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Central Park: Northern Pintail 17-Sep |
Northern Pintail Image taken on September 17th at 5:42pm EDT. Focal length in 35mm film equivalent is 420mm, exposure time is 1/80s, hand held with image stabilization at f/2.8.
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Central Park: Reservoir 30-Aug-2006 |
An Eastern Clearing (detail) The skies starting clearing while birding the reservoir tonight. No new migrants seen. Gadwall and Laughing Gull continue.
Photo taken at 6:46pm EDT from the running track on the reservoir's west edge — shutter speed 1/100s, f/4.5 with a focal length in 35mm equivalent of 38mm.
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Juvenile Barn Swallows 18-Aug-2006 |
Fledging Barn Swallows (detail) Above is a Barn Swallow fledglings are from the north end reservoir nest which produced two broods this year as did the south end reservoir nest. There are 2 swallows in the detail and 4 in the wide angle view.
The image was taken on August 18th at 4:15pm. Focal length in 35mm film equivalent is 420mm, exposure time is 1/160s, hand held with image stabilization at f/2.8.
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Central Park: Prelude to a Storm 10-Aug |
Reservoir Before a Storm (detail) Tonight a storm roared through New York City shortly after I finished a tour of the reservoir. Seventeen species and nothing new seen.
The lightening was close by and it felt a bit dangerous being out there in the middle of it all.
For times like these I carry a dry bag to protect the camera. It's big enough to hold everything that can be damaged in a downpour inside the backpack.
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Central Park: Sub-adult Red-tailed 4-Aug |
Sub-adult Red-tailed Hawk A young Red-tailed Hawk showed up in Central Park this summer. On the 4th of July she was photographed by Lincoln Karim. Lincoln has posted 10 photos of this one year old hawk which has just started to grow its adult red tail feathers.
A hawk's juvenile feathers drop out as the adult ones grow in. Lincoln's photos demonstrate this hawk was born last year and is considered a sub-adult. According to the books full adult plumage is acquired in a hawk's second year. A sub-adult may retain some juvenile wing and tail feathers in its second year.
The tail feathers (retrices) on a Red-tailed Hawk are numbered 1 through 6 starting from the center making up a total of 12 feathers. Each feather is paired symmetrically and preceded with the letter ‘r’. The r1 tail feathers are the centermost ones. When the tail is folded these feathers are visible when viewing a hawk from behind. The r6 tail feathers are the outermost ones and are visible on the folded tail when looking at the front of a hawk.
The tail feathers on this hawk, from the 4th of July photos, appears to have only adult r1s & r2s.
A few weeks after Lincoln's photos I spotted this hawk on the 18th, 19th & 23rd of July. At the time of these observations the r1, r2 & r6 tail feathers were red. The r6s were much shorter than the r1s & r2s.
I spotted this hawk again on August 4th which is when I took these photos near Winterdale Arch east of ‘Locust Grove’. In these images both the r3 & r4 feathers have grown in since the 23rd of July. The only juvenile tail feathers appear to be the r5s. Even in binoculars I wasn't able to pick up other juvenile feathers.
Will these r5 feathers remain until she molts again next summer?
Click image for uncompressed view of tail
Click image for uncompressed view of tail
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Central Park: Eastern Screech-Owl 4-Aug |
Click image for larger version
The photo above, taken on 4-Aug-2006 at 4:40p, shows an Eastern Screech-Owl with a reddish colored item hanging down the middle of its breast.
Click here to see an uncompressed view of the image.
In the past some of these reintroduced Eastern Screech-Owls were fitted with harnesses. The harness held a transmitter used to track their movements. The red feature in the photos may be a remnant of this system.
On 29-Apr-2006 Cal Vornberger took a photo of an Eastern Screech-Owl with a similar item hanging down its breast. Visit Cal's site to read about & view images of a similarly appointed owl.
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Central Park: 30-June-2006 Anhinga |
Click image for full view of the notes
I spotted an Anhinga over the reservoir in New York City's Central Park. The bird was circling very low when I first spotted it and was less than half the width of the reservoir from where I was standing.
