Sitting still

For me, birding involves tramping all over the place, most of the time. Visit a lot of different locations, see a lot of different birds. Sometimes, though, it's better to sit and wait.

I hadn't seen a Bay-Breasted Warbler this Spring. There had been plenty of sightings, but by the time I got there, the birds were gone. Saturday, I took a rest on a bench at Azalea Pond. Eventually, there was some movement across the pond, up high. A pair of Bay-Breasteds, males it looked like. At last!

I continued resting. One of the birds came down to the tree in front of me and grabbed some lunch.

Bay-Breasted Warbler at luncheon

How about that? Best view of a Bay-Breasted Warbler I ever had. He hung around a few minutes, singing and preening.

indeed, I am a fine-lookin' bird

Sunday, I was intending to walk up to the North Woods (Central Park), starting at West 81st Street, but I wasn't really sure I was up to it. I git into the park, and at the bottom of the path going up Summit Rock, I had a nice view of a Redstart.

a bird with an idea

And then a White-Crowned Sparrow came out, right on the path.

elegant sparrow

He flushed into the bushes whenever someone walked down the hill, but always came back right after.

Then I sat down for a long time at Tanner's Spring. The "spring" is often just a mud puddle, but this day the water was pretty high from the rain the previous night. A lot of birds came down to enjoy it. There was even a Nashville Warbler!

unusually good view of a Nashville

There was a Magnolia Warbler there who seemed to have an unusual amount of testosterone. Not only was he singing, but he was chasing other birds around. I watched him chase a Black-and-White Warbler away from the water several times, and he even want after House Sparrows.

mighty bull warbler

The AIDS walk, going on that day, passed on the drive only a few dozen yards away. They had brass and percussion bands, but the birds didn't seem bothered at all. I watched this Northern Waterthrush calmly work his way around and around the spring while the drums pounded.

cool and collected

All in all, a good weekend for sitting and watching.

Rainy day

Heavy rain all day, so I didn't get out. Monday I stopped in the Ramble briefly on my way to the Bronx. I failed to spot the Hooded Warbler who was seen on the Point and also in the Captain's Bench area, missed the Spotted Sandpiper in the Oven by mere minutes, and didn't have time to try for the Yellow-Throated Warbler seen around Sheep Meadow and then south of Tavern on the Green. I did see my first Northern Waterthrush and Chimney Swifts of the season, which brought me to 109 species in Manhattan this year. The Chimney Swifts retruning is my marker for the real beginning of Spring.

The southwest part of Van Cortlandt Park was not as birdy as I expected. A lot of red-Winged Blackbirds are around, and I had a nice look at a female RWBB in the wetlands area south of the mansion.

Female blackbird calling

She was calling, rather sweetly for a blackbird. I also saw a lingering Rusty Blackbird there. There was a Ring-Necked Duck on the lake; I wonder if he was the same drake I saw there a month ago. A number of singing Yellow-Rumped Warblers were around, and also Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, and (yes!) Chimney Swifts.

Tuesday, I saw a report early in the morning that the Yellow-Throated Warbler was seen just south of Sheep meadow, so I headed straight down there...and struck out. I spent an hour and a half getting "warbler neck" from scanning the trees between the 65th Street Transverse and the Bandshell. No dice. I did get a nice addition to my photo collection of House Sparrows nesting in interesting places:

Sparrow at her nest in a street sign

And a good look at the male Red-Tailed Hawk of the pair that is nesting near the Sheep Meadow.

I think that's a bit of his breakfast still in his beak.

Reaching the Ramble, I saw a Yellow Warbler right near Bow Bridge. Poor thing seemed to be missing its tail, but it was flying pretty well anyway. The other newly-arrived warbler species I didn't see, nor had anyone seen the Hooded Warbler from the day before again.

On my way out, at Maintenance meadow there were some Chipping Sparrows and one Field Sparrow.

Field Sparrow, ohsocute

There haven't been a lot of Field Sparrows this Spring. I think they're about the cutest thing going.

The yellow Warbler was my 110th species in New York county this year. Tomorrow it's supposed to stop raining in the afternoon, so I'll go see what's around after the storm.