Total Eclipse of the Sun: April 8, 2024, Berlin, Vermont
8 April 2024
I've neglected this blog shamefully, but what better way to restart it than with pictures of a total eclipse.
It begins… Note two sunspots, one just above the center and one in the upper left.
More is gone.
The moon is about to swallow one of the sunspots.
A crescent sun, with the second sunspot about to go.
A thin crescent sun.
Totality! Note the solar prominences around the sun, especially on the left side.
A diamond ring, with small stones… (Update: I've since learned that these are called Baily's Beads.)
A post-totality picture, with the sun smiling for the great show it gave us.
The Ravens of St. John the Divine
13 April 2024
I'm continuing to watch the ravens nesting at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Normally, there's not much to see; available sight lines generally hide a brooding bird. This afternoon, though, I got lucky: both ravens flew onto a lower roof and preened each other. Eventually, one flew back to the nest (last photo) and entered it.
Common raven
Central Park
20 April 2024
Today was a lovely spring day for a walk in Central Park.
The rusty blackbird was definitely the best sighting of the day—it's my first-ever.
Rusty blackbird
The picture isn't upside down, nor was the camera.
Black-and-white warbler
No, it's a raccoon, not a bird, but…
Raccoon
White-throated sparrow
Eastern towhee
Red-winged blackbird
Hermit thrush
Palm warbler
Golden-crowned kinglet
Morningside Heights and Central Park
21 April 2024
This is one of the pair of ravens with a nest on St. John the Divine. It's perched on top of a stone cross.
Common raven
Yellow-rumped warbler
Great egret
Tree swallow
Double-crested cormorant
I was bemused by the accidental composition of this photo.
Great egret
Someone told me that the osprey has been showing up at 5:00 promptly at the Harlem Meer. That could very well be—I saw it at 5:08, but I wasn't in a position to see it earlier.
Osprey
Central Park
22 April 2024
Red-winged blackbird
Yellow-rumped warbler
Double-crested cormorant
Two of three raccoons that were by the stream in the Loch.
Raccoon
Hermit thrush
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Osprey
Northern flicker
