September 2018

Today I spent almost the entire day birding around NYC and I had a blast!

The morning was spent in Central Park, where I started off with this beautiful and obliging NORTHERN PARULA:

Very soon after arriving, my highlight of the morning was FINDING a rare CONNECTICUT WARBLER — a bird that only comes through New York in the fall, and in very small numbers! This find created a sensation among the birders in “The Ramble” of Central Park. I had particular fun meeting two other young birders, Ryan and Cole, who were also delighting at the migrants passing through.

One section of a trail through the Ramble had this OVENBIRD:

As well as a cool BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER:

Then, a large, long-tailed form flew through the canopy and I found my first YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO of the year — whew! I thought I was going to miss this one as they will soon be gone for the tropics.

A very obliging CAROLINA WREN:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

EASTERN PHOEBE:

BROWN THRASHER:

BLACKPOLL WARBLER:

PALM WARBLER:

Overall, it was a stupendous morning of birding in the park. Then, I took a few subway trains and a bus to visit Marine Park in Brooklyn in search of a would-be lifer Clapper Rail.

Almost immediately upon arrival, a VERY uncommon species flew over — this GREAT CORMORANT, a bird I have only ever seen in the Old World before.

GREAT EGRET:

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

SAVANNAH SPARROW:

AMERICAN KESTREL:

Unfortunately, despite trying very hard, the rails were nowhere to be found.

Next was Far Rockaway Beach where I wanted to check for any migrating marine birds. Nothing of note bird-wise was seen, but my best sighting was a pod of Dolphins! Birding has many advantages, including becoming an overall more observant person which can yield great results such as finding these Dolphins.

And my final birding stop of a long day of birding was at Broad Channel off of the A train where I looked for, and after only a few minutes of searching, found this BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE, another species I’ve never seen in the US before.

What a view from the train! This is overlooking Jamaica Bay by JFK Airport.

My final avian sighting of the day was a quick view of a flock of MUTE SWANS in the bay from the train, props to you if you can spot them through the shrubbery!

My commute for the day: 4 buses, 7 trains, and multiple miles of walking — what a journey!

A full, long, but successful day of birding! Bird-of-the-day to the Connecticut Warbler which was truly a magical experience, and runners-up to the Great Cormorant and Boat-tailed Grackle.

Good birding!
Henry
World Life List: 954 Species

Today I woke up before 6am, rode five subways, two ubers, and walked/ran a total of 2.5 miles in order to find a prospective life bird, the Common Eider, a species of subarctic duck. They are fairly easy to find in the winter in this area but I prefer birding when it is warmer and I wanted to switch it up a bit today and bird before school. Note that this odyssey was entirely accomplished prior to classes at 11am!

When I arrived to Breezy Point along the coastline southeast of Brooklyn, I immediately spotted this OSPREY:

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS such as this specimen were pleasantly abundant:

FORSTER’S TERN:

AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER:

First-winter LAUGHING GULL:

It seemed like the walk through the sandy dunes and beach was taking forever, and I was on a time crunch. Now, I was starting to worry if I would even have time to walk all the way to the jetty for the Common Eider or not. It was certainly close!

Finally, at the base of the jetty a few cute SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS poked around:

Then, I spotted it — a large, dark, regal-looking diving duck — this was the female COMMON EIDER! My first life bird since moving to New York and my most recent life bird since the Cassia Crossbill!

I looked at the time, though, and had to leave after less than a minute of observation! Crazy fast twitching!

The uber ended up taking almost thirty minutes to arrive since it was such a remote corner of the city, and I observed a little flurry of bird activity while waiting for the car. NORTHERN FLICKER:

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD:

Female HOUSE FINCH:

Then, I had a fantastic treat of seeing two NORTHERN PARULA warblers, what a sweet avian surprise! Very cool!

And, I somehow made it to class with 1 MINUTE to spare! Whew!

