BirdBlog — Urban Dinosaurs Blog

Aurora Borealis!

11 October 2024

I don't know how many years I've been wanting to see an aurora, but it's many—I I have distinct memories of a school project that discussed the 11 year solar cycle when I was about 10 or 11. Last night, at well oer 70 years old, I finally saw one, in western Massachusetts.

What I saw wasn't great—the first two pictures here, taken just after full dark, were what I could see with my naked eye. After that, it clouded over. I stayed up far too late, though, and around 1am, though I couldn't see very much, just a few hints here and there, a camera can see a lot more, especially with long exposures.

Advice I saw online beforehand suggested f/2.8, 3 second exposures, ISO 1600. That works well for visible auroras. Later, I had to resort to longer exposures and much higher ISOs (and I had to use a camera with a small sensor), which cause grainy images. Fortunately, the "Denoise" function in Adobe Lightroom works very well.

I did lighten a few of these pictures in post-processing, especially some of the later ones with 3.2 second exposures. I did not enhance or tune the color.

I got much too little sleep last night, but oh was it worth it!

Peregrine Falcon Chicks!

7 June 2024

I've been wondering since December if there was a peregrine falcon nest in Riverside Church, in the traditional location. Today, I got my confirmation: I saw three juveniles who have not yet fledged. Other reports say that one nestling has already fledged. Possibly, it's two—there were apparently five chicks, and I only saw three today.

Raven and Raptors

20 May 2024

I didn't see any activity in the raven nest today, though there was one raven vocalizing loudly very close to it. (I thought I heard two but only briefly, and I only saw one.)

The more interesting sighting was of a peregrine falcon on one of the usual perches on Riverside Church. That's been a traditional nesting area for falcons for a very long time. Last year, though, it was covered by scaffolding, blocking access to the nest. Last December, I saw two falcons around the area, so I was optimistic, but I never saw any signs of nesting after that. In fact, the last time I saw any peregrines there was in mid-February. Thus, when I saw one adult today, I figured it was just perching there while hunting. But now I wonder.

Looking back at my pictures from today, there's a curious thing. The first picture shows the falcon looking down, as if it's trying to spot some prey. Fair enough—that's consistent with it using a nice, convenient high perch. The last two show that the bird has moved to a ledge of the church where it can see both north and west. But look at the second falcon picture: it's on top of the gargoyle, looking into the recess. In fact, it kept more or less that pose for more than five minutes. What was it looking at? Chicks? Maybe! Three years ago, I got some nice shots of nestlings who were almost but not quite ready to fledge, and that was in mid-June. Maybe there is a nest this year, and I was just unlucky all of the times I checked it between mid-February and today. I'll certainly be checking back!

Central Park

19 May 2024

Corvid, Not Covid!

17 May 2024

I spent a while this afternoon with my camera on a tripod, pointed at the common raven's nest on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. I had thought there were two chicks but I only saw one today. Perhaps the other has fledged or perhaps it has met with some mishap. (Pictures taken the same day as mine show two chicks even more clearly than my pictures do.)

Of particular interest is this video, showing the chick engaging in what looked like eating motions. Food dropped by a parent in the third picture? Leftovers? I can't tell.

Central Park

11 May 2024

Today was a lovely day for birding. The prize shots, of course, are the male and female scarlet tanagers.

Sunspots!

8 May 2024

Per https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=05&year=2024, there is now a giant sunspot, visible to the naked eye if you have left-over eclipse glasses handy. Well, I don't, but I do have the solar filter for my camera.

Richard DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst, NJ; State Line Lookout, Palisades Parkway

1 May 2024

It went to two places today. First, I went to Richard DeKorte Park. It's a former landfill, but with a lot of wetlands and shallow water, which makes it great for birds.

This picture is interesting because it shows courtship behavior among a pair of tree swallows.

The gull has snagged a crab!

I couldn't tell if this was a lesser yellowlegs or a greater. I suspect the latter.

State Line Lookout

The osprey and the vultures were at State Line Lookout. In one sense, it's a highway rest area. But there are a number of hiking trails and some excellent viewing areas overlooking the Hudswon River. In fact, it's so popular that there is often metered parking—which sure isn't like any other highway rest area I've ever seen.

The osprey appears to be eating something, presumably a fish.

This decrepit building appealed to me as a photographic subject.

Central Park

22 April 2024

Two of three raccoons that were by the stream in the Loch.

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.

I was bemused by the accidental composition of this photo.

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.