A rank beginner in New York, New York (2 Viewers)

[Pinewood]

At the north end of Central Park Lake, the earth moving continues, as does the work on what should be the new shoreline. As planned, the Lake will be deepened. A little west of the north end of Bow Bridge, there was a shallow area, where weeds used to grow, favoured by swans, forming an "island." It is now a proper island, poking well above the water level.

A single swan has been at the Lake, otherwise I have seen nothing more interesting that a red bellied woodpecker. However, I was surprised, two mornings, ago, to see an Eastern towhee from my window.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

 

[Pinewood]

A short trip to Jamaica Bay

My friend expressed an interest to make an autumnal visit to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife refuge. Plans for a Monday visit were cancelled by rain. Wednesday was overcast and my friend curtailed the visit to an hour and a half because of other pressing needs.
This short visit was rather similar to my last visit in November. A northern mocking bird and a couple of warblers were present. The brant were present in huge numbers but there was several gaggles of snow geese, both of which I have never seen in Central Park. Hooded mergansers, grebes, double crested cormorants, ruddy ducks and northern shovellers were on the water. A great egret and a great blue heron were still around. On my return trip by "tube" train gave a glimpse of what might have been a bufflehead on the bay.

http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=113477

is a link to an image of a snow goose form the BF Gallery:


I also saw a raptor, with wings in a "V" formation, flying low over the water. As it was so overcast, I could make out few details, but its tail seemed long and narrow. A northern harrier was seen some miles north, two weeks, ago. Can anyone make a suggestion as to what it might have been.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :scribe:

 

[Dave Hall]

Hi Arthur There are few better sights in birding than 1000's of Gesse together in the winter especially when they take flight Do you know when the works on the lake will be finished ? As for your raptor the flight you describe sounds to me like it could be a Harrier I think that you should consider a change of name for your thread as you are no longer a Rank beginner more like the "New York Correspondent " Keep the reports coming
All the best
Dave

 

[Pinewood]

Dave,

Thank you, for the encouragement. This morning, there was ice in the stagnant water in the work area. Shore reinforcement seems to be progressing well, so the Lake north of Hernshead may be flooded before winter, as planned. I doubt that the plastic dam would survive a severe freeze. The North Lobe of the Lake, is still separated from the Lake by an earthen mound and the bridge has been removed. So I suspect the all the work won't be completed any time soon.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Pinewood]

Winter approaches

Yesterday, I saw ring billed gulls on Central Park's Lake. They use the Lake in cold weather. Today, I saw northern shovelers for the first time this season. Shovelers will be around for many months.

At my window, a hermit thrush stopped for a few moments, which is fairly unusual.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

 

[Pinewood]

Today's walk brought me a yellow bellied sapsucker, as well as a swan on the Lake. Since my last post, I have seen northern flickers, three at a time, on two occasions, and hawks, probably red tailed, on several occasions.
As I guessed the water in Lake, north of Hersnhead has been brought to the same level as the rest of the Lake. It is still about twelve centimeters below its usual level but it may be returned to that level after the dam is removed.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Pinewood]

The plastic dam has been partially removed, just in time, as there has been extensive freezing on Central Park Lake. The area north of Hernshead and much of the rest of the Lake is frozen, with at least a couple of centimeters of ice.
There are still ring billed gulls, mallards and shovelers on the Lake, while the wooded areas have flickers, blue jays, white throated sparrows and northern cardinals.
Today, walking along busy Central Park west, I saw tufted titmice, a northern mockingbird and a white breasted nuthatch, the second one, this week.
Here is an image of a nuthatch from the Birdforum Gallery

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :scribe:

 

[Pinewood]

I have had bad weather, and domestic problems, the cooker was not functioning, which has kept my visits to the Park to a minimum. Last Wednesday, I saw red bellied woodpecker on the sidewalk of Central Park West, which surprised one pedestrian. I saw another, this cold morning on a tree.
The Lake no longer has the plastic dam or its steel supports; only an earthen dam at the North Lobe, where work still progresses. On the Lake, today, were many ruddy ducks and mallards.

