Look! A bird!

[Langue_doc]

Just saw this online:

   https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1100203220/christian-cooper-bird-watcher-national-geographic-tv-show

This is the fellow who was "reported" for birdwatching: now he has his own show.

;--》

M.

This "fellow" has been on the Board of Directors of the NYC Audubon for some time now! He was a fellow birder on one of the walks prior to the encounter reported in the media.

He is quite the gentleman.

[mamselle]

Good to know.

That whole scenario (with the police report) was just stupid (among other things...).

M.

[mamselle]

Sorry, double here, but perhaps of interest...

   https://www.wcvb.com/article/barnstable-massachusetts-no-july-4th-fireworks-piping-plovers-least-terns/40060015

Some folks care about the birds...

M.

[Morden]

Update on the goose-occupied osprey nest: After causing multiple power outages in the neighbourhood because they kept trying to build a nest on the power poles beside the occupied nest, the osprey are back where they belong. No sign of the offending geese. So I assume the goslings dropped and hopefully survived.
I also saw a huge V of geese heading north today--which is really late.

[apl68]

Overcast morning
Across the still pond waters
A wood duck's call sounds

[Langue_doc]

Another crack-of-dawn bird walk in Central Park.

We went looking for a mourning warbler https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Warbler/id that had been sighted at The Point, and were fortunate enough to see it there. It didn't appear to be "shy and skulking" as described in the Peterson book.

There weren't many birds flying though this year--I recall seeing many more species last year in the much smaller Battery Park during previous migrations.

Other birds of interest were Canada, magnolia, and blackpoll warblers, red-eyed vireos, a great crested flycatcher, and a Baltimore oriole sitting on a tree near what we thought was its nest. The nest was obviously an oriole's.

After the walk, a few of the die-hard birders went looking for some other sightings such as a Kentucky warbler, a Mississippi kite, a yellow-billed cuckoo (I saw one or two in Governor's Island either last year or before the pandemic), and a great horned owl.

Yesterday I saw several swallows flying over the lakes in Greenwood Cemetery. These were at least three different species, probably tree, bank, and barn swallows. They would swoop down on the surface of the lake and take sips of water without pausing in flight.

The goslings I saw a week ago seem to be thriving--at least they are still there and looking much bigger.

We saw a goose family this morning with two goslings. The third gosling that one of the birders saw a few days ago must have been eaten by either a turtle or a raccoon. We saw two raccoons on a tree--one was climbing up the trunk to meet its mate sitting further up. Last week we saw a raccoon fast asleep in the crook of another tree.

[Langue_doc]

Double post--

The highlight of today's 7:30 AM walk in Central Park with a different organization and a different meeting place was being introduced to a celebrity by our walk leader. The celebrity is Al Levantin, one of the three protagonists in the book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession. He was sitting on a bench in one of the prime birding spots in the park. Steve Martin plays his character in the movie version of the book. I'd heard about the book but haven't read it or seen the movie. I ordered the book as soon as I got home.

The other highlight was seeing the great horned owl https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/overview. The walk leader knew where to look for it as she was checking the sightings/location reports. It looked like a round ball from below, more or less like a rather large oriole nest. After a while we could see a faint bird shape as it decided to stick out, just a wee bit, its head and tail. We looked for it yesterday and last Tuesday (with another group) but couldn't find it.

This is the end of migration, so probably the end of bird walks for me for some time.

[Harlow2]

On a recent walk far away from home: more brown pelicans than I have ever seen together flying up and down the coast in formation, patrolling for fish. So cool.

[Langue_doc]

On a bird walk this morning, we saw a red-tailed hawk fly rather low overhead and then land on a tree just in front of us. Up a few branches on that tree was its nest, with a chick sitting on it. Later in the morning, we saw a Baltimore oriole which then flew to its nest and start feeding the chicks which weren't visible to us because they were probably still quite small. Its mate soon joined it. Then we encountered a swan couple with their two to three-week-old cygnets feeding on whatever was at the bottom of the water, quite close to the shore. There were also robins on their nests.

