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 flying away. At the end of our walk, Charlie and I came up with a clever way to see a Bald Eagle. See below for the pictures we took today, followed by a special Adelbird video, and the list of all the birds we saw today and have seen so far in our 2022 Big Central Park Year.

Charlie's favorite way to travel when birding.

This is the Bald Eagle we set out to find.


Downey Woodpecker


Fox Sparrow

Red-bellied Woodpecker


Norther Shoveler

Female Northern Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal

A woman feeding a Northern Cardinal out of her hand.

Charlie trying to get a Northern Cardinal to come down from a tree and eat out of his hand.

The picture Sandra took of a Juvenile Bald Eagle, but Charlie and I missed it.

Our clever way of seeing a Bald Eagle. 

The Bald Eagle we saw today.

A Special Adelbird Video

2022 Central Park Big Year: Complete Bird List

(bold = saw today; * = saw for first time)

1.    Mallard

2.    Hooded Merganser

3.    Great Blue Heron

4.    Cooper's Hawk

5.    Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

6.    Blue Jay

7.    Ruby-crowned Kinglet

8.    Golden-crowned Kinglet

9.    Brown Creeper

10.    American Robin

11.    House Sparrow

12.    Northern Cardinal

13.    Rock Pigeon

14.    White-throated Sparrow

15.    European Starling

16.    Red-bellied Woodpecker

17.    Red-tailed Hawk

18. Great Horned Owl

19.    Northern Shoveler*

20.    Downey Woodpecker*

21.    House Finch*

22.    Fox Sparrow*

23.    Red-winged Blackbird*

24.    Brown-headed Cowbird

25.    Canada Goose*



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
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...
Read more
Image
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...
Read more