Trips

Parking Lot Birds

December 11, 2017 by Corey No Comments

My Christmas Bird Count scouting went well this weekend in terms of finding some decent lingering birds but it was lousy in terms of photographic opportunities. I wanted to get some digiscoping in so I made my way to the big parking lot at the northeastern corner of Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Sure, the birds there are parking lot birds but there are lots of them and they allow close approach. Lazy digiscoping can be fun! And parking lot birding is nearly as fun as puddle birding.

Though this Double-crested Cormorant was not in a parking lot the photo was taken from the parking lot. Close enough.

This young Ring-billed Gull managed to hold off all comers from the lamp post perch for at least two minutes.

This is the very beginning of a mass pigeon flush which I thought had to be because of a raptor. Turns out someone had just shown up at the other end of the parking lot with some bread.

American Coots are kind of a lousy bird. Does anyone think coots are awesome?

European Starlings are snazzy.

What a crappy blog post. Sorry for inflicting this upon you but sometimes a blogger has to do what a blogger has to do. Next post will have better birds than the lousy stuff you find in parking lots. I promise.

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.