Trips

Bird Portraits in Queens

October 10, 2010 by Corey 3 Comments

As folks who read this blog already know, I am a fan of birds, Queens, and digiscoping.  Yesterday morning I combined the three on my favorite birding walk from my house through Flushing Meadows Park, Kissena Corridor Park, and Kissena Park.  A horde of birds had descended on New York City and environs overnight Thursday night and it seems that they stuck around and more birds arrived overnight Friday because it was hopping when I went out on Saturday.  My goal was to see as many species of sparrow as I could and while I fell a bit short of what I thought I could find I did see several juvenile White-crowned Sparrows and a Vesper Sparrow.  More importantly, I was out and about on an absolutely gorgeous autumn day, one of those days in which every single aspect of the weather is just perfect.  Lots of sun, but not too hot, a nice breeze without becoming windy, and an occasional cloud but not enough to block the sun or cause precipitation.  Despite only having a couple of hours to be out birding before Daisy and Desi and I had plans I still got some pretty good shots of some up close birds with my digiscoping rig, the best of which are here in this blog post.

Here’s hoping your second weekend of October was as enjoyable and as nicely weathered as mine!

juvenile male Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas

first-winter Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis

Great Egret Ardea alba (click for larger version)

Northern Waterthrush Parkesia noveboracensis

juvenile White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys

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Written by Corey
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.