While two of our winter stars left when the first freeze arrived this last week, the Great Horned Owl in Central Park and the Painted Bunting in Prospect Park, one star from the Christmas Bird Count is still in Central Park, an Orange-crowned Warbler.  This fabulous little bird has been hanging around the south west corner of the Met, and loves to visit some fresh cuts made by a Yellow-belled Sapsucker.

In addition to the warbler, many of us were treated to a double rainbow after a brief, but heavy downpour.

I made another attempt to see the Painted Bunting in Prospect Park today and had much better views than this weekend.  What a fantastic bird.

Prospect Park in Brooklyn had two birds that I had never seen before, a Painted Bunting and a Black-headed Gull.  The Painted Bunting has been in the park for a week and has become a celebrity.  Unfortunately, it was very difficult to photograph.  I only got some poor back photographs, that didn’t capture the wonderful bright colors of the bird.  Luckily, I did better with the Black-headed Gull. It was very cooperative!

For about two weeks, there has been an injured Sora in the Loch in the North Woods. If you look closely at the photographs and video you’ll see the left wing is dragging.  Today was the first time I had seen it myself.