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This past Monday, Will and his wife Danika were going to drive down from Albany and pick me up at 7 AM for a birding expedition to Long Island’s barrier beaches, hoping to find a variety of migrants.  Their car’s tire had other ideas, however, so I was awake at 6:15 in the morning, jonesin’ [...]

This past weekend Daisy and I were pleased to host my brother, Jonathan, his fiancee, Shannon, and their adorable three-year-old daughter, Natasha.  Though keeping up with a three-year-old is pretty darn exhausting it was great having her around, especially as everything in the city is interesting to a three-year-old from upstate New York.  Whether it [...]

When Corey blogged about our joint visit to New York’s Central Park at the weekend he titled his post A Great Bird (Well-deserved) in Central Park. What bird was he referring to? A Black-throated Grey Warbler, a very rare visitor to the State let alone to Manhattan Island and Central Park and a ‘great [...]

I thought waking up in the dark on a Sunday morning and getting on the subway at 6 AM to join Charlie for some birding was a heck of a task, that is, until I found out that Charlie had just flown in from London yesterday, which he had arrived at from Chicago the day [...]

Seeing as Mike has already stolen the thunder of our best birds of the day (well, he did get better pictures) I figured I would mention a couple of the other species that were around after Mike departed Central Park to be a good father. There were a couple in particular that I wanted [...]

Corey and I visited Central Park this morning for some early spring birding. At this point in the season, a good day might be 8 species of warbler, rather than 20. We topped 8 just barely, but made up in quality what we lacked in quantity. The undisputed star of the show was a bird [...]

Last week I wrote a short post about a visit I made to New York’s Central Park with Corey, in which I referred to a close encounter with a small flock of one of my favourite birds: Cedar Waxwings Bombycilla cedrorum. To save myself a little time (a two-year-old is demanding my attention) I’m going [...]

About this time last year - and a few months before I joined Mike and Corey at 10,000 Birds - I co-authored a post looking at the differences between Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes with the incomparable Jochen Roeder of the weird and wonderful Bell Tower Birding blog. For reasons I now can’t remember I forgot [...]

On my hours-long birding excursion in Central Park yesterday one of the highlights was seeing many Palm Warblers all over the grassy areas wherever people weren’t. The bright yellow of the eastern form, which was all I saw today, was a sight for sore eyes after far too long without the presence of the [...]

I have never in my life been more glad not to be a bug.

Early April in the northern hemisphere (or more specifically, April in Central Park) is never quite as you imagine it. It’s neither as warm as you were sure it was going to be, nor as bright. Plants emerge more tentatively than you remember, the breeze is more cutting, the light is just a little flatter. [...]

I really should have titled this post “I Love New York!” Why? Because where else can one be at their desk in their office near the end of the work day, get an email about a vagrant western bird in a city park, and be looking at it fifteen minutes after leaving said [...]

After my trip to Van Cortlandt Park early Sunday morning I decided to hit up Central Park on my way home in the hopes of checking a couple more birds off of my Anti-Global Warming Big Year list. I was successful in doing so, spotting both a Fox Sparrow and a small flock of [...]

When I woke up Saturday morning I didn’t see my shadow, a good sign on Groundhog’s Day. Even better was the fact that I was on my way to Union Square Park to see the Scott’s Oriole again and this time, because I had taken the train from Albany and not stepped foot in a [...]

Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina
Central Park, NY. 19 October 2007

The Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina breeds across most of eastern North America, ranging from the panhandle of Florida northward to southern Canada. The species generally reaches its western limit at the eastern edge of the Great Plains, although it can be found breeding along the Missouri River [...]

When I was in Central Park yesterday I saw a thrush that - at the time - confused me: Mike had already gone home so I couldn’t confer with him, and now that I’ve had a look at the photos I manged to grab before it disappeared and have had a chance to read through [...]

I’m not sure that Mike will appreciate this especially, but his mention of American Woodcock as his jinx bird in the birding meme we just posted reminded me that I still have a lot of galleries to transfer onto 10,000 Birds - and that one of them just happens to be a few photos of [...]

Spring migration is sublime, like the fragrance of exotic blossoms, like the promise of health to one who has ailed for a long time. Yet sometimes even this blessing can feel like a burden. The birds are finally here, which means that the only reasonable response, no matter what else is happening, is to get [...]

American Robin Turdus migratorius
North America. Various dates 2004/05/06
 
The most abundant and widespread North American thrush, American Robins are - as the name suggests - native to the Nearctic region. They occur year-round in southern Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia, throughout most of the United States and along the Sierra Madre into southern Mexico. They [...]

Club George: Diary of a Central Park Bird-watcher is based on an engaging premise, something of a twist on the classic romance structure. The author, Bob Levy encounters a charismatic Red-winged Blackbird named George in New York City’s Central Park. Mr. Levy becomes enthralled by George’s charismatic antics and confiding ways and through his [...]