This observation was submitted to various Internet sites / email lists in order to get the word out so this rare New York State visitor may be seen again and hopefully photographed. My camera, unfortunately, was left at home due to the forecasted thunderstorm.
Here is a quote from my submission to various email lists for this sighting:
Date: Friday, 30 June 2006 (3:25p-10:10p)
Location: Central Park - reservoir & Turtle Pond
Reported by: Ben Cacace
The Anhinga was seen between 4:20p-4:23p along the north edge of the reservoir. The Sun was at my back and the Anhinga was fairly low over the reservoir just east of me. It was gaining height - circling & flapping. The flapping came in bursts from 3 to 5 wingbeats. When the bird held its wings out to glide the wings were just about perfectly level. This effect was more hawk-like than cormorant-like.
From the neck to the bill there was a taper. The bill was thin and there were no bulges from the neck towards the bill. Very elegantly built. Much lighter and more aerodynamic than a cormorant.
The bird was all black. No white was noticed anywhere. No yellow was noticed anywhere.
After circling a few times it headed NE or 'Manhattan North'. Please keep an eye out for this bird. My camera, of course, was at home.
'Bull's Birds of New York State' has the status for Anhinga as 'Casual vagrant':
- Casual: 2 to 6 records
- Vagrant: a species that appears on an irregular basis and whose normal migratory and breeding range does not include New York State
The following was submitted to NYSBirds-L by Angus Wilson (Chair NYSARC) in reference to the Anhinga sighting:
From: Angus Wilson
Subject: [NYSBIRDS-L:3766] RE: NYC, Central Park, Fri. 30-Jun-2006: Anhinga
To: NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu
Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2006 17:46:25 -0400
To follow up on Ben Cacace's posting, only two NYS records of Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) have been accepted by NYSARC.
NYSARC#1992-40-A: one over Central Park, Manhattan, New York Co., 28 April (submitted by Joseph DiCostanzo). This is the first record of the species for New York.
NYSARC#1996-45-A: one at Cornell University Ponds, Unit 2, Town of Dryden, Tompkins Co., 10 June (submitted by Dennis Hasselquist). This is the second record for the state.
This has been a difficult species because most claims have involved birds seen in flight only. Several additional reports may well have been valid but suffered from minimal details and lack of photographic or multi-observer corroboration. I strongly encourage Ben to submit full details of his sighting and if there were any other observers, for them to do likewise. As with any rare bird report, it is imperative to carefully explain how other candidates species (in this case: cormorants, herons and so on) were ruled out.
Obviously, everyone in the metro area should keep a sharp lookout and perhaps check local bodies of fresh or brackish water, preferably with suitable trees and snags!
Cheers, Angus Wilson
New York City & Chair of NYSARC
Discovery details for Anhinga sighting from Central Park's reservoir in New York City on 30-June-2006 at ~4:20p EDST
Optics: 8.5x42 binoculars
Distance: Approximately 1,200 feet (0.22 miles) away. Distance determined by Google Earth's distance tool.
Height: when the bird was first seen it was rather low. Probably no more than the height of a 5 or 6 story building. It didn't climb very high before heading in a north-east direction.
Color: this bird was black from bill to tail. A Double-crested Cormorant always appears to me to be some variation of dark brown — never black. I was looking for other colors on this bird but none were seen. No white was seen anywhere. No yellow was seen anywhere. Yellow was looked for in the face and not found.
Feather condition: since the bird was seen in flight & gliding at times the molt pattern would have been obvious. No feathers were missing from the trailing edge of the wings or from the tail.
Head & neck: there was a bend in the neck where the neck meets the body. Looking from the neck to the bill the neck became thinner until the bill was reached. The bill appeared long, thin & black. No color except black was noted on the neck & head.
Flight: the bird was seen in flight only. It was circling up — flapping & gliding. When the bird set its wings after a short burst of flapping the wings were level like you would see on a Peregrine Falcon.
I stayed awhile after seeing the Anhinga to watch the Double-crested Cormorants in flight. The cormorants overall looked brown, heavy & never exhibited the level wings when the cormorants would occasionally glide. The gliding in the Anhinga was easy and lasted longer than the flapping did. This pattern in the cormorants was completely reversed in flight after viewing the Anhinga. The Anhinga's wingbeats came in bursts of 3—4 flaps with one lasting 5. I counted less than half a dozen bursts of flapping. The Anhinga's gliding was effortless which is something I've never noticed in a cormorant.
