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
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
Read more