Bird-of-the-day to my life bird Common Eider and runner-up to the Northern Parula warblers! Stay tuned for Central Park birding on saturday morning!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 954 Species (1 life bird today: Common Eider!!!)

Today with my mom was an AMAZING, nearly fallout day at the ramble in Central Park! MANY, MANY birds were around, and songbirds were in abundance! I also met many, many birders who had the same idea as me, including a kind man named Richard with whom I birded for quite a while.

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS abounded and were quite cooperative:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

NORTHERN PARULA:

GRAY CATBIRD:

Its relative the BROWN THRASHER:

SCARLET TANAGER:

MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

CEDAR WAXWINGS:

This female BLACK-THROATED BLUE was a nice surprise:

And the male was even better!

There was one patch of The Ramble with flowering plants and RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS like this cooperative individual abounded:

RED-EYED VIREO:

And its cousin, the PHILADELPHIA VIREO, which was an identification puzzle for a while but turned out to be a highlight of the morning!

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS:

This WOOD THRUSH, a declining species, was also nice:

And its uncommon relative the GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH:

Male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

NASHVILLE WARBLER:

TENNESSEE WARBLER:

BLUE JAYS like this were very common:

This BLACKPOLL WARBLER was nice!

Then, we took the subway to the Chelsea Market and ate Vietnemese sandwiches in a small park near there. Amazingly, in the middle of Manhattan, migrants abounded — a true fallout! AMERICAN REDSTART:

And this secretive species, a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, was a particularly surprising find in that busy Manhattan park!

Bird-of-the-day to the Black-throated Blue Warblers with runner-up to the Philadelphia Vireo. A GREAT day in Central Park! Stay tuned for more migration fun here in NY!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 953 Species

There was a nice flurry of bird activity during a walk with my mom through the North Woods of Central Park — she came to visit for a weekend! The North Woods are landscaped like the Adirondacks with beautiful water features and huge trees; all fallen trees and shrubs are left untouched which in turn is a great attraction for birds (and raccoons!).

In the lagoon on the north end of the park, this GADWALL was a great surprise, swimming with the much more common MALLARDS. I have also been keeping my eye out for American Black Ducks which frequent Central Park, but to no avail as of yet.

Pretty manmade waterfalls in the ravine of the North Woods:

This BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER was the most obliging bird of the day:

This female MAGNOLIA WARBLER was also great:

Red-eared Slider, nice!

This female-type AMERICAN REDSTART was also a cool addition to our day:

Bird-of-the-day to the unexpected Gadwall, with runner-up to the sweet Black-and-White Warbler! Stay tuned because mom and I will be birding Central Park again tomorrow morning!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 953 Species

Since arriving in NYC for college, this morning was truly my first time birding here. Despite unfavorable light conditions for photography, birds and particularly songbirds were plentiful and active. It was a great introduction to birding the park! I spent most of my time in “The Ramble,” which is the most famous birding location in the park due to its wooded habitat and water features.

The day started off with this PEREGRINE FALCON I spotted sitting on the side of the steeple of Riverside Church:

My first noteworthy bird of Central Park was this OVENBIRD in horrible light conditions:

NORTHERN FLICKER:

This was the view I got of every male AMERICAN REDSTART this morning, hah!

Juvenile GREEN HERON in a tree:

GRAY CATBIRD:

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH:

This fearless BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER came about a foot away from me at one point!

Female RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER:

Male BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

Here’s the female:

Female MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

HOUSE WREN:

VEERY:

The morning of birding ended with a “bang” — three fantastic, uncommon warbler species!

First, I had this gorgeous male CANADA:

Then, a fall-plumage BAY-BREASTED:

And finally, a warbler popped out at eye-level which turned out to be a WORM-EATING, my bird of the day! I have only ever seen this bird once before, and I didn’t manage a photograph of one until today’s bird! Fantastic and a very uncommon bird that is even scarcer back in Chicago!

Stay tuned, the next few weeks are the peak of autumn songbird migration here in New York, and I am sure to return to Central Park!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 953 Species