Tail: the tail was long. Probably as long as the length of the head & neck. A crude outline of the tail appears on my blog in the image of the notes which were written down after viewing the Anhinga.
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Central Park: Black Skimmers (2006) |
Black Skimmer Flying with Needlefish Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) have been visiting Central Park over the past few years feeding at night on several bodies of water including Turtle Pond, The Lake, Conservatory Water & The Meer.
They're back! All sightings have been on Turtle Pond near Belvedere Castle & The Delacorte Theatre. Bob Levy was first to report on their return this past Sunday (11-June). No more than 3 skimmers have been seen simultaneously.
The earliest on-line record, from the past few years is from the NYC Rare Bird Alert for August 6, 1999 transcribed by Gregory Kunkel. If anyone has personal observations earlier than this or a source for an an earlier date please drop me a line.
‘The Birds of North America Online’ entry for Black Skimmer (by Michael Gochfeld & Joanna Burger) mentions the following on foraging behavior:
“Foraging distance from colonies variable. On Long Island, NY, main feeding areas <= 8 km from colony”.The map below shows two circles surrounding Central Park. The inner one has a radius of 8 kilometers or 5 miles. The outer one doubles the radius to 10 miles.
Click image for a larger, more detailed view
Both circles above exclude the barrier beaches on the south shore of Long Island where Black Skimmers are known to breed.
Are there any known Black Skimmer breeding sites within the inner or outer circles? It would be good to know how the <= 8 km number was arrived at!Facts from Birds of North America:
• Strikingly dimorphic in size| [+/-] |
Peregrine Falcon Update: 14-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
After not seeing a single falcon last night it was good to see both the male & female tonight.
During the two hours & forty-five minutes spent observing the Peregrines more time was spent not seeing any falcons from the Gapstow Bridge site.
For 80% of the time I was aware of the location of only one of the pair — this was the one that was on nest.
Even with all of this ‘inactivity’ there was quite a lot to see.Highlights:
• When I arrived the male Peregrine Falcon was perched on a favorite spot on the W edge of the G.M. Buildings's roof on its center section.
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Peregrine Falcon Update: 9-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
While looking for the Peregrine Falons the pair of Canada Geese were tending to 7 goslings on island south of Gapstow Bridge on The Pond. Click on the image for a larger view & labels for all 7.
Canada Geese & 7 goslings — The Pond (35mm film equiv.: 375mm, ISO: 400, Shutter: 1/50, Aperture: f/4)
I arrived at Gapstow Bridge, south of Wollman Skating Rink, by 6:55p. For most of the hour I didn't spot a single falcon.
After waiting for 55 minutes the female showed up from the east & perched on the 9 West 57th St. building — out of sight.
After a few minutes she proceeded to the nest making a few flybys including one failed attempt to perch on a fence below the G.M. Building's roof.
After the female descended to the level of the nest the male Peregrine exited after less than a minute.
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Highlights: final nest exchange for the evening.
• I arrived at Gapstow Bridge at 6:55p. The skies were completely overcast with an occasional drizzle. Winds were from the north.| [+/-] |
Peregrine Falcon Update: 7-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
Tonight there was a great gathering of optics near Gapstow Bridge to view the Peregrine Falcons over the south-east corner of Central Park. This was good to see & may not happen again for quite some time.
Peter arrived with a 70mm refractor & 22 power binoculars. Donna showed up with a spotting scope. Dave showed up with someone whose name I didn't get, sorry! She & Dave hung in there until the end.
I arrived at the Gapstow Bridge site around 5pm. By 5:15p a falcon arrived. He or she dropped down to the nest level before I could determine its gender.
From 5:20p - 7:54p only the female falcon was seen & was perched in view for a total of 1.5 hours on 3 separate occasions.
By the end of the night we determined that he was sitting on the nest from the time I arrived until the nest exchange at 7:54p. This is at least 3 hours.
