A visual journal exploring the birds of Inwood and Northern Manhattan by Teri Tynes

  • An Eastern Phoebe Explores the White Pines

    An Eastern Phoebe has been frequenting the White Pines area of Inwood Hill Park for the past couple of days. This particular gathering of Eastern White Pine trees, located in an elevated part of the forest and marked by a park sign, as well as the adjacent forest clearing must be harboring plenty of insects…

  • The Northern Flicker and the Way of the Woodpecker

    Woodpeckers are commonly seen and heard all year round throughout Inwood Hill Park, and now the migratory Northern Flickers have joined them. Downy Woodpeckers are common here, and so are Red-bellied Woodpeckers. A Hairy Woodpecker and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker may sometimes be seen. A Pileated Woodpecker, which I have yet to see, is the Holy…

  • A Sky Full of Hawks

    On Friday, March 31, 2023, a fellow birder and I started counting many Red-tailed Hawks circling over the trees above Inwood Hill Park near the marsh, and at one point we reached a consensus of seven hawks. Red-tailed Hawks are a common sight in the park, but conditions that day seemed favorable for an unusually…

  • The Return of the Great Egret

    One of the most familiar figures in the waters of Inwood Hill Park, the Great Egret has returned for its spring and summery residency. The Great Egret fishes in salt and fresh water, and the confluence of the rivers here provides a mixture of both sources of water. The Salt Marsh helps filter pollutants. As…

  • Birds in Silhouette and the Case of the Barred Owl

    As a practice, birding involves the ability to scan the landscape and pick out anomalies in trees, the surface of the river, in the sky, and so forth. The process for trees goes something like this – see a tree, then a branch, and then more trees, a stump, some gnarly branches, twigs, another tree,…

  • A Song Sparrow Singing at the Salt Marsh

    With the arrival of the Vernal Equinox, a male Song Sparrow has been singing many melodies at the Salt Marsh in Inwood Hill Park. While a loud Northern Mockingbird practiced for a song competition in the marsh grasses nearby, the Song Sparrow assumed the loftier perch at the top of a favorite tree. For the…