Birding in the Big Apple

I have always had a crush on New York City, starting from when I was a kid and would take day trips to visit the various museums with my family, and continuing through to my five years of working on the Upper East Side. During the years I worked there, I walked the southern edge of Central Park daily, never really taking the time to venture off my path, always either having to get to work or having a bus to catch. This summer I was intrigued by two books from author Marie Winn: Red-Tails in Love and Central Park in the Dark. Both books detail the amazing wildlife found throughout the park, wildlife that was so close without my (and probably most people) even knowing it. I decided that I would take the time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, next time I was in the city.

Two Saturdays ago, I had dinner plans with some friends and planned on making my first tour through the park. My friend Beth lives just north of the park, so I left my car near her and dragged her along to explore, telling her to "Look for other people with binoculars!" As we made our way south through the park, we came across different areas mentioned in the books- for example, the Ramble and Pinetum. It was while walking through the Ramble we spotted our first birders. I quietly approached them to ask what they were watching, and was told it was a Swainson's Thrush. A new bird! After I was provided with many clear views, I handed my binoculars over to Beth who unfortunately didn't get to see it before it flew away. While we were watching, another birder came by and mentioned to us that there were grosbeaks and hummingbirds over by the Oven. After telling him that I was just becoming acquainted with the Park, he graciously walked us to the area where sadly for me the grosbeaks seemed to be napping, but the hummingbirds were everywhere, feasting on the jewelweed. Beth had never seen a hummingbird before (and I love them!), so we watched for a while before having to leave for our dinner reservation. (Beth has since brought her roommate to the Oven to spread some hummingbird love!) We're both looking forward to our next walk through the park...

(Check out Marie Winn's blog for awesome Central Park wildlife information and pictures!)


Photo courtesey of Flickr user JanetandPhil

Four in One

Yesterday was a big listing day for me! One of my many volunteer jobs is assisting with some bird banding, and I figured going in I'd be able to add a bunch of new birds to my list... yesterday proved me correct!

The banding station that I was as is set up in a riparian area on the Bronx Zoo property in the hopes of catching migrating birds. The research that I'm assisting with is focusing on warblers and thrushes, although we record and band everything that we catch. There were so many warblers flying around above the net, I wasn't able to identify them all! One that we caught, and I was able to see up close (and release!) was the black-throated blue warbler.

Two others that we finally caught after watching them walk back and forth just under the net were the ovenbird and northern waterthrush- I was assisting a woman who is very skilled with identifiying, and she helped me with the field markings of those two that will help me identify them in the future. Lastly, flying above us and finally into the net was an American Redstart. I even got to band a Grey Catbird!

It was a great experience, and I hope to get out there again this coming week!


Photo courtesy of Flickr user keithcarver