Mockingbirds

Sunday afternoon I took a long walk and found myself at the Mount, a big hill in northern Central Park overlooking Harlem Meer and the Conservancy Garden. The top of the Mount is used as the composting area for the park. All the leaf litter swept from the paths and raked from the lawns, all the downed tree limbs and felled trees, are brought there and turned into wood chips (spread on many of the unpaved paths of the park) or mulched. It's a good area for sparrows and warblers, and Palm Warblers had been seen there on Saturday.

There were a couple of Song Sparrows around, and a lot of Mourning Doves. A Carolina Wren popped out of a pile of logs. The recent rains had made a pool between the heaps of compost, and a pair of Mallards swam contentedly in it. Mallards will go to some lengths for a little peace and quiet. No warblers.

I heard a medley of sparrow songs--White Throated, Junco, Song, Fox, one right after another--and scanned the trees until I spotted the Mockingbird. He flew off, but a few minutes later he was back, on top of a low fence, standing guard over his mate foraging around the base of a tree. They called to each other softly, a sort of sputtering cluck.

Mockingbird, poised for action

I was standing on ground a bit below the tree, so I got some close-up photos at nearly eye level before I withdrew and left them to their business, wishing them the best of luck.

Mockingbird, foraging

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Last year, in the late winter and early spring. I walked up Cedar Hill almost every day on my way to work. There were a pair of Mockingbirds; I saw them both as late as Friday March 15. On Monday March 18, I saw one. He was being harassed by Blue Jays in a line of Cedars on the hill, and I watched as he chased them off and remained, sentry-alert on a treetop. I surmised that the Mockingbirds had nested somewhere in those trees.

Every morning for the next three weeks, I watched the Mockingbird chase two or three, or four Blue Jays the hell away from his trees. The jays would fly in to rob the nest and--a flurry of wings, a blur of birds chasing each other through the vegetation, and finally--a Mockingbird surveying the scene from a high branch.

I can only imagine that this must have gone on all day, every day.

On April 8, I saw a very annoyed-looking Blue Jay poking around those cedars. No sign of any Mockingbirds. Mockingbirds take about 23 to 25 days from egg-laying to fledging, after which the young birds are fully independent. If the eggs were laid on March 16th, there was just enough time to get the family airborne. I think they made it.

I have great respect for Mockingbirds.

the hero of our story

Counting

I'm not a "competitive birder". I do keep track of how many birds I've seen each year in Manhattan (well, in New York County, anyway); as you may have noticed, I usually note each new species on this blog. At the moment, I'm a few days behind on the count, so I'm going to catch up now. Don't worry--at least there'll be some photos, so it won't be all OCD.

April Fool's Day, there were three Mute Swans on the Central Park Reservoir. They were hanging out pretty far from shore, so the photos were not brilliant:



I had thought the bills of the young birds turned from pink to black by the start of winter, and then to orange in the spring. Apparently not. Now I'm even more convinced that the swan I saw on the Hudson last month was a Tundra (Whistling) Swan, not a Mute. Anyway, Mute Swan was species number 84 in New York County

Wednesday, my first Great Egret of the year was at Turtle Pond.



Isn't that a fine looking bird? It helpfully flew from the middle of the south shore to the east end just as I arrived.

Thursday, my first Golden-Crowned Kinglets of the season, at Tupelo Meadow and Azalea Pond. I got a much better photo on Friday, which is in my previous post, along with mentions of my three new species for the year from Friday: Louisiana Waterthrush, Merlin, and Winter Wren (none of which provided usable photos).

Finally, today (Saturday) there were Chipping Sparrows at the feeders in Evodia.



That's species number 90 of the year. Last year I was at 74 on this date, and got my 90th on April 20. I'll shut up about my list now, and instead give you a few

Rumors of Warblers (and other birds)

There were reports of a bright Palm Warbler yesterday, on the rocks just outside the Conservancy Garden near Harlem Meer and later at Compost Hill nearby.  Several people told me there were Yellow-Rumped Warblers in the Ramble today, but they escaped me, as did the Louisiana Waterthrush reported in the cut on the west side of the Point and later in the Oven.  Megan Gavin reported a Northern Waterthrush--way early!--at the Upper Lobe;  I missed that one, too.  That's all the Warblers I know about.

My best bird today was actually a drake Ring-Necked Duck on the Upper Lobe of the Lake.  One spent a good portion of the winter on the Reservoir, but a Ring-Necked is still a good bird for the Park.

