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| The Gang |
My first excursion with the local celebrity birder 'Birding Bob'. Bob runs guided tours in the park 2 or 3 times a week for the Manhattan birding community (of all standards). Arriving at the Boathouse at 9.30am I was surprised to find around 25 local birders with a range of ages but not surprisingly more heavily weighted to the older demographic. It was a beautiful crisp Spring morning, a slight chill in the air but great light.
After meeting Bob and giving him the 10 bucks for the tour (a steal) we all headed off into 'The Ramble' with the first port of call being the bird feeders. As usual a great deal of bird life in this area some great views of Red-winged Blackbird, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, American Goldfinch and Common Grackle on the feeders, whilst the floor was covered with House & White-throated Sparrow.
We managed to pick out a lone Song Sparrow mingled with the Dark-eyed Junco, one particular Junco had abnormal white ring markings around its neck like a collar, I couldn't get a good pic though.
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| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
As we moved through the bird feeder area we got some excellent views of
Red-bellied Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Bob pulled out his bird recordings and played the Sapsucker call, and the bird soon responded it was fascinating. This would set a precedent for the rest of the tour with Bob either making bird calls himself, or with his device, we certainly got some strange looks walking through the park.
Next stop 'Belvedere Castle', en route we picked up the resident Fox Sparrow and our first of many sightings of Red-tailed Hawk. We also saw our third woodpecker of the day the Downy Woodpecker but infuriatingly none of my pics were up to scratch.
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Red-tailed Hawk
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Arriving at the castle we were looking for Pine Warbler in the 'Pine Trees' of all places as there had been sightings earlier in the week, unfortunately the birds proved to be elusive for the entire tour. We did see an Eastern Phoebe in the trees lining 'Belvedere Lake' which was a tick for me, but the views were brief and facing into the sunlight.
We progressed on from the lake heading up toward 'The Reservoir'. It was around 10.30am now and there was still plenty of birds around (and increasingly more people).
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| Carolina Wren |
Another three ticks for me came in a relatively short period of time, a new favourite bird of mine the Carolina Wren (pictured left although the picture does not do the bird justice), it had a very distinctive call, you could certainly tell it was from the Wren family. Next up in the same patch was an Eastern Towhee which was elusive in the undergrowth and would not sit up for a photo and thirdly whilst watching the Towhee a Coopers Hawk the first of the day circled above.
We continued on toward the reservoir through some more Pine Tree vegetation, again looking for Pine Warblers with Bob continuously playing the Pine Warbler calls from his recordings but no luck again.
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| Bufflehead |
The reservoir offered an abundance of waterfowl, large numbers of Ruddy Duck in relatively close proximity, Shoveler, American Coot and Mallard. There was a lone female Red Breasted Merganser which remained asleep for the entire time, must have been camera shy, and some great views of Bufflehead in the sunlight. As we moved around the bottom of the reservoir we found an immature Hooded Merganser, also fast asleep but another tick for me. Scanning the large Gull flock in the centre of the resevoir we found Herring, Great Black Backed and Ring Billed Gulls.
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| American Robin |
By now it was approaching mid day so we made our way back through the Park via 'The Ramble' to end the tour. I managed to get some good shots of American Robin and Common Grackle on the return journey, both of which being camera friendly in the by now warm Spring afternoon.
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| Common Grackle |
All in all a great tour, although more strenuous then I had accounted for as whilst I sit writing this my legs are already starting to ache, I must be showing my age.
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