Owls and a duck fight!

Today I ventured back out to see if the owls were still here.  Good news - they are!

I forgot to turn and ended up by the lake's open water, where these raccoons were snoozing quite cutely.

Back to the owls, which were much harder to photo this time.  They were a little better hidden, and the wind was crazy, so I got no good shots.  One lady was kind of ...... not kind-hearted towards me.  I guess I'll just avoid her.  But a couple were much more friendly and helped me find the owls.  They were even more friendly when I found a better angle to view and photo them from.  :-)

Well, it was a better angle but the photos are so-so at best!  At least they exist.  There were three owls there, one was only visible during high winds, it was kind of funny!

Down to the pond, where I saw my first duck fight.

There was definitely a winner and a loser.  And some hilarious chasing when the loser did not paddle away quickly enough to suit the winner.

The wood duck looked like a cartoon, he's just so ridiculously beautiful!

And here's the hybrid I've been seeing next to a mallard.  The head is half green, and the tail feathers are half as curly!  :-)

Owls! Yay!

I saw a couple reports that there were long-eared owls in Central Park, so I went on an owl mission.  It was not going well until random people came by and helped me, and the result was that I saw 2 long-eared owls!  My second time seeing owls, the other time was in Costa Rica.  It was wonderful!

I looked on my own for several minutes, without seeing them.  A man came over and showed me the tree they were in yesterday, he couldn't find them either.  Then a family came over and said they had seen them about an hour before, and they found them again.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  They saw three, I never saw the third, only two.

They were pretty well covered up, it was not easy to find a way to take a picture that looked like an owl.

I'm so happy!  :-)

I hope they stay for Paul's group but I don't think they usually hang around that long.

Croton Point with NYAS - Eagles! :-)

Today jack and I went to Croton Point with the NY Audubon Society, on a bus trip.  We were hoping to see eagles!  Last year we went on our own and had a couple of spectacular moments of overhead fly-overs, surrounded by a few hours of freezing boredom.  Maybe going with people who know what they are doing will be a better choice!

The bus ride was fine, the guy really like to talk, but, okay, it's fine.  As soon as we pulled around to the train station someone spotted an adult bald eagle perched on a dead tree, it was a great welcome!

In the water 3 kinds of gulls were clustered together.

There was a juvenile bald eagle perched over in the trees also, he was really hard to see.

As we were standing there, a red-tailed hawk came flying in and settled in a tree on the opposite side of the parking lot.  Hello old friend!  The crows chased him off after a couple of minutes.

We spent quite a bit of time watching the eagles fly around, they were quite beautiful.

Then in came this bufflehead.  I love these guys!  They are hilarious in flight - they flap so fast, they just look somewhat desperate and like they're not totally sure this whole flying thing is going to work.

We also saw a couple of mute swans, but too far away to get even a half-decent picture.

Then this northern harrier came by, showing off its flying skills with a swoosh-swoosh here.....

... and a swoosh-swoosh there!

The eagle did not like our attention being diverted, and promptly got all eyes on it again.

At the next spot, this juvenile was being chased by gulls over the water.  He settled down on some ice.

We walked quite a ways around, and spent some time looking for an owl, but didn't find it.  Dang, that would have been cool!

Walking back up to the point, Jack and I lagged behind the main group a bit, and nearly walked right by this gorgeous eagle perched not 40 feet away.  It was the only one we saw on our side of the water, and it didn't stay for many pictures!  A couple of the others saw it, but clearly it didn't want so much attention.  When we were walking back to the bus we looked for it again (we saw where it resettled) but couldn't find it.  What a treat that was!

Oh, and there were ducks - ring-necked, common merganser, goldeneye.  No good pictures, but I did see them through the scope.  Whatever, I was pretty focused on the eagles!  :-)

Winter Walk #2 with Paul's group

Well the weather turned bitter cold again just in time for our second winter walk.  Hello, layers!  :-)  I tricked myself out, wearing as many clothes as somewhat reasonable, toasty toes, and loading up pockets instead of carrying a bag.  By the time I made it outside I was already sort of hot, but that didn't last.

I headed up to the pond to check on the situation there.  It was great!  One wood duck, and the hawk hiding behind quite a screen of branches.  I didn't have much time to make it up to the meeting place, so I took off without really looking for the other wood duck.  I walked across the path south of sheep's meadow but didn't see the red-headed woodpecker - but then again, I didn't even slow down, I was pretty much just booking it.

