A WOW day

Into the park at 69th street. First bird- the west side young redtail. It flew off towards  Falconer Rock.

Next nibbler- the nuthatch

Fast asleep- raccoon.  That's not just wood up there.

Turtle Pond, beware THIN ICE.  I was carrying a small camera for the first time, a Canon G15.  Nice little camera.  It was used to show the tiny saw-whet owl in body of tree.  That was the WOW of the day.

                       

Back to sleep, lots of sleeping.  There will be more saw-whet owl images in next blogs. Seeing this tiny treasure, about 8",  takes my breath away.
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Sharpie

First impression -  small hawk. First seen near Laupot Bridge, heading north. Finally found again near waterfall. Behavior very different from cooper's or redtail. Lots of moving around low down. Hopping around on branches while watching for potential lunch.  Ann helped with ID, juvenile sharp-shinned hawk.  Lots of branches in way. Hard to get clear shot. Difficult lighting.  Didn't want to spook hawk since it was so low.  Eventually it flew towards the Oven. Never saw it catch lunch.

Pretty little hawk.
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Bufflehead face off

I forgot all about these images from January 10th. My lens is too powerful to include all combatants. One female, two male bufflehead. Face off time between two males. Nothing gentle about this. The big flapper won. Face off lasted about ten minutes. Lots of aggression.

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A little white

The first day is always pretty, pure white snow. We've got this slope out front. To little kids it's a proper mountain.

Have a seat. Cold Tusch.

A touch of red

Poor robin. Thursday there were at least 50 robins on the lawn, a migrating wave.

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Chicken Little

Since the weather is bad and I'm on a busy work schedule it's fun to post images from the past, 1989 chicken on Broadway.  Chicken McNugget????  Eventually chicken got caught and taken by a lady to her house in New Jersey.  The chicken probably escaped from a cock-fight house.
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Oddities

There was an article in yesterday's Times about mutant pigeons. I'd love to see some in the park.  I saw this pigeon years ago near the zoo.  All images posted today are scans from slides,  1988, 1990.   And since it's February, ground hog month, Central Park woodchucks (ground hogs) also from the 1988-1990 period. You name it, they'll eat it.

 

Buffleheads

Between the cold weather and a heavy work schedule I haven't been able to get out with camera on a daily basis.  When sun hits bufflehead the duck is a winner.
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