With sun all weekend in New York City and temperatures north of fifty degrees Fahrenheit we can all be forgiven for thinking that spring is here early, and here to stay. Not only was it warm and sunny but the enormous snowbanks from the recent blizzards have dwindled to virtually nothing, saturating the ground and making mud. If sun and warmth and mud don’t make a spring then singing Red-winged Blackbirds and worm-pulling American Robins certainly do. And I witnessed both species doing just those activities at Flushing Meadows Park as the sun was getting ready to set on Saturday evening, so, of course, I had to get some digiscoping done.
Has spring arrived where you live?
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
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Oh, so envious! I love love love the song of the Red-winged Blackbird!!
Spring may have spranged and sprung but I carefully inspected Prospect Park over the weekend and I have to tell you, until I see some Pine Warblers up in there, Spring has definitely not sproinged. And sproinging is the benchmark here.
@Jochen: I’ll send some your way!
@Carrie: Sproinging? That is ridiculous; you just made up that word. And I had a Pine Warbler on 1/1 in the good borough (Queens, of course). 🙂