Watching Great Blue Herons
6 July 2020
For the last few months, I've regularly visited the Tracy Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. As a result, I've been able to track particular nests. Here's a sequence, mostly of one nest, of two chicks from conception to about ready to fledge.
Great blue heron
Catching Up: Herons
5 July 2020
I especially love the two great blue heron chicks, at the Tracy Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. And of course, the black-crowned night herons in the Central Park Pond are very photogenic.
Great blue heron
Black-crowned night heron
Landing and Take-off by a Red-Tailed Hawk
2 July 2020
I've been remiss in posting to this blog for the last few months, and while I hope to be doing some make-up posts soon, here's are two sequences from tonight: a red-tailed hawk landing in a tree—note the pine needles flying in the second picture, and the small bird fleeing its new neighbor in the fourth—and then it taking off.
Red-tailed hawk
Great Blue Herons Mating
12 April 2020
There's a wildlife sanctuary run by Mass Audubon in Richmond, Massachusetts. I don't know how big the entire property is; what's available is a small pull-off from the road from which one can observe a beaver pond with more than twenty nests for great blue herons. I went there this morning, and although the light wasn't great for seeing or photography—the nests are well to the east of the road, so they were backlit—there were a number of birds visible. I wasn't certain what I was seeing at one point, when one of two birds in one nest started flapping its wings, but I figured I'd photograph it—display behavior, I guessed. Well, yes, it was mating related…
A Cedar Waxwing Enjoying a Berry
5 April 2020
I haven't been doing much bird-blogging of late, but I love this picture too much not to share it.
Cedar waxwing
A Pair of Red-Tailed Hawks
16 March 2020
I was doing my usual circuit through Morningside Park, when I looked up and saw two hawks heading north along Mornigside Drive, and then turning west at W 118th St. I immediately exited the park, looked around, and saw them circling back from the north. One passed me before I could get the camera reset for in-flight shots, but I got some nice pictures of the second. I kept an eye on it as it headed for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where I know that a pair nests. I walked there quickly, resetting the camera as I went. One was perched on the head of the statue of the Archangel Gabriel (they love that statue); the other was in the nest. I got shots of both before they took off again and headed south.
Red-tailed hawk
Morningside Park
13 March 2020
Some birds I saw during the last few days.
Northern mockingbird
Northern cardinal (male)
Daffodils
Cooper's hawk
Mourning dove
Northern cardinal (female)
Northern mockingbird
White-throated sparrow
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
Central Park
1 March 2020
I haven't been able to get to Central Park for a week, and I may not make it back there for two weeks, but I had a great time today.
Downy woodpecker
Downy woodpecker and house sparrow
Downy woodpecker
House sparrow
Red-tailed hawk
Great blue heron
Red-bellied woodpecker
Green-winged teal
Central Park
27 February 2020
The first of these pictures was taken of a red-tailed hawk atop the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; the others are from Central Park.
Red-tailed hawk
Bluejay
Downy woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker
Red-headed woodpecker
American coot
Morningside Park
27 February 2020
I've been remiss in blogging lately, so here is my first of two tonight.
Cooper's hawk
Carolina wren
Red-bellied woodpecker
Northern mockingbird
