ones I've seen on my morning walks like to hang motionless off trees. i think they're waiting for sun to warm up the sap.

There are quite a number of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers around. This one likes to stash food in the posts of Laupot Bridge.

clever bird

The White-Breasted Nuthatch isn't a woodpecker, but they also stash food in odd places. They're a little more secretive about it, though.

waiting for me to go away

Fluffed up

January: it's cold, it's snowy, and the birds fluff up.

Fox Sparrow

Little birds fluff up:

White-Throated Sparrow

Birds fluff up while working:

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker at the feeders in Evodia, Central Park

Birds fluff up in company:

that dove in the middle has had a hard life, but at least he has friends

Even really big birds fluff up:

Red-Tailed hawk, hanging out over the Evodia feeders, Central Park.

Hope you're all keeping warm.

Christmas present; Year-End wrap-up

Christmas present

My other Christmas present, besides the Kingbird, was a spotting scope. I took it for a spin on Randall's island on Sunday. Randall's was pretty quiet.

Downy Woodpeckers were the most interesting land bird I saw that day

The scope worked fine-I saw for the first time Common Goldeneye ducks off in the channel near Riker's Island. I didn't get photos of them--haven't got the hang of taking photos through the scope yet. When I tried, I wound up with shots like this:

digislop

Those are Cormorants off on a channel marker rock probably a mile from Randall's Island. The big one on top is a Great Cormorant, the others are Double-Crested.

Brants doing laps

A flock of Brant that was feeding on one of the ball fields with Canada Geese took off just after high tide, flew around the northeast shore area about four times, settled in eastern mouth of the Bronx Kill, and then swam off east.

riverscape with Brant

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Odds and Ends

The other day, as I passed through the Ramble Arch on my way west, I heard a Carolina Wren singing loudly above. Good morning! He came down to forage--I didn't get much of a photo of him in the brush, but he was quite a cheering sight.

an obscure but cheering sight

Today, I spotted a Chipping Sparrow along the path down the Gill source to Evodia.

oh, Chipping Sparrow, why are you here?

He's very late indeed, but a Chipping did winter here last year. There was a good-looking Sapsucker at Evodia, too.

Sapsucker at work

The eBird system doesn't think the Sapsucker is late, but I do. Still there clearly must be sap running in that tree somewhere.

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Year-end Wrap-up

The Goldeneyes were species number 190 for the year in New York County for me. Barring a Redpoll or something popping up in the Park tomorrow morning, that's my count for the year. That includes a Budgie, which isn't really a bird you should count. Last year I had 176 (including both Budgie and Canary). I had a lot more time to bird the first eight months of the year than previously.

There's not many birds I regret missing this year in Manhattan (though I am a bit sorry I never trekked out to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn to see the Snowy Owl last winter). No Bluebirds, is the main disappointment. There were not a lot of sightings this year. I made a pretty good effort looking, including long silent walks along the top of Inwood Hill. Just not a Bluebird year for me. I missed several Connecticut Warblers--they'd be my nemesis bird if I were a good enough birder to have a nemesis bird. Again, I put a fair effort into looking. I missed the Yellow-Throated Warbler that was around the Tavern on the Green area in Central Park for a week in the Spring. That one I made only two real tries at; I should have tried harder. I didn't see Zelda the Battery Park Wild Turkey this year. Whenever I was down there, she was hiding out. Now I'll never see her again. She had a heck of a long life for a Turkey.

But I saw many more. The best of the year was right at the end, the lovely Couch's Kingbird, a perfect combination of rarity and beauty. But I saw a lot of other wonderful birds, new to me--some rare, some not--Barnacle Goose, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semi-Palmated Plover, Cerulean Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, White-Winged Scoter, Long-Tailed Duck, Snow Bunting, Red-Necked Grebe... about 30 life birds in the year, which is amazing considering I didn't travel much--almost all of them in New York City.

I figure there's about 35 to 40 species that are regular migrants or frequent visitors here, that I haven't seen yet, so I won't be running out soon--the pace will slow way down since I've seen most of the easier ones. Looking forward to it.

