AMNH Thursday Walk

with Harold, Tom, Christine

white crowned sparrow

couple of flycatchers (alone)
couple ybss (alone but tried to show people)
one red-bellied wp (other people saw this one)
phoebe (Tom explained)

upper lobe
bridge - on trees on big lake side, thrush in the brush and then on a branch in the tree
trees on lobe side, kinglet briefly, then it took off
several robins, a catbird or two

mulch path
more thrushes

towhee on branch

tupelo meadow

dark eyed junco in grass, fence, etc
white throated sparrows
song sparrows
chickadees on fence, tree, etc

off on my own to find woodpeckers
dead squirrel
tufted titmouse
redstart?
redbelly

back with group

feeders
white breasted nuthatch on tree by us
chickadees on feeders and everywhere
various sparrows
downy
Dan came over and told us about the tree at the point, it's still busy

off on my own, just some thrushes
I missed a hawk fly-through!  followed it a bit, didn't see it

Tom had to go, I took people over to The Tree
ybss, kinglets (both), yellow rump, possible parola, female black throated blue, someone claimed a possible cyt but i didn't see it
wood duck

walked Harold and Eleanor back to the entrance
a bit awkward

A too quick trip around the pond one gorgeous fall morning

to the pond
6th Ave entrance
over towards waterfall
quiet, quiet
downy?
back around, quiet over to bridge area

on the way, downy in bush

song sparrows near bridge

just after crossing bridge, yellow rump

in upper lobe

black and white

winter wren

thrush

black and white

kinglets

white throated sparrows

mockingbird

scattered, a few catbirds
a flicker (?) flying across
starlings
a few robins
grackles
house sparrows

on the way to the gym:
hawk, up over time warner center corner
blue heron flyover

roof after gym:
merlin / kestrel / falcon
turkey vulture
perched hawk on water tower

hawk season is back!

upper lobe - hawk flew in, perched on tree across
follow - pass group
2 flying low - adult chasing off juvie?
2 guys come over
i follow
i give up

meadow - stray dog episode
ugh

head over to the oven

2 guys come by again, heads up about azalea pond

pond - redtail on branch

redtail flies to branch across the path
redtail flies to rock in pond

coopers hawk in tree above him!  hahahahaha, he looks pissed!  awesomeness!

redtail flies away while i'm showing the coopers to bicycle hawk loving guy
coopers flies away

okay, oven
good

something large and interesting flies out, I try to follow it and find it on the point but i don't see anything

feeders

walking along toward stone benchlet, vaguely thinking food and dk would be a great idea

sit on rocks for a few to check email, message elizabeth back

coopers hawk flies in!  perches, but smoker dude flushes him

follow

run into non binoc birder dude who talks a little like mr rogers

he really wants the yellow throated vireo.  whatever.  i'm not into it.

now he is getting a touch clingy.

luckily that other beginner guy is there too

he takes us over to the magic tree on the point.

on the way, as he's explaining that nothing exciting happens on the point, cooper's hawk!  hahahahaha, what incredibly perfect timing!

he flies off pretty quickly, we lose him

magical tree

wood ducks and green wing teal

the magical tree really is quite something

dude leaves.  thank you.

slowly leaving on the dirt path, making sure he has plenty of time so i don't run into him
here he comes, to get me to possibly see a hummingbird at the oven
ok, fine
oven

no hummingbird but it is gorgeous.  this guy is starting to get annoying.

something large lands heavily - we have no idea what
i see the hawk on the ground!
eventually the blue jays come around to harass it at length
i see it in a branch and watch it for a while, i lose it again
merlin / kestrel / something flies over to the right
this dude is not nearly as good at id-ing birds as he thinks he is
i have become totally spoiled, which is sort of a mixed bag.  i am impatient to become a bad-ass
eventually i find it again, dude finally leaves
hawk starts roosting instead of standing on its legs
its totally flattened against the log
birder new ranger guy came over, i showed him, he eventually saw the hawk, it's a juvenile red-tail
yay!  :-)

okay, he looks pretty much settled in, i'm going around to the point to see if i can get a better angle on it




point, no, i can't find it at all.  like, at all.
german (?) tourist  :-)

back to oven to see if i can find him again.  i'm hawk obsessed today.  i mean, even more than usual.

before i look, other birder guy comes over with one or two others, i tell him there was a hawk here earlier, he's surprised.  

i can't find him

oh well.  this other guy seems like a good guy, not nearly as clingy as non binoc mr rogers guy

dude.  i really need some food.  maybe i should just head out.

i wander through, taking my time before going.

good

finally back at upper lobe, on the bridge, a predator of some sort (smaller than a red tail i think) does a flyover - couple of circles, the he's outta there.  what a great good-bye for today!  :-)

also.  dude.  why do people feed squirrels?  sometimes i think i fundamentally don't get some of these birders.  are they confused between wildlife and pets?  do they think they're helping?  although i think the feeders are a good idea, so i'm not really consistent either.  oh well.

