March 2017

Tonight my mom and I are flying home from New York City. Is is a very cold, windy, and rainy day here so we are basically hopping from cafe to cafe, meeting friends and grabbing bites to eat. So a perfect day for a recap post of this trip!

We accomplished everything we set out to do - which was to tour Curtis, Juilliard, & Manhattan School of Music here on the east coast. It was neat to compare them and I definitely have solid opinions about all three.

Yesterday, as well as having two fantastic voice lessons with highly-acclaimed voice teachers Maitland Peters and Marlena Malas, my mom and I also toured the Manhattan School of Music.

After seeing a Janacek opera called "Vixen Sharp Ears" there in the evening, it was the end of a nice full day.

So not exactly my favorite way to spend spring break as overall it was rather hectic and stressful for me, but I definitely now have solid impressions of these three colleges. And the birding in Central Park was great!

Stay tuned - I have many exciting musical performances as well as birding opportunities lined up for this spring! I absolutely cannot wait for "May Migrant Madness" - it is my favorite time of the year!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)

Since yesterday was mainly just a rainy travel day, I do not have anything to post from it. Today, though, my mom and I took a tour of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, I went birding in Central Park, and later we saw a vocal performance at Juilliard.

At Central Park, I quickly came upon this seeming face-off between a nonnative Red-eyed Slider turtle and a male Mallard:

Male BUFFLEHEAD, my absolute favorite type of duck!

I definitely know what this ferocious reptile lurking in the water is, but does anyone else?

Pair of NORTHERN SHOVELERS:

NORTHERN FLICKER:

Although not containing the great diversity of warblers and migrants for which it is known in May, "The Ramble" was alive with birds such as many WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, including this one:

FOX SPARROW:

Beautiful TUFTED TITMOUSE preening:

EASTERN PHOEBE which then performed a nose-dive as part of one if its many extravagant fly-catching maneuvers:

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

BROWN CREEPER:

The "best" bird of the day was probably this roosting BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON I found, as one birder alerted me they hadn't been seen in Central Park yet this year!

After an interesting chamber concert of contemporary classical vocal music at Juilliard, we walked back to our hotel via the Lincoln Center:

And our hotel is literally a few feet away from Soup Nazi! (From Seinfeld)

Bird-of-the-day goes to my favorite BUFFLEHEAD with runner-up to the BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON! It was a fantastic day, and tomorrow I am excited for one sample voice lesson each with a teacher from Juilliard and a teacher from Manhattan School of Music!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)

Today my family spent our day in Philadelphia.

After receiving a very generous tour of the Curtis Institute of Music which proved to once again be fabulous, my family and I went to see the Liberty Bell.

Philadelphia really is a great city. Not only did I get a great impression from the extremely-selective Curtis Institute of Music, but I could truly picture myself living in this city as I almost feel like I'm at home already.

After bidding farewell to my dad and my sister, who are currently flying back home to Chicago because of my dad's symphony orchestra concerts, my mom and I met with one of my best friends Sebastian Beaghen for philly cheesestakes! Not only were they delicious but it was great to see him!

So another fantastic day! Maybe some birds tomorrow, but I can't promise anything! Remember, this is technically a travel blog!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)

As I am a junior in high school, my family and I took advantage of this spring break to start visiting prospective colleges.

What I really think of college visits:

Anyway, after flying in, we had a good day which centered around getting a tour of the Curtis Institute of Music. It's a fantastic school!! The family had a good day even though Pearl is recovering from a fever.

We also got to meet my second cousin Nicole for the first time which was awesome because she is super nice and we had never met her before!

More to come tomorrow! Hopefully some birds!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)

And this is the wrap-up post for this past winter. I also included some non-birding photos to spice it up because I have mainly been focused on my musical studies this year. So happy it's finally spring!!

As soon as I arrived back home from the Caribbean, I had 20 hours of rehearsal over the course of two days to prepare for what turned out to be a transcendent performance with Eddie Vedder right before Obama's Farewell Speech at McCormick Place.

On January 21, my jazz ensemble toured to the Purdue University Jazz Festival where we tied for first place out of all bands from Illinois! It was great!

In other news I saw a DOWNY WOODPECKER on that trip:

February 12 was my annual winter recital, which was my favorite one yet!

Throughout the semester, I have continued my Oak Park Bird Surveys where I have seen a few things, including this nice FOX SPARROW:

KILLDEER:

Male MALLARD:

Male AMERICAN ROBIN:

Male NORTHERN CARDINAL:

COOPER'S HAWK:

So it's been a pretty great semester - just super super busy! Stay tuned for spring migration madness, I'll try to keep up the best I can!!

Good birding,

Henry
World Life List: 929 Species (no recent life birds)