Varied Thrush
The “lost its way” Varied Thrush continues to be found by the Maintenance shed in Central Park.
Category: Other Birds
Limpkin
Although the vacation started a few days late due to a snow related flight cancellation, my trip to Fort Myers turned up some new birds for life list.
A Limpkin was on my list because all of my friends had teased me about this noisy bird. I saw the species on December 31st at Harns Marsh in Lee County. An off the beaten trail place that has lots of Apple Snails.
There were two pairs of Limpkins in easy viewing distance.
Christmas Bird Count Weekend
The annual Central Park Christmas Bird Count was on Sunday. It’s a great event that brings together the Urban Park Rangers, the Parks Department, Audubon NYC and lots of amateur birders to take a census of the birds wintering in the park.
After a series of bad weather counts with snow, rain or bitterly cold temperatures, this count had enjoyable, if chilly weather.
The day before, I looked for the two unusual birds that have been around, the Varied Thrush and a young Red-Headed Woodpecker (which at this age, has yet to get a red head.) Along the way I had nice looks at a Cooper’s hawk.
On Sunday, I joined the Northeast team. Highlights for me were a Carolina Wren and young Red-tailed Hawk at Mount Sinai Hospital. After our counting was done, our team saw a Merlin in the Northwest team’s area, I saw a young Red-tail being harrased by Pale Male at 63rd and Fifth, and at dusk I watched the park’s surviving Eastern Screech-Owl’s fly out.
The count had 62 species of birds, including birds from the count week. There are lots of birds in Central Park, even in the winter! The count had 11 Red-tailed Hawks, 9 Cooper’s Hawks, 2 Merlins, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 1 Eastern Screech-Owl.
Cedar Waxwings
Some Cedar Waxwings from Sunday, about an hour before I saw the Saw-Whet. I was 15 feet from the owl, but it was too well hidden to find on my own!
Flocks
On a cold, gray afternoon flocks of birds can be a welcome find. My first flock was a group of American Goldfinches with a few Pine Siskins eating Sweet Gum seeds.
The second flock was a group of Cedar Waxwings. They got spooked by a pair of Cooper’s Hawks.
Blue Jay Fledglings
The hawks aren’t the only birds to have fledglings at Morningside Park. There were a set of Blue Jay’s with three fledglings, being very mindful of the hawk fledgling up on the the Cathedral.