Nobody has seen the Virginia Rail again.  Tom Fiore reported on the MYSBirds mailing list that it was actually a bird released by a wildlife rehabilitator.  Hopefully it did better than another release, a common Loon seen on the Lake on Thursday which--rumor has it--died.

I've heard varying reports about whether the Red-Necked Grebe is still on the Reservoir.  Farther afield, Joseph DiCostanzo reports that White-Winged Scoter are still at Inwood Hill Park, and Ben Cacace reported two American Oystercatchers (!!) on the Lawrence Point Ledge Light, which is visible from the northeast shore of Randall's Island,.  By "visible", I mean it's about halfway to Rikers Island, so you'll need a 'scope.  Assuming the birds are still there, of course.  Well, I guess you'd need a 'scope to tell for sure that they're not there, too.

Off the Rails

So Thursday evening, I saw reports of a Virginia Rail in the Loch and Ravine area (part of northern Central Park). That's a very good bird for Manhattan. There were two last year--one at the Loch and one downtown near the Federal reserve (!). Before that, eBird has a report of one on the east side in 2008, and two in the Ramble--one in 2007 and one in 1991. And that's all.

So off I went this morning, under a gloomy sky; and up and down the Loch I walked for the next three and a half hours (with a short excursion around the rest of the north end). No Rail. There were other rewards--a Louisiana Waterthrush sashayed into (and back out of) sight a couple of times, and a Merlin soared over the Great Hill when I took a little walkabout there--those were both first of the year for me. A Golden-Crowned Kinglet popped up in front of my--a male, close enough to see the red streak in the middle of the gold crown stripe. I'd never really seen that before.



Still, no Rail. Nobody else had seen it, either. A post on the NYSBirds mailing list suggested that the Rail, if still present, would likely be more active near dusk. So I went home intending to try again later.

It was starting to sprinkle rain when I got back to the park. A few Buffleheads and a single Great Egret were at the Pool. In the Loch, still no Rail.

In the gathering gloom, birds began to sing: Cardinals, Robins, White-Throated Sparrows. Flickers called. Suddenly, from across the stream, a long, high song above the rest.

a cascade of trills
cuts through the rainy gloaming
--a Winter Wren sings


The wren (also a first of year bird for me) never appeared. Neither did the Virginia Rail. The rain got harder as darkness fell. I went home. There were still Buffleheads diving in the Pool as I passed on my way out.

Great Blue Herons

I mentioned that I saw my first Great Blue Heron of the year on Friday. Usually one or two wander in during the winter--in fact, there was one during the Christmas Bird Count, but none since the New Year.

Handsome heron

A very beautiful bird. Perhaps my memory plays me false, but I don't think we get many in such sharp breeding plumage, black-browed and beplumed.

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Speaking of Great Blue Herons...

We went to the New-York Historical Society on Sunday to see the exhibit of Audubon watercolors, "Audubon’s Aviary: Parts Unknown". This is the second of three exhibits of the Society's collection of the original Audubon paintings for Birds of America; it concentrates on waterbirds, and the cover image is, of course, the Great Blue Heron.

Audubon's Great Blue Heron

If you're in New York between now and May 26, you should go see it. When you do, take a good long look at the Magnificent Frigatebird from several distances, and extremely close-up from various angles. A remarkable graphic composition from afar, and stunning, glitteringly detailed pencil-work at extreme close-up.

Rumors of... well, not warblers, yet.

Friday I saw my first Great Blue Heron of the year, a wonderful breeding-plumage bird, low in the willow at the end of The Point in Central Park Lake. A Black-crowned Night heron with breeding plume was in the same tree. Spring!

The GBH is my 83rd NY County species this year.

I see online that people have seen Winter Wrens at the Upper Lobe (and maybe elsewhere in the Ramble), a Field Sparrow at the Pin Oak swamp (the meadow in front of the Rustic Shelter), and there was a lingering Woodcock there and another northeast of Azalea Pond. Stephen Chang had a Golden-Crowned Kinglet in the Ravine/Loch area, and a Great Egret in Morningside Park, and Tom Fiore reported Chipping and Savannah Sparrows at the Great Hill (and a Savannah at the Sheep Meadow).

They're coming...

Watching you like a hawk

Pale Male on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wigeon landing

Tuesday I was at the Reservoir. An American Wigeon was sleeping peacefully on teh east side with some Black Ducks. I waited for some time. My patience was eventually rewarded when the Wigeon woke up and flew a short distance to join a group of Shovelers.



The Red-Necked Grebe was still present on the west side, steadily coming into breeding plumage and fishing actively and successfully.



I'm not sure how it managed to swallow this big fish.