Then there were all the regular birds, the ones I already know. I never see them without enjoyment, never without learning something new. In particular, standing all alone on the shore of Randall's Island while Tree Swallows zoomed around me, courting and feeding and mating, is something I will never forget as long as I live. A perfectly usual bird, seen in a way I never dreamed of. My best moment of the year, even better than the fancy Kingbird.

I'm looking forward to more. I'll have less time for birding in 2015, but I'll be out every chance I get. I have a scope to learn to use, and a hankering to figure out how to photograph birds in flight; and I know more about where and how to look for birds then I ever have. And I'm looking forward to all of it.

Tree Swallow, familiar but brilliant

Central Park Christmas Bird Count

I was up at 6:30 this morning and at the south pumphouse of the Central Park Reservoir by 7:45 for the Christmas Bird Count. The count divides the park into seven zones--northeast (Harlem Meer and environs), Northwest (the North Woods mostly), the Reservoir, teh Great lawn, the Ramble, Southeast (the Pond and environs), and Southwest (usually the least productive area, having no real water feature). I joined the Reservoir team this year (last year I did the Great Lawn).

It was a pleasant day to be out. Last year was miserable, icy and slushy, all the joys of bad footing and of getting your feet soaked through; but this year was warm for December, and partly sunny, and dry. But not birdy. The best birds of the day for us were right atthe start--the three Ring-Necked Ducks still hanging out in the southeast corner of the reservoir.

who's the best bird? you are!

Other than that, it was slow. We had a Kestrel along Central Park West around 94th Street--heard it first, calling klee-klee-klee! and then spotted it perched on a rooftop. Later we had what turned out to be the only Cedar Waxwing in the whole count. There were a goodly number of woodpeckers, including two Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers. I think it's rather late for them to be here.

lingering

At the compilation, it turned out that there were only 56 species seen in the whole park. Some of the missing species were pretty shocking--no Red-Winged Blackbirds--and numbers of some common species were very low--only a hundred-odd Robins, a couple of dozen Cardinals. Not sure what's going on with that. At least the Titmousen and Nuthatches were back in force after being basically missing last year.

plenty of these guys, though

First Phoebe of Spring

Some birders mark the real beginning of Spring from the sighting of the first Eastern Phoebe. Though I'm not really one of them, I do admit that the first Phoebe does give a certain sense of Springitude to the proceedings.

Elena and I were having brunch and discussing where to go afterwards, and I checked my usual bird resources. On the NYNYBird web page (the web site for a text alert system I don't subscribe to; I don't like texts) was a message from Karen Fung: "E phoebe swampy pin oak. FOY?"

Certainly the first I'd heard of. So we went to the Ramble, intending to check the Swampy Pin Oak. That needs a new name, by the way, since the big Pin Oak was brought down in the aftermath of Sandy, but I digress.

We came up Cedar Hill, spotting a male baltimore Oriole there (maybe the one who wintered around Evodia), and entered the Ramble through Maintenance Meadow, and...

Phirst Phoebe

...there it was, our first Phoebe of the year. Ah, Spring!

Evodia was normally busy with the usual birds, including the female Baltimore Oriole. There were a lot of Downy Woodpeckers around.

Downy glaring at an incoming house sparrow

We spotted another Phoebe a little south of the Humming Tombstone, and also our first Hairy Woodpecker of the year (life bird for Elena, and 82nd species of the year for me).

We looked for Woodcock in the Humming Tombstone area, with no luck, but at Tupelo Meadow we saw someone peering intently into the fenced area around the big Tupelo tree. She made a complete circuit, and then suddenly a football with wings burst forth from the middle of the area and flew south toward the Gill. So there are still Woodcocks around.

At the east end of Tupelo Meadow is a tree dark with sap. Two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were disputing ownership.

winner and still champeen!

See how his crest is up? That's an agitated bird.

On our way back out through Maintenance, we saw this Swamp Sparrow in the meadow.

Spring in his step

That's Spring all over.