I spent an extended Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While there I did some birding. A new life bird for me was the Magnificent Frigatebird. The males are all black, the females have a white chest, and the immature birds have a white head and chest.
While down in the Everglades, I had a nice view of two White Ibises eating for about half an hour. I never realized what a hard time an Ibis would have eating a long worm. It was a struggle, as the worm did all it could not to be dinner.
I finally made it to over 200 life birds today, with the 200th being a Bald Eagle and the 201st being a Common Merganser. The pictures weren’t that good today, but I’m having fun expanding my range outside of Central Park.
Red-Shouldered Hawks are rare visitors to Central Park, so it was a pleasure to see them in the Everglades over my Christmas/New Year’s break while visiting Florida.
The first four photographs are of a juvenile bird, then some of two adults. The last two are of an attack on an egret by a Red-shouldered Hawk at the Shark Valley Visitor’s Center. (I was the only one among about 30 visitors who noticed the attack. I guess people being unaware of nature isn’t only limited to the city!)
Central Park’s Wild Turkey is doing just fine. Wild Turkeys have done well in other Manhattan parks, including Morningside Park and Battery Park, so there is no reason to worry about this bird. Yes, there are risks for the bird, but are they any greater than the risks in suburban or rural area of New York state?
I did some lazy birding in Central Park on Christmas Day.
I started out and ended up searching for owls, which were impossible to find today. The red phased Screech-Owl is only being found on very cold days. Her alternative cavities haven’t been discovered.
The Screech-Owl from last season, either from the 60’s or up in the North Wood, haven’t been found either. Nor have any Long-eared Owls stayed for more than a day, although two have been seen in the fall.
Between my owl searches, I did get to see a Cooper’s Hawk, two Common Loons, some cute Hooded Mergansers and the “other” Red-headed Woodpecker (up by the tennis courts rather than in the Locust Grove).