She disappeared for awhile while the five us waited around as it started to get chilly. Everybody hung in wondering when she would return. At 7:40p we spotted her as she perched on various spots on the G.M. Building until 7:54p.
This is when she made the move to the nest. I asked Dave to view the nest exchange through my scope, Donna was at hers & Peter at his. We waited a minute or so for him to appear after she dropped from the fence.
Everybody, including the two of us with binoculars, witnessed the male leaving the nest area. He flew to perch on a fence near the east edge of the G.M. The excitment from the group as the male falcon left the nest site was much more than I expected. This was also good to see.
Overall it was another enjoyable night observing these Peregrine Falcons. Many people stopped by to take a look at the perched female in the scopes & all were impressed.
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Highlights: one nest exchange & the male falcon was on nest for at least 3 hours.
• No falcons were spotted after scanning the area.| [+/-] |
Peregrine Falcon Update: 6-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
Around 5pm the trees surrounding us just west of Gapstow Bridge let loose millions seed pods shown in the image on the right. Click image to see the seed along side a ruler.
It measures approximately 13mm including the stem. If anyone knows the species this belongs to please drop me a line. This particular specimen followed my home in my hair.
The Peregrines didn't fail to appear while we were at Gapstow Bridge. Peter, a friend I met through astronomy, stopped by to see the Peregrine Falcons.
From 4:30p-6:02p no Peregrines were seen in the area. The first falcon seen was the male who flew in from the east & perched on the east corner of 9 West 57th St's roof. This perch afforded a decent view in the scope for the many people that happened to around waiting for the Peregrines to arrive.
The male falcon was in the area from 6-7pm. He perched once above the nest site but didn't relieve the female. She had been sitting for at least 1.5 hours and I was surprised she didn't exchange places with him.
He left the area and returned around 7:30p with prey. The female came out to meet him and in mid-flight a prey transfer was made just north of the nest site. She left the area with the prey and disappeared behind the 9 West 57th St. building.
At 8:07p the second nest exchange occurred. She replaced him for the evening and the male falcon headed east and disappeared for the night.
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Highlights: another long wait for a falcon to show, two nest exchanges & one prey transfer.
• At 6:02p the male arrives after waiting for a falcon to appear since 4:30p. He flew in from the E & perched on 9 West 57th St.'s roof near it's E corner.| [+/-] |
Peregrine Falcon Update: 5-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
As I was heading into the park I watched a Crow moving north along the east edge of the park within the Peregrine's territory.
This is the second time I've seen a crow in the territory with no reactions from the falcons. The only intruders I've seen escorted off the territory this year were other Peregrines.
At Gapstow Bridge I didn't see any falcons on the usual perches. This was the situation from 6:05p until 7:22p. This is when I spotted the male Peregrine flying from the west to perch on the roof of the G.M. Building.
The female falcon joined him immediately leaving the nest unattended for about 3 minutes. The male headed to the nest leaving the female time to preen & stretch her wings.
More often I get to see the female exchanging places with the ‘incubating’ male. Whenever this happens the male waits for the female to approach the nest before he exits.
Tonight I watched the male replace the female. The female left the nest before the male approached her. It could have been that the male was gone so long that she was looking to make sure she would have time to stretch.
She was relieved from duty for close to an hour.
The male Peregrine choose a perch on the north face of the G.M. Building to roost for the night. I'm assuming he remained where I left him at 8:36pm. This is 10 minutes after the end of Civil Twilight or 40 minutes after sunset.
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Highlights: a long wait to see a Peregrine, two nest exchanges & located the male's night roost.
• From 6:05p until 7:22p no Peregrines were visible.| [+/-] |
Peregrine Falcon Update: 4-May-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
Donna Browne was present tonight to help observe the Peregrines on the G.M. Building. It was another night of falcon activity from start to finish. Her play by play while the male was exiting the nest helped tremendously in getting the above images.
Highlights: there was a nest exchange at 7:37p (see images above for exiting male) & the location of the roosting male was found well after the end of Civil Twilight (8:30p).
