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Today was a sunny but cold day in the park at 32ᴼF. We once again went birding with Birding Bob and approximately 30 other birders. Bob wore a yellow arm band in support of the Ukrainians who are fighting for their lives. We ended our walk early because of the cold, but we still saw 13 bird species, only one of which for the first time – a Ring-billed Gull. We brought bird seed with us so Charlie could try and get a Northern Cardinal to perch on his hand, but it was too cold for Charlie to take off his gloves. Charlie and I can’t wait for the weather to warm up. We are excited to see all the birds that will migrate back north, and are looking forward to finally being able to take off our gloves without freezing our hands. When we were done birding with Bob we met up with Henry and Grandma in the park on the Upper West Side and went birding with them for awhile. Henry has his own binoculars, and loved when he got to use them to see some Fox Sparrows and House Sparrows that Charlie poin...
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Last week we saw a Great Horned Owl, and today we set out to see the other famous bird residing in Central Park these days- a Bald Eagle. We went out with Birding Bob and a group of 30 birders. It was another cold morning at 23ᴼF. We saw twelve species of birds today, six for the first time, including a Northern Shoveler, Downey Woodpecker, House Finch, Fox Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, and a Canada Goose. Charlie’s favorite part of the day was seeing a woman feeding a Northern Cardinal right out of her hand. She was nice and gave Charlie some bird food that he used to try and get a male Cardinal to fly out of a tree and eat out of his hand, but the Cardinal would not budge. When we got to the reservoir in Central Park, Sandra (an expert birder) saw a juvenile Bald Eagle sitting on a building across Central Park West, but by the time Charlie and I looked it was gone. Sandra showed us a great picture she took of the  juvenile Bald Eagle fly...
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This morning’s bird walk with Birding Bob was cancelled due to yesterday’s blizzard, and the remaining cold, snow and wind. However, Charlie and I noticed on Twitter that a Great Horned Owl was spotted in the northern part of Central Park, not far from where we live. Charlie and I decided to go looking for the owl after we went sledding. We took Charlie’s friend Aadi with us, and went on our first bird walk without Birding Bob. Our strategy was to find other birders, hoping they would find the owl, and that we just had to find them. After an hour, we saw no owl and no birders. In fact, we saw no birds at all, so we gave up and headed home. As we were approaching our apartment building, about 100 yards into the park, we saw a woman and two of her friends looking up at a tree. The woman looked backed at me and put a finger over her mouth to suggest to be quiet, and then pointed up at the tree. It took me a minute to find what she was pointing at, but then I saw it. There wa...
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Today we went birding again with Birding Bob. It was 28ᴼF and cloudy, but Charlie and I were dressed in warm clothes and were comfortable. We saw eight species of birds, five for the first time this year. Charlie figured out a clever way to get closer to the birds so he could see them better with his binoculars (see picture below). Charlie’s favorite bird-of-the-day was a Red-tailed Hawk. Jason’s favorite bird-of-the-day was a European Starling, which we saw on our walk home. We were not with Bob when we saw the European Starling, but were able to identify the bird by taking a photograph and uploading it to an app called Merlin that can identify birds by their picture. We also saw a beautiful female Cardinal with an orange beak, a Rock Pigeon (which is a typical NYC Pigeon) and a House Sparrow. Jason caught a picture of a House Sparrow flying under a branch, but Charlie's favorite sighting of the day was a squirrel ice skating. We also once again saw the Belvedere Castle, but this ...
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Today was the first day of our 2022 Big Central Park Year. We met  Robert DeCandido, PhD,  otherwise known as Birding Bob (www.birdingbob.com),  and went birding with him. Bob charges $10 per person, but did not charge Charlie. We went birding for an hour and a half, and saw 12 species of birds listed below, with pictures and information about each bird beneath the list. While birding we also saw an interesting tree that had pictures hanging from the branches of peoples' pets that had passed away over the years. We also saw an old castle named the Belvedere Castle, and planned to visit it another time with the rest of the family. Charlie’s favorite bird of the day was a male Northern Cardinal, and Jason’s favorite bird was a House Sparrow.   Birds We Saw Today Mallard Hooded Merganser Great Blue Heron Cooper's Hawk Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Blue Jay Ruby-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Kinglet Brown Creeper American Robin House Sparrow Northern Cardinal
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