Observations, ideas, and wonderings on birds encountered in the landscape.
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Observing Birds Outside the Window: The Comforts and Surprises of Birdwatching During a Winter Storm
On Tuesday, December 2, a Nor’easter barreled through New York City, bringing a cold, steady rain for most of the day. Areas to the north and west got the snow, but most of NYC was just out of range for a nice snowfall. My plans for birdwatching were rained out. Or, so I thought. When Read more
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A Thanksgiving with Hawks and All the Birds of Inwood
When I was a young girl growing up in Texas, my family liked to take a walk in the neighborhood on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. We gathered autumn leaves and branches to decorate the dinner table. A great pecan tree grew in our front yard, alongside a magnolia and its fragrant blossoms for a Read more
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Easy Fall Birding with White-throated Sparrows
Even if I have only ten minutes to go birdwatching this time of year, I can always walk to the edge of Inwood Hill Park, look down, and find at least a dozen White-throated Sparrows. Pretty birds with white throats and yellow lores, these sparrows also possess a sweet, lilting song. Cornell’s All About Read more
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The Birds for Our New York City Moment
Over the course of several busy and consequential days for New York City— a thrilling Halloween Parade, a photo finish for the NYC Marathon, and the city’s historic mayoral election— thousands of birds flew overhead. Some were late migrants en route to winter homes and springtime in the Southern Hemisphere. Other birds came here to Read more
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Fall Birding Falls Into Place: Notable Birds of Inwood During Mid-October
The last two weeks brought some volatile weather, including a big Nor’easter and high wind events, to the Salt Marsh and to the forest of Inwood Hill Park. The pace of fall migration sped up and then died down. Sometimes, on an average morning, there were many birds, and on other days, nothing much to Read more
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The Hawk and the Kingfisher
By the time the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk landed on a perch near the Salt Marsh on October 4, it was sopping wet. It was practicing its hunting skills by buzzing over the ducks in the water and then chasing a Belted Kingfisher foraging there. The hawk and the fast kingfisher flew circles around one another Read more
Birds of Inwood 