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Peregrine Falcon Update: 30-April-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
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Male on G.M. Building photo by B. Cacace 35mm film equiv.: 2,600mm | ISO: 80 | Shutter: 1/50 | Aperture: f/4 |
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Female on G.M. Building photo by D. Bruce Yolton 35mm film equiv.: 1,600mm | ISO: 400 | Shutter: 1/320 | Aperture: f/8 |
Thanks to Bruce Yolton for permission to use the photo of the female Peregrine Falcon above.
Each evening there is generally some activity when visiting the park to view these Peregrine Falcons. Tonight when I arrived both falcons were on the north face of the G.M. Building.
At one point the female appeared agitated in the telescope and soon after lifted & chased another large Peregrine off the territory towards the west. This is the second time I've seen another female Peregrine being chased from the area this year.
Another highlight was seeing the female exchange positions with the male falcon at 5:53p.
I'm convinced that these Peregrines are incubating eggs. Their behavior is consistent. The male has been exiting from below the same fence each time the female has dropped from the fence above.
Click below for a more detailed timeline.
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Peregrine Falcon Update: 28-April-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcons
Tonight was a rewarding one watching the Peregrine Falcons on the G.M. Building. Donna Browne showed up with a spotting scope. I brought along a 3" refracting telescope. We observed the Peregrines for nearly 2.5 hours. It was good to have so much activity from the Peregrines while Donna was there to observe.
Watching the ‘nest’ exchange at 7:45p was just one of many highlights.
A silver band was easly seen on the female's right leg in the scopes. The photo on the right shows the band — dimly.
Highlights:
• female perched/preening from 6:00p-7:40p on the GM.
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Peregrine Falcon Update: 26-April-2006 |
Digiscoped Image of Peregrine
This image was shot with the same camera as the side-by-side thumbnails below — the ones that look like oil painting details. The difference is this was taken through a telescope that increases the effective focal length by 6.4 times. The camera's 420mm lens is converted to a 2,688mm lens.
Unfortunately the focus not quite right. Practice should help.
This Peregrine Falcon was perched on the north-west corner of the G.M. Building. The photo was taken from Gapstow Bridge just south of Wollman Skating Rink. The approximate distance to the falcon was 1,200 feet or 0.23 miles.
Click below for a timeline.
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Highlight: apparent nest exchange at 1:04pm.
• Scanned buildings on SE corner of park from 1225p. At 1232 a PF appeared on NW corner of GM's roof.
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Highlight: male Peregrine chasing a female Peregrine off territory at 5:40pm.
• Arrived at 526p. Saw PF on NW corner of GM's roof before entering park at 520.| [+/-] |
Earliest Peregrine Falcon Nest in N.Y.C.? |
Image above taken on 24-Apr-2006 — Peregrine Falcon perched near possible nest site on G.M. Building's north face.
The following article on Peregrine Falcons points out that the "first known nesting in New York City occurred in 1943 when a pair successfully hatched three young on a coping of the St. Regis Hotel".
Below is an image I took tonight of the site mentioned in the article. The St. Regis Hotel is on 5th Avenue and 55th St. on Manhattan.
Click image for view of the hotel.
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Peregrine Falcon Update: 24-April-2006 |
Central Park South: Peregrine Falcon
Taking pictures of distant hawks & falcons with the Lumix FZ30 is like throwing an eight million pixel net their way.
Each of the above images are 36 pixels wide by 47 pixels tall. They were ‘blown-up’ to 130 pixel wide to display them side-by-side. All images have a 35mm equivalent focal length of 420mm.
These were taken tonight while monitoring the activity around a possible nest site on the G.M. Building.
The left image is the furthest from the camera but appears larger than the other two. This is the female Peregrine Falcon.
The center & right images are of the same falcon in two different positions. Both appear similar in size & smaller than the one on the left. This is the male.
Tonight the Peregrines were seen separately between 5:55pm & 7:15pm. The female was perched on the north face of the G.M. as I entered the park. Before disappearing around 6:25pm she was perched just above the potential nest site.
After 6:25pm the male was seen flying from the ‘nest site’ to the fencing below the G.M.'s roof where he remained until 6:30pm when he flew to the north-west corner of the G.M.'s roof.
At 7:15pm the male flew east & then behind the G.M. & wasn't seen again.
Thanks Bruce for stopping by to observe the falcons.