At the little open water on the lake there was one motlely-looking northern shoveler, a male, no females and none of the gorgeous males that were there a couple of days ago.  Also no hawk.  Oh well!

Met the group, and Paul decided to try for the thrush again, since we had some new people with us, instead of heading all the way down to the pond.  We went by and visited the shoveler, who was tucked in and quite inconspicuous.  We also saw a song sparrow there,  in the hordes of house sparrows and white-throated sparrows.

Up to the feeders, where there was quite a bit of activity.  There was again a creeper on the tree trunk, enjoying the mystery substance smeared on.

Someone spotted this brown-headed cowbird, which Paul recognized right away but I doubted until it came out into the sun and posed for me.  I really want to throw him in an FMRI and test his brain.  I wonder if there's a neurology student out there who loves nature and needs a project.....

Anyway, the goldfinches were at or near their feeder, looking..... well, lovely, but not as lovely as they will be in the summer!

This white breasted nuthatch came over and showed off its beak.  There's something about the shape of their beaks that reminds me of a certain kind of freighter ship.

This read-breasted nuthatch came by briefly, it was great to see one!  I have not seen many of these this winter.

There were of course tufted titmice (titmouses?) everywhere, and many black-capped chickadees.  However they did not pose.

Then we headed up to the thrush, who delighted us once again by coming out and giving us a great view!

Someone posted that one side was more vivid than the other, but I don't see much of a difference.  I wonder if their eyes are too optimistic, or my eyes are too inexperienced to see the difference.

We went from there up to the castle and then the reservoir, just to check things out, and saw a few woodpeckers and robins and not much else.  A couple of male red-wing blackbirds, so the ladies we saw last week are finally getting some good company.  The reservoir was almost completely frozen over, just a teeny patch of open water by the fountain.  A few gulls, really not many.

Heading back down towards the museum and trying to talk Paul and Roberto into setting up lunchtime spring walks, we saw this hawk off to the left in the trees across some grass.  Probably an immature Cooper's hawk.  Paul was happy I found a hawk, but really wanted a red-tail.  So............

..... a block or two later I saw this red-tail off to the right!  Hahahahaha, then he asked for falcons, but I failed to deliver on those.  :-)

Then it was time to part, and head back down towards my eye exam.  On the way I stopped by to see if the shoveler was still tucked in, and there was some lady feeding the ducks, so there was just this huge mass of mallards, and the shoveler was swimming at the back of the mallard swarm.

And right above them was perched this (extremely optimistic) hawk!  I wonder if it's the same one I saw here last week after leaving the group.  I would guess that it is.

I love hawk season!

Slushy Time Again

Today I was going a bit stir-crazy, and decided to get out for a walk.  After picking new glasses for Jack, I headed up to the park, walking up the park road to the lake and then into the ramble.  Shush city!  Actually I was surprised how much ice there still was on the paths, I hope it melts soon.

I thought it would be great bird activity, a warmish day (43) after so many days of super-cold.  But it was surprisingly quiet!  On my way to the Thrush Spot, I saw a very large black squirrel at the very tippety-top of a bare tree.  I thought, well that's brave, any hawk nearby might want to take a swipe at such a large lunch.  Turns out some hawks would pass it up.

As this guy proved, sitting in a tree so close by, he must have seen the squirrel.  He was perched low, like he was interested in a meal, but I didn't see him move from his spot the whole time I was there.

The thrush did not come by when I was there (apparently I missed him by about 15-20 minutes) but this white breasted nuthatch did, and stayed in some pretty light for me.  I wish I could have gotten closer to get really crips pictures, but, that was not happening.

I left the thrush-hopeful crowd and headed back  home.  I did see ducks flying around several times, and there were plenty of mallards (and a few Canada geese) at that one open spot.  There were also some gulls in the middle of the lake (maybe 10), I hope the ice opens up so we get some more water activity!  I miss the different ducks.  :-)

Winter Walk with Paul

The winter walk series is back, today was the first day.  It was a bit dicey in places, but everyone made it through without injury.  :-)

Right at the beginning we saw this handsome red-bellied woodpecker, he was quite busy.  We actually saw several of these and several downies.  One person said she saw a flicker, but I didn't see it.

