Tag: photography
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As Foretold, a Red-breasted Merganser Visits Inwood Hill Park
Cornell Lab’s BirdCast resumed posting live migration tools on March 1, noting on the Migration Dashboard for New York County that among the expected nocturnal migrants this time of year we should look for Red-breasted Mergansers. And, sure enough, a Red-breasted Merganser showed up in our local waters. On the early morning of March 6…
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The Cooper’s Hawk of Cooper Street
The Cooper Street Rock stretches high above Cooper Street in Inwood, and on the rock grows a tall tree popular with all sorts of birds. The short street lined with apartment buildings is named after James Fenimore Cooper, the author of The Last of the Mohicans (1826). A Cooper’s Hawk often visits this rugged summit,…
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A Gull, a Goose, and the Odd Duck in Wild and Wintry Weather
New York City is experiencing a real winter this season with weather fronts bringing snow, freezing rain, and sleet to the metropolis. This year, the winter has been cold enough for the waterways to be covered in icy islands and sheets of ice floes. Periodic warmups have thawed the rivers and inlets. This weather pattern…
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Drawing Juncos
Lately I’ve been drawing and painting Dark-eyed Juncos, quintessential winter birds. During the recent snowfalls and bouts of freezing weather, I have looked for flocks of these little New World sparrows. I often find them in company of the Tufted Titmice, the White-throated Sparrows, and the Black-capped Chickadees, but sometimes the juncos are off on…
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Hawks for the Holidays
A good way to start a busy morning during the holiday season is to walk into a forest and find a hawk. In NYC, Red-tailed Hawks are relatively common and make a good choice for hawk chasing. A Cooper’s Hawk may be around as well. With luck, you may find these two hawks chasing one…
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The White-breasted Nuthatch Makes Good Company
While walking in the autumn woods of Inwood Hill Park, I often hear the insistent chuckle of a White-breasted Nuthatch. Cornell’s All About Birds (link) describes the sound as a “yammering.” These fast little birds scurry up and down and around tree trunks. They are black and blue-gray on the top with white breasts. Some…
Birds of Inwood 