There is a nice picture of a red bellied from the gallery here
Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Pinewood]

The Lake froze, and was home to gulls and a couple of mallards, then melted. So today, there were numerous shovelers paddling around in circles.
Titmice, blue jays, white throated sparrows, mourning doves and northern cardinals are quite common. Yesterday, I saw a juvenile red tailed hawk on a branch above the Lake. It decided to change its position by flying two feet above me to another branch. I like looking at birds, but I can do without a large raptor buzzing me!

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :scribe:

 

[Dave Hall]

Hi Arthur thats a close encounter of the red-tailed kind all the best Dave

 

[Pinewood]

the New Year

Today, was my first day, in 2008, out in the Park. I saw a downy and a northern flicker, as woodpeckers are common and easy to spot in the winter. On the Lake, some hooded mergansers joined the mallards, the shovellers and the ring billed gulls. This would be my first sighting of the season, as well as for the year, of hooded mergansers on
Central Park Lake. A nice image of a hooded merganser is here
They have probably visited the Reservoir before now.
That immature red-tailed hawk has been sticking close to Strawberry Fields but I also saw a pair of hawks, high above the Park, on Monday.


I hope that you had a good Hogomanay and that you may add many more species in the New Year,
Arthur :t:

 

[Dave Hall]

Hi Arthur Happy New Year looking forward to reading your reports in 2008 Dave

 

[dolphinbride]

Happy New Year to you Arthur! Seems you've had a great start to the year. With the coldest night temps of the season here, watch out for those low flying raptors tomorrow!

All the best,
Kristina

 

[Pinewood]

Happy New Year to you Arthur! Seems you've had a great start to the year. With the coldest night temps of the season here, watch out for those low flying raptors tomorrow!

All the best,
Kristina

Kristina,

Thank you for the kind New Year's wishes.

At almost -9 degrees Centigrade, I was not about to take a monring stroll through the Park. Last night, a French tourist complained of the cold, when it was rather warmer.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Pinewood]

About 20 Celsius degrees warmer, yesterday, up to 11ºC. I have seen American robins, again, but they should disappear with colder weather. Aside from large numbers of grackles, white throat sparrows, cardinals and blue jays, there have been house finches in the Park. In front of my block of flats, I spotted a northern mockingbird, twice. I still meet that immature red tailed hawk in the Park.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :scribe:

 

[Pinewood]

On my usual short walk, I saw nine species, all but one were the usual suspects: grackles, American robins, white throats, titmice, shovelers, gulls, etc. However, after seeing a great blue heron fly north above Central Park Lake, I headed to Turtle Pond, hoping to spot it, again. I was disappointed in that, but I did see a pair of hooded mergansers on the pond and a mourning dove on my walk back.


Happy bird watching.
Arthur

 

[Dave Hall]

Hi Arthur You may not know the answer to this Question but the site that I use to keep up to date with birds in New York has now got this message on it "The NYC Bird Report stopped accepting new reports and became a static record at the end of 2007" do you know Why? And do you know of another site that keeps up to date records that I can use instead Sorry to dump this on you mate hope you can help Dave

 

[Pinewood]

Hi Arthur You may not know the answer to this Question but the site that I use to keep up to date with birds in New York has now got this message on it "The NYC Bird Report stopped accepting new reports and became a static record at the end of 2007" do you know Why? And do you know of another site that keeps up to date records that I can use instead Sorry to dump this on you mate hope you can help Dave

Dave,

I never looked at that site but this site is still functioning:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/btblue/

I hope that it may prove useful.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

 

[Pinewood]

cold weather

Yesterday, it was -5 degrees Celsius, but this morning, it was less than -10 degrees Celsius. I actually had to turn up the heat in my flat.
Since the Lake in Central Park froze completely over, there was not a duck in sight. Today's best bird was that immature hawk. Over the past few days, there have been many American robins and blue jays. I cannot decide whether I saw a rusty blackbird or a bronzed race common grackle but I will guess the former. The best bird, of the past week, was a screech owl, in a hole in a tree, very near the West 69th Street entrance to the Park. It looked rather like this image from the BF Gallery:
right here

Ruddy ducks and hooded mergansers have turned up, as well.

When I get to the the Park early, I often see raccoons, who happily cross the footpaths, on the way to their resting places.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :scribe:

 

[jacquot]

There's a Chat reported near the Conservatory Gate, have you seen it? Great bird.
David