Another spectacular fall day in the park!

Jack

77th
cross
upper lobe bridge - quiet, quiet
upper lobe viewing tree - at first quiet, then grackles and robins
fancy sparrows
thrush
ybss
quiet again, then here come the "biker gang of grackles"
because they were being hunted by a cooper's hawk!
found the hawk perched inside that little lawn there

it flew off again, we lost it, hopefully it found a tasty lunch!

brown creeper

a few fancy sparrows (song? def. white throat) and a thrush
over to near tupelo
sparrows
thrush
flickers
kinglet
nuthatch way across, high up (spotted when looking for a flicker that flew in)
parula?

decided to go over to the oven
on the way

wren
thrush
fancy sparrows
sat on the rocks for a while, saw a couple of different wrens, one got chased over to us

eastern towhee
brown creeper
northern parula

this was a great spot!

okay, heading over to the oven
azalea pond - kinglets!  at least one ruby crowned - there were i think about 5 of them right there
wrens - they are everywhere!
the wren that forgot it was supposed to be hiding



cruise by the feeders, chickadees and i think goldfinches
really a lot of activity - we spent some time just taking the wide view and noticing the amount of activity all over the field, the feeders, the trees, without trying to id individual birds, it was cool

okay, now really to the oven

sat on the concrete step
yellow rumped warbler (?)

quiet at first
ybss

flycatchers (2 or 3)

flicker flying into the brush right by us
kinglet
chickadee


leaving the oven, heading out - to the fountain then across to the bridle path, up to 72nd
on the way out, golden crowned kinglets!

looked like about 3 in a tree zipping around - they are way too fast!

A spectacular fall day in the park

Entered 77th
On the way to upper lobe, before crossing the road, mystery bird (warbler?) - gonna be a good day!
Bridge, nothing.  Just tourists.  oh, a few mallards are back
Looking at the big tree, looks like 2 yellow bellied sap suckers are over there.  ok, let's head there!

On the way to big tree, a common yt briefly, a couple of thrushes that the hordes of catbirds chased away

at the big tree, kinglet, ybss, a thrush or two, some people talked about a phoebe but i didn't see it, some white throated sparrows, a song sparrow
there was really quite a bit of activity here, it was hard to leave, but there are no seats, so, off i went

up to the meadow - there was some activity on the way,, but nothing i could id

in the maintenance meadow, lots of white throated sparrows - it as all them instead of house sparrows!  a thrush, dark eyed junco
red-belly

black throated blue

chickadees - here is where i really started seeing chickadees everywhere.  it was crazy!

over to the oven

on the way, another wren

at the oven

on the way i pretty much just ignored everything, i was tired and just wanted to sit.  although i did see a flicker go through, i think.  i didn't get a great look at it once it perched so it might have been another ybss but i thought it was a flicker.

oh, and a wren when i passed the gill.  those little dudes are elusive!  i think house.  maybe.  well, a wren, anyway!

sitting at the oven on the rocks in the middle
family of cardinals
chickadees
blue jays
called Mom back, talked to her for a while (away from the couple of other birders).
hawk flyover across in front of the buildings by the left treeline (twice)

went down to the concrete seat - hummingbird!!!!  Briefly
c yellow throat, out and preening
some interesting sparrows - song?  swamp?  maybe i should start learning the sparrows this year.  that's what i told myself last year.  hhhmmmmmmmm............
hummingbird is back!  :-)  just the one, a straggler i guess.
more chickadees
ybss

some little dude up top opening up a seed and then the little tail came twirling down, i don't know who he was

it was so beautiful sitting here, but now all this time sitting in the shade, i'm chilly - gotta go!  there's no place to sit in the sun here, so i'm off

more chickadees!

over to the feeders which are now back - chickadees everywhere!  it was pretty hilarious.  and one downy, having a bit of a showdown with a chickadee on the same feeder.

okay, now to the gill

on the way, something that had a black cap like a chickadee but a white throat.  saw only very briefly in the top of a tree.  the beak reminded me of a catbird.  i have no idea what it was.  Note: later I realized this was a white-breasted nuthatch.

by the pond, a tufted titmouse.  yep, definitely!  no picture though, he was outta there.

the birds just seemed really fast overall today, there was a lot i saw that i just couldn't get pictures of

another thrush

following the stream, over to the wood bridge, a red-belly or two by the red-belly tree.  no more spray paint. maybe the storm gave the park higher priority trees to take care of and this one will stay for a little while?