Then we thought we heard a hawk so we went to check it out.  It turned out to be a jay, apparently the best mimic in the park!  It sounded much more like a hawk than a jay to me, it was absolutely amazing.

We went up the road to the Swedish Cottage, where we saw some white throated sparrows, including this one, showing off the ice on his beak.  Isn't he sweet?

A female red-winged blackbird came over, she was gorgeous!  I love the feathers with an edge like this.  The female mallards have that too, and it's just beautiful.  It's funny that sometimes the female birds with the colors that blend have the super-fancy patterns.  They are sort of -eh- from far away, and once you see them up close, they're just incredibly gorgeous.

Continuing on to the castle, we heard and then saw a yellow-bellied sap sucker, but it did not want pictures.  Which is too bad because it was a really nice one, quite vivid.

Up to the maintenance field, looking for the thrush.  Seeing a fox sparrow, which I was too slow to get a picture of and then had a terrible angle on.

But finding the thrush, up in a tree, preening away!

Later he hopped across the snow, and then disappeared into the leaves beside the building.  Amazing camouflage!  I'm so glad he's still here, and has survived these crazy storms.

To the feeders!  The paths here were somewhat slippery, but we decided to brave it.  Going there we saw this white-breasted nuthatch, but not for long - he was outta there!

The goldfinches were here.  I love their wing patterns, they're really so striking.

This brown creeper was enjoying whatever someone had smooshed onto the tree.  :-)

Everyone panicked when this Cooper's hawk flew through!  It made a couple of passes before settling down here for a while.  The birds panicked only briefly though, they settled right back down.

Of course there were tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees everywhere, but no decent pictures this time.  They are so frustrating!  I did manage to get several pictures of branches where they ~used~ to be.

That was it for the group walk, we went back over to the west side and I continued on down the park road to walk home.  About 3-4 blocks down, where the little patch of open water is on the lake, I was scanning the ducks and geese to see if there was anything I wanted to see when a red-tailed hawk came in!  It looked like a juvenile to me but maybe it was just small.  It landed ~right~ above the ducks and geese, but they were not super impressed.  I think it was about the same size as a duck, it didn't look like it could really handle one.

So after a few seconds it flew and perched right over my head!  It was on a tree looking down onto the park road!  I tried to cross the street to get a better angle, but the only traffic I saw all day was at that moment, and then he flew away again.

It was a great walk, I'm glad I went!  :-)

More snow......

Today I went to another walk after another snow.  The park got about another foot of snow.  I have not gotten noticeably better at either half-walking-half-skiing down snow-pack steps or at walking with the camera in my hand.  Ah well, to the pond!

The day after a snowfall is just gorgeous, it really looked like a winter wonderland today.  :-)

The wood ducks were happy to pose for me.  The mallard seemed a little confused.  Was he seeing double?  Or did he want to be the star of the picture?  It's hard to tell what a duck is thinking......

Walking up from the pond along the road, I saw someone else taking a picture of this tree and agreed that it was worthy.

Walking up the mall, disappointed I hadn't seen the hawk by the pond, this guy came by to cheer me up!  Yep, he landed right on the snow.  He seemed to be looking for something.  I didn't see anything, maybe he had seen a squirrel surface there?  I don't think he brought anything with him, but it's hard to tell.

After a few minutes he had to go.

Right over to this tree!  He didn't stay long, he flew up towards the fountain.  Landed.  Then flew over towards the east side, staying south of the fountain.  It was so great to see him flying so low over the snow!

At the fountain, I spotted a falcon flying.  Yes, I'm finally starting to be able to tell a falcon from a pigeon in flight.....  Hahahaha, that sounds ridiculous but it's true!  Anyway, it turns out he wasn't out for a pleasure cruise - he needed to chase away the black vulture!

It was my first time seeing a black vulture in the park, and apparently the falcon didn't like it one little bit.

Up the the varied thrush station, where my patience was rewarded with seeing everyone's favorite vagrant.  I wonder if they are common anywhere, like robins are here.  And if a robin went there it would be a big deal.  So funny how the desirability of seeing a bird changes based on where you are.  In Cayman the mockingbirds were annoying.  And in Costa Rica the black vultures where literally everywhere.

Anyway, the camera battery just about gave out and I headed back home along the park road.  I saw this hawk who was either sitting very awkwardly or doing some sort of hawk yoga, I'm not sure which.........

A pretty day, but........ that's really enough snow for a while......