Bird drama earlier this week. Near the cafe in the Botanical garden, I heard a cacophony of grackle squawks and saw the birds harass a red-tailed hawk that had settled on a low branch. They kept at it for some time. When the hawk eventually flew off, the grackles followed it to make sure that it had left their territory. Later that day, in another part of the garden, a hawk landed on a tree only to be chased by a couple of small birds one of which was a cardinal. In the azalea garden, a blue jay was mercilessly chased by robins, a pair of which had a nest in a nearby tree. Reinforcements soon arrived so whenever the blue jay landed on any of the trees near the one with the nest, the entire robin flock would chase it.

Migration is over now. During the next few walks this month we will be looking for breeding birds.

[cathwen]

Great sightings, Langue_doc!

My husband and I also went on a bird walk this morning at an Audubon Center we had never been to before (there are several in our state).  The trails led through fields and woods and one branch (which we took) paralleled a stream. About midway along, there was a barn with indoor displays and trail maps, plus an outdoor balcony with high chairs where we could sit and watch the birds in the field, on the feeder, and in the surrounding trees.  We saw many of the common birds (blue jays, cardinals, house finches, white-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, mourning doves), but also several rose-breasted grosbeaks and two bluebirds!  I haven't seen bluebirds in a long time, so that was quite a thrill. (And my husband had never seen one before.)  We also saw a red-shouldered hawk being pursued by four turkey vultures.  Along the river, we saw a female common merganser with her babies and a Louisiana waterthrush.  Towards the end of our walk, a house wren obligingly made an appearance.  (We usually see Carolina wrens.). Tree swallows swooped over the fields.

Birds that Merlin Bird ID picked up which we heard but did not see:  Goldfinch, American redstart, great crested flycatcher, tufted titmouse, eastern wood peewee, red-eyed vireo, wood thrush, common yellowthroat.

A good day!

[nebo113]

Gold finches at the yellow feeder.  Hummers at the red feeder (clear juice).   But no blue birds at the blue meal worm feeder.  Are bluebirds color blind?!?!?  Just a joke, folks.  I was struck by what seems to me to be  a marketing gimmick, although I know birds see color.  Except perhaps for the hummers, does color on feeders attract them?

[apl68]

Gold finches at the yellow feeder.  Hummers at the red feeder (clear juice).   But no blue birds at the blue meal worm feeder.  Are bluebirds color blind?!?!?  Just a joke, folks.  I was struck by what seems to me to be  a marketing gimmick, although I know birds see color.  Except perhaps for the hummers, does color on feeders attract them?

Seems like I read somewhere once that blue birds prefer brown meal worms to blue meal worms.  So you wouldn't expect to see blue birds at a blue meal worm feeder.  It's a common mistake, like expecting cardinals to like red meal worms.

[nebo113]

Gold finches at the yellow feeder.  Hummers at the red feeder (clear juice).   But no blue birds at the blue meal worm feeder.  Are bluebirds color blind?!?!?  Just a joke, folks.  I was struck by what seems to me to be  a marketing gimmick, although I know birds see color.  Except perhaps for the hummers, does color on feeders attract them?

Seems like I read somewhere once that blue birds prefer brown meal worms to blue meal worms.  So you wouldn't expect to see blue birds at a blue meal worm feeder.  It's a common mistake, like expecting cardinals to like red meal worms.

I thought you were pulling my leg about blue meal worms!!!! 

[mamselle]

More nesting drama, this time with a huge swan, all puffed up and going after a couple goose families on the opposite bank from where his partner snoozed, incubating their egg(s).

I got video of him streaking across the water at one of the adult geese, while the other 3 adults and 6-8 gosling literally high-tailed it up the bank to get away.

He had his neck fully extended as if to snap at them, and I thought, "....hmmm, didn't realize swans were carnivores," because he was close enough to have caught a goose-leg there.

They did get away, the silvery-white flame-like wing feathers subsided to cloak his body more closely, and things quieted down.

The pen slept on.

M.

[apl68]

Gold finches at the yellow feeder.  Hummers at the red feeder (clear juice).   But no blue birds at the blue meal worm feeder.  Are bluebirds color blind?!?!?  Just a joke, folks.  I was struck by what seems to me to be  a marketing gimmick, although I know birds see color.  Except perhaps for the hummers, does color on feeders attract them?

Seems like I read somewhere once that blue birds prefer brown meal worms to blue meal worms.  So you wouldn't expect to see blue birds at a blue meal worm feeder.  It's a common mistake, like expecting cardinals to like red meal worms.

I thought you were pulling my leg about blue meal worms!!!!

Me, pull somebody's leg?  You'd better believe it!